Indie Superstar Challenge!

Get creative & win some pre-christmas treats in our 7 day portrait-sketching challenge!

It's been a tough year for independent business owners, so we're throwing the fairy lights on 7 of our nearest and dearest in this week-long Instagram challenge. We'll post a different photo each day, and at the end of the week the muses will pick their favourite portrait artist to award a special prize!

As an extra challenge, we invite you to draw all 7 portraits using your non-dominant hand!

MEET THE MUSES

You can join the challenge at any time and don’t have to draw every muse - we know this is a busy time of year! You’ve got until Sunday 13th to complete and tag us in your portraits - each muse will be picking and announcing their favourite on Monday 14th.

Remember to tag both @sketchappeal and the muse on (or after) their designated day of the week.

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Monday’s Muse

= Costume & Jewellery Designer Anne-Sophie Cochevelou , who has been getting quite a lot of attention for these exquisite face masks this year - quite right too! Such an apt face to start this challenge… we can’t wait to see your interpretations of this incredible creation!

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Tuesday’s Muse

Illustrator, Textile Maker & Co-Founder of #JoinThePatternParty Leonie Flower !

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Wednesday = DOUBLE TROUBLE!

Today’s muses are Cat & Liz Faulkner - Co-Founders of greetings & gift store @ Jelly Armchair
You can pick which image you’d like to draw - we couldn’t decide!

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Thursday’s Muse

= Designer of #EPIC leather jewellery Rosita Bonita ! You might have spotted some of her designs on Sketchy Bitches regular Sara Hughes :)

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Friday’s Muse

Designer, Printmaker and fellow lover of all things 90s, Judy Andrews !

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Saturday’s Muses

Matt and Puvan, Co-Founders of artisan candle business Maison De Tourmentin

Extra challenge = reverse and decipher what the sign behind them says!!

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Sunday’s Muse

Polly (and Dude) - Founder of dreamy seaside boutique Little Bit Margate!

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Come meet, draw and party with Polly on Sunday 13th!

Our Indie Superstar Challenge will culminate with a special edition of Sketchy Bitches with guest muse Polly, who’ll be posing live from inside Little Bit Margate. After a few warm-up portraits, we’ll be attempting to draw a fun advert for Little Bit, then spend the rest of the session drawing portraits/adverts for each other! Hit the link below to find out more and book a ticket.

Sue's Sketchtacular 7 Day Challenge!

from Monday 16th November:
Join us for a week of fun creative challenges inspired by Colour Queen Sue Kreitzman!

Home is where the ART is and we’re all stuck at home, so we’ve teamed up with the fabulous Sue Kreitzman to bring you a whole week of colourful creative fun! This is a chance to spend some time reflecting, rummaging and creating lots of fab new artwork that’ll bring some much-needed joy ot the world!

We’ll be setting a challenge a day over on our Instagram channel, via short & sweet video prompts from Sue. If you want to get ahead, get cracking on the list of challenges below!

Please post your work on the appropriate day, and tag both @sketchappeal and @suekreitzman - no doubt we will share and love it all! And there’s every chance it could feature in the next issue of Sketch Appeal magazine - coming in Jan 2021!

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The challenges

Day 3 = Make a selfie mask! It could be a simple upcycled paper plate or bag, or you could get crafty with some cardboard and make something a bit more ‘complex’!

1. Here’s looking at Sue!

   Draw an experimental portrait of Sue from the photo posted on Instagram on Monday. (Experimental means whatever you want it to - abstract, continuous-line, without looking at the page… anything goes!)

2. Supersheroes

   Draw one of your favourite feminist ‘sheroes’, and for an extra challenge, do it with your non-dominant hand! From Frida Kahlo to Grace Jones - Josephine Baker to Eleanor Roosevelt; there are plenty to choose from and the choice is yours!

3. Selfie mask

   Make a selfie mask! Create a colourful, customised 2D face mask using a paper bag, bits of cardboard, a paper plate, or whatever you can salvage from around the house. Embellish it with nail varnish, buttons, sequins, glitter etc. if you want to go all out Sue! You could even come and make it at our FREE WORKSHOP on Wed 18th.
   

