3 Materials Drawing Challenge

It’s my new favourite time of year! Every summer for the last two or three years I’ve been taking part in the 3 materials drawing challenge, hosted over on Instagram by Kathryn Boyt, Charlotte Durance and Naomi Tipping. It was started a few years back by Kathryn, when she was looking for a way to keep her drawing skills sharp during the summer holiday whilst the kids were home from school. She drew daily from life, for thirty minutes only, using only three materials, posting her work on Instagram. The daily accountability gave her something to focus on when work becomes harder to make during the school holidays.

Pretty soon, other artists began to join her, and it’s become a bit of a Movement, with over 18k posts on instagram using the hashtag 3materialsdrawingchallenge.

Each time I’ve taken part, I’ve noticed my drawing becomes bolder, braver and really exciting things happen. I love the restriction of three materials only - it really takes away the dithering decision making that happens when you’ve got more choice. The time restriction takes away the fear of getting stuff wrong.

I’ll be posting daily over on instagram, throughout August, and popping drawings up here too - click sketchbook to see what I’ve been up to.