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Cover image for Want to harness the power of sketching? Join Sketchtober, a challenge to power your ideas!
Rizwan⚡️
Rizwan⚡️

Posted on • Originally published at rizwanjavaid.com

Want to harness the power of sketching? Join Sketchtober, a challenge to power your ideas!

Want to practice sketching but just haven't been able to? Well, great news for you. Announcing Sketchtober, a month-long challenge for everyone to practice sketching daily for a month.

Inspired by Inktober, Sketchtober is a challenge for anyone who wants to harness the power of sketching to supercharge their ideation, iterate upon an idea, and share their ideas to get feedback.

Sketchtober Prompts

List of prompts

  1. Shapes
  2. Arrows
  3. Connectors
  4. Buttons
  5. People
  6. Icons
  7. Lettering
  8. Text Fields
  9. Annotations
  10. Gestures
  11. Dashboard
  12. Expressions
  13. Tools
  14. Forms
  15. Charts
  16. Faces
  17. Date Picker
  18. Tab Bars
  19. Maps
  20. Car Dashboard
  21. Your choice!
  22. Cards
  23. Transportation
  24. Profile Page
  25. Service Blueprint
  26. Persona
  27. Journey Map
  28. Chat Screen
  29. Diagrams
  30. Navbar
  31. Menus

Sketchtober Instructions

  1. Research
  2. Sketch
  3. Share

Research

Research ideas for the prompt before sketching. Here are some resources to get you started.
- Google
- Pinterest
- The Noun Project
- Bootstrap
- iStockPhoto
- Dribbble
- Mobbin
- Material Design Guidelines
- Apple Human Interface Guidelines
- Awwwards
- Font Awesome

Sketch

  • Set an achievable yet challenging daily goal for your sketching. Your daily goal could be based on time, space, or quantity.
    • For example
      • Time-based goal: Set a goal to sketch for 10 minutes every day. Keep increasing the time to keep it challenging.
      • Space-based goal: Set a goal to fill up a page in your sketchbook using the prompt for the day.
      • Quantity-based goal: Sketch a specific amount of the prompt for the day, for example, you can decide to sketch 10 different examples for the prompt of the day.
  • Sketch the prompt for the day and keep sketching until you reach the goal you have set for yourself.

Share

  • Share your sketches with friends and share your sketches online using the hashtag #Sketchtober19* so everyone can be inspired. :)

Things to remember:

  • Use a pen when you can! By using a pen you will practice sketching faster and will be less likely to try to make your sketch perfect.
  • Don’t jump to the next day! If you finish early challenge yourself to continue sketching until you have completed your goal for the day.
  • Keep increasing the daily goal as you get comfortable!
  • Steal like an artist! There is no shame in copying something while you are practicing as long as you don’t claim it as your own creation. By copying you will be able to perfectly practice and speed up your learning. If you share what you copied, make sure to credit the source!
  • Don’t go for perfection!
  • Experiment, experiment, experiment! Try out new types of pens, pencils, markers, and papers.
  • Don’t self-edit! Let your ideas run free.
  • Most importantly have fun! :)

In closing

You got this! A small investment in time each day is going to pay off at the end of the challenge. You won’t even have to wait till the end, you will start to notice a change in how you approach sketching and your mindset even during the challenge. You will be on your way to becoming a Sketching Machine!

The goal of the Sketchtober challenge is for you to get in the habit of sketching consistently. It’s not about how perfect your sketches are, it’s about getting your ideas out of your head to share with others so you can have the right conversations to move your ideas forward.

Remember to share your sketches using #Sketchtober19 to follow along, learn and be inspired by other participants of this challenge. Make it fun and challenge your friends and coworkers to join the challenge with you.

Have questions or suggestions? Let's chat!

Top comments (1)

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dana94 profile image
Dana Ottaviani

Sounds fun!