4. Fashion memories

   Draw your favourite fashion memory from an old photo - show and tell us all about it. It could be your wedding dress, but remember Sue loves colour - so why not reimagine yourself as a technicolour bride! Do it with your non-dominant hand for extra fun! :)

5. Flea market finds

   Show, sketch and tell us about some of your favourite flea market/vintage finds. Books, ornaments, jewels… anything goes! It could be the oldest, the weirdest, the kitchiest… we want to see all your curious finds!

6. Wonderwalls

   You’ll be pretty familiar with the wonderwalls of Sue’s house, bursting with art and colour. Well, now we’d love to see what adorns yours! Take a pic of an entire wall, or just select one of your favourite pieces. We’d love to hear the story behind some of your favourite pieces of art.

7. Dress up and draw!

   Don your most colourful outfit, get someone to take a photo or take a selfie in the mirror and then draw it! And then go down the park and parade your rainbow wares for all to see! And THEN, come join us for a Sketchy Bitches Colourfest! (4-6pm, Sun 22nd Nov)

This incredible lasercut neckshrine was created by Sue’s dear friend Elizabeth Joseph. It features some of Sue’s biggest ‘sheroes’ - Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, Grace Jones, Carmen Miranda, Eleanor Roosevelt and most importantly, herself!

The iconic Josephine Baker is one of Sue’s supersheroes and a great muse for Day 3!

The walls of Sue’s home are bursting with colourful art and every bit as iconic as the woman herself! She’s shown you hers - now show us yours! :)

A close-up of one of her favourite pieces, which she co-created with a friend

Sunday 22nd, Day 7 = WEAR THE RAINBOW!

Your challenge on day 7 is to wear the most colourful outfit you own, draw yourself and then go artside to strut your technicolour stuff! (And then join us at the Sketchy Bitches Colourfest so we can all draw you!)

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We’re running 2 special events to coincide with the challenge:

Sketchy Bitches (Secret) Galentine's Challenge!

Sketchy Bitches of the world unite!

Let’s spread the joy of sketch this Galentine’s Day!

As those who come to our workshops will know, having your portrait drawn is a very special experience. It’s such an honour to be drawn by another; for them to take the time and care to observe and interpret what they see in you, and then express that creatively in their own unique way.

This is your chance to get a taste of the Sketchy Bitches experience from wherever you are in the world.

Even if you’re busy travelling the world like Cincin, you can still take part!

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The Challenge

This challenge will work a little like our ‘Secret Sketcher’ challenge, but you’ll be exchanging portraits.

• Submit your name, photo and any prompt / inspo you’d like to give your Secret Galentine

• Await the details of your Secret Galentine on Friday 7th February

• Create an A5 Galentine’s Card featuring their face on the front!

• Send it in the post, ideally before Galentine’s Day (13th Feb)
  

The challenge is open to anyone who identifies as female, of any age, anywhere in the world.

ENTRY CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON THURS 6TH FEBRUARY

Secret Sketcher 2019

By popular demand, Secret Sketcher is back!

Last Christmas, we gave each other our ART and started a brand-new tradition - SECRET SKETCHER!

Over 150 people signed up and sent each other Sketchmas treats in the post, so we’ve decided to do it all again this year - with a little twist!

Last year, we asked people to write a list of some of their favourite things, which became the creative prompt for their secret sketchmate. This year, we’ve decided to set everyone the same silly prompt…

This year’s prompt:

• On a single sheet of A4 paper or card (landscape), draw a fun festive party scene featuring as many faces as you can fit on the page - in 15 minutes! Use whatever colours and materials you like - you could go all red (like the pic above) or create a neon 90s rave scene! Faces can be human, animal and/or monster. We recommend you use thickish paper so it feels more like a gift card :)

• Fold it in half to create an A5 card and write / draw whatever you want on the front (we suggest something along the lines of Merry Sketchmas!")

• Write your name, city/location and Instagram handle somewhere on the back, so that your Secret Sketchmate can tag you in it

• Pop it in an envelope and post it before 19th December

• Await your own Secret Sketch in the post!

