Most Popular Art Challenges to Try in 2021

Do you wish you had more time to pursue your artistic interests? Would you like to develop new drawing or design skills? Joining an Art Challenge is a great way to get inspired and stay focused. We take a look at some of the best Art Challenges for you to try in 2021.

Art Challenges are a brilliant way to connect with other artists online and around the world.

Entering one can be just the inspiration you need to get out of an artistic rut or simply to motivate you to make time for your artistic endeavours.

Here are our top reasons for trying an Art Challenge in 2021:

• It can offer you inspiration through daily or weekly prompts and through your reviews of other participants’ artwork.
• It can be a great motivator to learn a new art technique.
• It helps you create space in your schedule for your art project and turn it into a regular habit.
• It connects you with other artists around the world – something that can’t be underestimated if you’re working alone in your studio where it is easy to feel isolated.
• It can give you extra confidence: when you take part in an art challenge, you will question yourself and your work less.

There are plenty of good reasons to try an Art Challenge this year. But which ones should you try? Here are some of our favourites.

#1. Doodle Addicts

Doodle Addicts styles itself as a community of 30,000+ creatives, doodlers, artists, and friends. As well as giving you an opportunity to explore the work of fellow artists, the website invites you to participate in drawing challenges. You can sign up to be notified of its next drawing challenge here. In the meantime, be inspired by the website’s weekly drawing prompts. You can get fun and exciting drawing prompts delivered straight to your inbox every Monday! If you’re interested in joining in, sign up here.

#2. Inktober

Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. Now thousands of people participate every October. On each of the month’s 31 days, the website publishes a fresh challenge to inspire an ink drawing. If you can’t wait for October, sign up to Inktober 52, this gives you a drawing prompt once a week over the course of the whole year.

#3. Drawcember

One of the benefits of participating in an Art Challenge is connecting with and being inspired by other artists. That’s exactly what happened with Drawcember. It took the idea of Inktober and gave artists an excuse to carry on drawing through the last month of year. Find out more here.

#4. Spoonflower

Spoonflower is an online marketplace for artists. Its challenges are a great way to kick start some earning potential for your art designs. Recent challenges include a challenge to design moody tropical floral wallpaper, a world waterways design challenge in conjunction with a paddleboard brand, and a charcuterie board design challenge! With this varied range of inspiration, we’re sure you can find a challenge on Spoonflower to suit you. View all their current challenges here.

#5. RSPB challenge for kids

If you have little ones who love art, then the RSPB’s annual art competition is a great way to get them started with an art challenge. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a British charity that campaigns to look after our natural world. Its art challenge reflects this: kids are encouraged to create artwork of their favorite wild creature. WildArt is split into three age groups: under 8s, 8–12s, and 13 years and over. Entries must be submitted by August 27, 2021. Find out more details and enter here.