A 'Small' Drawing Challenge

There's only one rule, and it involves a ruler.

The Creative Flock is a reader-supported publication. To access the full membership, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Details in this welcome post. Thank you for your support!

In my introduction post this month I talked about how beneficial it can be to our creative practice to set our sights a bit smaller. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the possibilities in what you can draw when faced with a sweeping landscape or detailed reference image. 

With this in mind I wanted to share a ‘small’ drawing challenge you can try as a way to keep your drawing practice going, even when time is limited.

If you’re new here, welcome! In December we looked at ways to keep our drawing practice going during the hectic holiday season. If you enjoy this ‘small’ challenge you may find the tips in this post useful.

This challenge is based on one I did back in 2018, organised by The House of Illustration (now called The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration) to coincide with an exhibition of work by renowned British illustrator John Vernon Lord¹. 

The goal was to create a 1x1inch drawing a day for 30 days and was inspired by a drawing challenge Lord set for himself in 2016, where he committed to create a 1x1inch drawing, every day for a year.  

A small selection of some of John Vernon Lord’s drawings from the 365 day 1x1in challenge.

If you know me you’ll know I’ve never been good at keeping up with drawing challenges, but this one was an exception and is the only art challenge I've ever fully completed! 

My completed 30 day drawing challenge. 2018.

I found this challenge manageable because of the size restriction, if I’d had to work any larger I may have gotten overwhelmed and not completed all 30 days. Especially as this was a period in my life where, due to family and other work commitments, my creative practice had taken a back seat.

I got a real sense of accomplishment from completing all 30 days and I even submitted it to the online exhibition the House of Illustration organised for people who took part in the challenge. 

It also held me accountable for devoting time to my drawing practice each day, when I could have easily made an excuse not to and even though they were small, I was pleased with what I was able to communicate using just pencil or pen, within that restricted space.

The challenge:

It’s a very simple one - sketch out some 1x1in boxes and draw something in those boxes.

You can decide how often you draw, Lord drew every day for a year, I did 30 days and I found every day for a set time period manageable because of the size of the drawing, but you might prefer less frequently.

My completed drawing for day 1 of the 12-day challenge.

When I first did it back in 2018, I based each of the 30 drawings on a book² and this time I’m thinking of basing them on found, natural objects or details in nature.

If you want to add an extra challenge, you could restrict your colour palette, work in one material, draw with your non-dominant hand etc, or even pop suggestions into a jar and pick one out each day. 

Will you try out this 1x1in challenge? Pleas feel free to drop a comment below

1. https://www.qbcentre.org.uk/john-vernon-lord-illustrating-carroll-and-joyce-exhibition-quentin-blake-centre-for-illustration

2. Not based on song lyrics or random ideas as said in the video. I only remembered I'd based the drawings on books after recording the video…