We’d love to see what you get for Sketchmas, so please take a pic and tag us in it on Insta on Christmas Day, or whenever your gift arrives!

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Entries have now closed. Keep an eye out on Instagram for secret sketches as they land over Christmas!

Selfie Challenge for World Mental Health Day

Here’s looking at YOU kids!!

One of the core aims of Sketch Appeal is to support and improve your mental health through the joy of mindful, experimental drawing and creative play. So, to mark World Mental Heatlh Day 2019, we’re setting a very special sketching challenge - all about YOU!

We’re inviting you to lose control, sketch yourself free and let your ‘other half’ out to play! Your inner child, your alter ego: whatever you wanna call it, we want you to let it ART!

What?

Your challenge is to draw 2 colourful self-portraits: 1 with your dominant hand and then another, using your non-dominant hand.  These can be quick sketches and please don’t overthink or labour over them, but we’d love them to be colourful, because it will be more uplifting for you to create and for us to admire!

When?

Share them on Instagram on World Mental Health Day this Thursday 10th October and tag us in it @Sketchappeal, using #LetItART , along with whatever comment /self-reflection you wish to make about the portraits and your experience creating them.  Which one did you enjoy drawing more? Which one captures your true character most? Can you see different sides of yourself coming through?

Why?

We’re setting this challenge to prove that there’s no faster or more fun way to unlock and unleash the artist and child within than drawing with your non-dominant hand! It’s the easiest way to ‘lose control’ and let your creativity pour out.  Tests and studies have shown the therapeutic and mood-boosting benefits of drawing (and writing) with your non-dominant hand: someone has even written a book all about it!

If you’ve attended any of our events then you’ll be familiar with our signature power drawing warm-up. Sketchers draw a series of 4 portraits of the person sitting opposite – including 1 with their non-dominant hand.  Time and again, it’s THAT portrait that captures the person’s essence and is the portrait that both sitter and sketcher prefer.  It’s also the one that people seem to be most uplifting (whilst initially unnerving and terrifying!) to draw: the one that pushes people out of their controlled comfort zone and into the spirit of creative play. 

If you’ve met me (Dulcimer, creator of all this sketchy stuff!), you’ll know that I’m a huge advocate and fan of non-dominant drawing.  In fact, I try to do it every day: right after I’ve sketched something with my right hand. It’s a tiny but hugely-beneficial and fun act of rebellion against the side of me that spends the rest of the day trying too hard to be ‘good’ at stuff.

Dominant-hand drawing always makes me feel relaxed and restored, and finishing a sketch always gives me a sense of purpose and achievement, even if the rest of my day has gone to shit! But I always FEEL more like ‘me’ when I draw with my left-hand – more like the creative child I am deep down.  It makes me laugh and reminds me how much fun it is to lose control and just play around, without any sense of fear or expectation.  It also takes the pressure off creating something impressive: after all, how can it be any ‘good’ when I’m doing it with my ‘wrong’ hand?! 

Selfie drawn with my right hand…

…and with my left!

As well as being a great form of meditation and boost our mental health, non-dominant hand drawing is a wonderful form of self-reflection and reminder of who we truly are.  A reminder that it’s GOOD to lose control and just give in to the playful joy of the creative process - without worrying about the end result. Ultimately, it proves that we can find more truth and originality within ourselves (and our artwork) when we lose control and stop trying to hard to find it!

So that’s why I’ve set this challenge for World Mental Health Day: because I’d love you to see all your faces and for you to experience the GUARANTEED JOY of non-dominant drawing! 

Go on, dare ya! 

Sketch The Rainbow: Zine Challenge

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!

To celebrate our 1st birthday, we’re bringing back one of our most popular Instagram challenges: #SKETCHTHERAINBOW!!

This time, the challenge will be open for 2 weeks and it’s focused on creating one finished ‘masterpiece’!

We’d love you join in, and to tempt your rainbow tastebuds, we’ve got a stack of colourful creative goodies up for grabs! Woop woop!

