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This is the blog home of #kidlitart, a live Twitter chat Thursdays at 9:00 pm Eastern, for children's book illustrators, picture book authors, author/illustrators and friends. Check back weekly to read transcripts, comment on previous chats and suggest topics for upcoming chats.


Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Twenty-Eight Day Art Challenge

Howdy, #kidlitart-ers!

We're so happy you're jumping into February's Twenty-Eight Day Challenge with us.

The topic for the chat on January 22nd was all about finding your voice as an illustrator. Our idea is to give y'all a chance to springboard yourselves further into finding the answer to that question.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Draw something every day for the month of February. (Or really, as often as you can.) The medium is up to you: traditional, digital, combined mediums-whatever works.

2. Each day should feature a theme, creature, idea, character, etc. that you LOVE. You are illustrating things that you are ALL ABOUT. Not just as an artist. As a person. What tickles your fancy? What do you geek out about? What stories would you tell if you just had the chance?

b. You can choose to focus on ONE theme the entire month, or do a different theme every day.

3. The finish of each illustration is up to you. It can be a simple pencil or pen sketch, or you can take it all the way to full color.
      
      b. You can challenge yourself by setting a time limit. Say, 28 minutes? 

4. Post every day (or as often as you can) to tumblr, Facebook, etc., but especially Twitter (so #kidlitart-ers can see) your love of the day. And tag it with #kidlitart28

5. No, you do not have to be an official member of #kidlitart to participate. Everyone is welcome.

Our hope is that at the end of this challenge you will be able to look back at these sketches and see the stories, themes, and characters that appeal to you the most. With a bank of beloved topics, who wouldn't be inspired to then create a new picture book, comic, or novel? Wouldn't you want to take at least one of those illustrations further and see where they take you?

We hope so.

So start brainstorming about what you'd be happy to draw for twenty-eight days straight. Challenge kicks off on February 1st.

-Diandra