Drawing the same way every day gets boring. Drawing challenges add rules, games and goals that make practice fun – and many of them secretly train important skills. Here are 25 drawing challenges you can do alone, with friends or with a class.
Random challenge in one click: the drawing randomizer gives you a subject plus random rules and a time limit.
Solo drawing challenges
- Blind contour. Draw an object without looking at your paper. Trains hand–eye coordination.
- One continuous line. Never lift your pen from start to finish.
- Non-dominant hand. Your lines will be wobbly and surprisingly expressive.
- Five-minute timer. Capture only the essentials.
- Same subject, five styles. Draw one cat as cartoon, realistic, pixel art, manga and minimal line art.
- Draw it upside down. Turn a reference photo upside down and copy it. You’ll draw shapes, not symbols.
- Three-color limit. Pick three colors and use nothing else. Try the color palette prompt generator for a palette.
- Shapes only. Build an animal from circles, squares and triangles.
- 100 small drawings. Fill a page with 100 tiny doodles of one theme.
- Shadow only. Draw only the dark areas of an object, no outlines.
- Draw your room in one-point perspective.
- Redraw an old drawing. Compare it with the original to see your progress.
Challenges to do with friends
- Exquisite corpse. Fold paper into three. One person draws a head, folds it over, the next draws a body, the last draws legs. Unfold and laugh.
- Same prompt, different artists. Everyone draws the same idea from the drawing prompt generator and compares.
- Drawing telephone. One person writes a sentence, the next draws it, the next writes what they see, and so on.
- Speed rounds. 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes – draw the same subject at each speed.
- Describe and draw. One person describes a picture without saying what it is; the other draws it.
- Spin the wheel. Take turns on the drawing idea wheel.
- Draw each other. Five-minute portraits, then swap.
Long-term challenges
- 30-day challenge. One prompt per day for a month. Generate yours with the 30-day mode on the drawing prompt generator, or use our 31-day drawing challenge list.
- Hand a day. Draw one hand every day for a month.
- One page per week. Fill a sketchbook page with one theme each week – see our drawing themes list.
- Draw this in your style. Pick an artwork you admire and redraw it in your own style (credit the original if you share it).
- Character a day. Generate a new OC with the character prompt generator every day.
- Bestiary. Invent and draw 20 creatures using the mythical creature generator.
Tips for enjoying drawing challenges
- Embrace bad drawings. Most challenges are designed to be uncomfortable. That’s where learning happens.
- Keep them short. A challenge that takes 10 minutes is easier to repeat.
- Track your results. Date your challenge pages to see your progress.
- Make it social. Challenges are more fun when someone else is doing them too.
Looking for subjects to use in your challenges? Try our list of hard things to draw or the 150 drawing prompts.
Frequently asked questions
What is a drawing challenge?
A drawing challenge is a set of rules or a goal that makes drawing more interesting – for example, drawing without lifting your pen, drawing in five minutes, or drawing the same subject in different styles.
What are good drawing challenges for friends?
Exquisite corpse (fold-and-pass drawing), draw-the-same-prompt, telephone drawing and 30-second speed rounds are all great fun in a group.
Do drawing challenges actually help you improve?
Yes. Challenges push you out of habits and target specific skills like observation, line confidence, color choice and speed.