The challenge

Create an 8 page zine featuring a page/illustration for every colour, plus a multi-coloured pic on the front. This time, rather than just random stuff you associate with each colour (e.g. ketchup = red), we invite you to draw something or someone you love and associate with each colour - see e.g. below! The cover image is your call.

The prizes

The ‘gold’ at the end of the rainbow is this fabulous stack of colourful prizes:

• A set of Ecoline Liquid Watercolour Brush Pens, worth over £20

• A set of 9 POSCAS

• A copy of Colour Queen Zabby Allen’s fab zine, The Procrastination Paper (which we’re in BTW!)

• A fab enamel pin, also from Zabby!

To enter: Create your zine, post and tag us in it on Instagram - any time between 1st - 14th July. We’ll be watching out for your work and you can enter as many times as you like!

We’ll select one lucky winner and announce the name on Monday 15th July.

Ready.. set .. #SKETCHTHERAINBOW!!

International Women's Day Challenge

We’re so excited to be part of this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations in Seven Dials: alongside the likes of artist Iona Rowland, Tatty Divine’s Rosie Wolfenden & Harriet Vine, and Scarlett Curtis - author of the awesome “Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies”!

We’re running a FREE zine-making workshop in the #BalanceForBetter hub on Sun 10th March, but it’s fully booked and only in London (obv): so we’re launching a brand-new Insta challenge so that everyone can join the sketchy fun!

The challenge

International Women’s Day is all about celebrating the awesomeness of womankind, so your challenge is to create a zine dedicated to a woman or group of women who you admire respect and #LOVE!

You can draw whatever or whoever, but here are some of our ideas:

• Create a zine featuring some of the women who have inspired you throughout your life – e.g. artists, activists, teachers…

• Create a self-love zine, all about WONDERFUL YOU!

• Create a zine all about someone close to you (friend, Mum, partner) and give it to them as a reminder of how ACE they are!

Or if you’re a fan of Scarlett Curtis like we are, why not create a zine inspired by her book, Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies)!

Tag us in your work on Instagram #IWDzine

The challenge will run all week and we’ll pick at least one person to win a #SketchyB*tches tote bag!

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In London? Come to one of our IWD events!

Sketch The Rainbow!

Screw the blues - come sketch the rainbow!!

Yep, our #sketchtherainbow Instagram challenge is back to blast some colour into your grid and get your creative juices flowing this January!

And this time, we’re going BIG: with 2 full weeks of daily drawing prompts to give ourselves an extra boost of creative joy and confidence at a time when we need it most! What better way get through your dry/skint/sluggish January than with some silly sketchercises and a daily dose of pencil power!

The challenge kicks off on Monday 14th January, so go sharpen those pencils and get yourself set for a rainbow rave!

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Week 1:

Colour colour colour chameleon!!

Draw single colour images throughout week one. You can use whatever materials you’d like and draw digitally or by hand. You can also use a bit of black liner if that’s your thang!

For an extra challenge, draw something that is NOT commonly associated with that colour - e.g. instead of drawing a yellow banana you’d draw a blue one. Or instead of a red postbox you’d draw a green one. Instead of a red apple you’d draw an orange one. Etc etc!

1. Red

2. Orange

3. Yellow

4. Green

5. Blue

6. Purple

7. Pink

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Illustration by Claire Prouvost

Week 2

1. Draw this awesome Claire Prouvost illustration (above) - in your style and using ONLY red and blue (perfect way to cheer everyone up on a #Monday morning innit!!)

2. Draw a scene from a film or TV show using ONLY 2 colours

3. SPEED draw a scene using all 7 colours. You can draw whatever you fancy e-.g. a party scene or crowd full of colourful faces, lots of rainbow-coloured feet running through a busy railway station… just keep it colourful and QUICK!!
   
   Using as many colours as you like:

4. Draw something inspired by Kusama - you could even draw the woman herself (e.g. below) or a piece of her work in your style

5. Draw something Warhol-inspired (think about his bananas or Marilyn Monroe Pop Art!)

6. Draw something full of colourful #60vibes (e.g. Mary Quant!)

7. For your final challenge we’ve teamed up with the wonderwoman that is ReeRee Rockette!

   Give ReeRee a rad new rainbowhair style & you could win a FREE HAIRCUT AT ROCKAILILY CUTS - her awesome hair salon in Shoreditch!

Simply draw ReeRee’s portrait, giving her a rad new colourful hairstyle as you do so, post your pic on Instagram and tag us both in it, @sketchappeal and @rockalily . ReeRee will select and we’ll announce a winner at the end of January!

NB: If you’re not based in London unfortunately there’s no alternative prize from Rockalily, but either way you will receive a Sketchy Bitches tote bag and free copy of issue 2 when it arrives!

Go grab your sketchbook and get ready to rainbow the shit out of it!!

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Week 2 Day 2 = Draw a ‘sketchscene’ using only 2 colours!

Week 2 Day 4: Draw something Kusama-inspired, or draw the woman herself!

Draw Us In Your Style!

Thank you to everyone who joined in our #drawusinyourstyle challenge, in collaboration with Lucy & Yak!

We had over 60 entries and they were all FLIPPIN’ AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!

It was a tough call, but Lucy finally selected on this gorgeous illustration by Laura Titheridge as the winner! Laura won £75 to spend at Lucy & Yak and a bag of sketchy treats from us. NICE ONE LAURA!!

Laura’s #WINNING illustration!

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And here are just a few of our other faves…

Lovin’ your style Hollie Foskett !

We’ve never looked cuter, thanks to Danielle Mudd!

LOVED the Usborne Puzzle Adventures vibe on this one by Rohanne Sanders! Childhood dreams come true!!

Amber Renfrey

Rune Creative

Amanda Piera

Lucy Thorpe

Effie Bit

Rosie Smith

Close up of the exquisite papercut-in-progress by Lucy Thorpe. What an amazing piece of work - thank you so much Lucy!!

THOSE COLOURS THOUGH!!! Beautiful illo by Bea Doodles: our youngest entrant at just 16!! WOWSERS GIRL - YOU’RE GONNA GO FAR!!

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The ‘Muses’!

(From left to right, Sarah Fox, Dulcimer Draws & Laura Houghton)
Photographed by Kayti Peschke

MASSIVE thanks to Lucy & Yak for suppporting the challenge!

Secret Sketcher!

Last Christmas I Gave You My ART!

We love drawing and we LOVE Christmas: so we decided to create a brand-new Christmas tradition - SECRET SKETCHER!! (Like secret santa, but you draw someone a gift instead of buying them one!)

Sign up is now closed, but keep an eye on our Instagram on and around Christmas Day, when the ‘secret sketches’ will be revealed!

Thank you to the 150 + people who signed up to take part - can’t wait to see the results!!

Inktober

We’ve got a lot going on, what with the launch of issue 1, events and of course - The Great British Sketchoff challenge! But we love drawing with ink so much that we couldn’t resist throwing an Inktober challenge into the mix too!.

We’ll be doing it alongside you too, so look out for daily pics on our Insta stories. There’s no pressure to do all the prompts: just choose your faves and dip your nib in whenever you fancy!

As ever, we’d love to see your work: so please show, tell and tag us in it @sketchappeal !

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1. FACE

2. EYES

3. HANDS

4. MOUTH

5. FASHION

6. FOOTWEAR

7. LACE

8. SPOOKY

9. SNAKES

10. WITCHES

11. MONSTER

12. HAUNTED HOUSE

13. SKYSCRAPER

14. FILM

15. INSPIRED BY QUENTIN BLAKE

16. INSPIRED BY TIM BURTON

17. INSPIRED BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY

18. INSPIRED BY RALPH STEADMAN

19. BIBA-INSPIRED

20. DALI-INSPIRED

21. PICASSO-INSPIRED

22. LUCKY DIP - ANYTHING YOU LIKE!

23. CIRCUS

24. MASK

25. DANCER

26. FELINE

27. FAMOUS

28. OLD PHOTO

29. NIGHTTIME

30. BOOKS

31. FACES

ILLUSTRATIONS AVAILABLE AS PRINTS ON DULCIMERDRAWS.COM