20 December 2016

Why I'm Doing a Month-Long Colouring Challenge

During October I did a month long art challenge called Inktober which really helped me to improve my inking skills so this December I decided to do something similar. I decided to do a month long colouring challenge where I aim to colour in a whole colouring book before Christmas Day. It's proved to be very difficult but I think that I'm really benefiting from the challenge so I thought I'd share the idea with you in this post.
The reason I thought of this idea was because I saw the colouring book called 'Colour Yourself Advent Christmas Countdown' that was drawn by Heartfelt Illustrations (see the Facebook profile on this link). The book inspired me because it seemed that there was a page for every day of the month so I decided to colour one page every day. Unfortunately December is a very busy month so I haven't done one page per day but have tried my best to get close to that target. I used my Prismacolour pencils and gel pens o colour all of the pages and it's been really useful for me. This page was for the 1st of Decemeber and was a snowman. I learnt a lot from this first page because looking back I can see that I went a little overboard on the snowflake details so on future pages I didn't draw anything onto the backgrounds.

 One of the main things that I have improved on during this challenge is blending without blending tools. Normally, I would sue a colourless blender pencil or a blending stump to help me to create a smooth gradient. However, during this challenge I decided not to use any blending tools. This has meant that each page takes about double the time than usual, but now I have really improved my blending skills. I've found lots of ways to blend properly now such as: using a white pencil, using varied pressure on my pencils, building up tone gradually, etc. I struggled on the first few days to go without blending tools but after a while it got easier.
 By the time I coloured page five, I had got very behind on the daily schedule. I had to start catching up with colouring fast. I'm still actually behind by nine pages. I think that doing colouring almost every day has helped me with my working speed. I struggle with time management so I try my best to do organisation and time limits, etc but doing month-long challenges has proved to be the most effective method to help me with time management. I've never produced more art or colouring than during Inktober and the colouring challenge this month,



Another reason that I've done this challenge is not only to improve my colouring, but for fun too. I love Christmas so a Christmas themed colouring book is perfect for me. Colouring in festive art every day is great because it gets me excited for Christmas. There's only 5 days until Christmas now! Can you believe it? Christmas is my favourite time of year so I try my best to make it last. I love chocolate advent calendars but this colouring one is really unique. It's been great counting down the days until Christmas with this because it's something a little different and keeps me busy all the time. I've only shown you photos of some of the pages but half of them have activities on them which inspire me.


 I'm looking forward to next December too because I can display my advent calendar once it's finished. This year I haven't displayed it because I would have had to take it up and down to switch between colouring and displaying it. I think it's great that with this book you can use it as a colouring book and a calendar because I can look back next year and see how my colour application has changed. Maybe I'll even colour another one next year to compare them-who knows? It's nice to look back on old art or colouring or anything because it shows that with practise I can improve my skills and techniques. It keeps me motivated to carry on even if I aren't happy with my current skill. If you're an artist,colourer(I'm not sure what it's called),etc  then I recommend that you look back at old art or colouring to keep you going.

 Overall this challenge has been difficult but worth it. Every time I do a month-long challenge, it's very tiring for me but when reflecting back on it I feel proud of what I've achieved. I know that some people just think colouring is a hobby, but for me colouring helps me to improve colour application for my own art. That's why I feel like doing this challenge is a real achievement because I'll be able to see a difference in my own art next year. Hopefully next time I do a month-long challenge I'll have time to do it every day as planned. Maybe it would be wise not to choose December for my month-long challenge next time! It's a busy time of year so doing this has been a little stressful. I've loved building up the colouring book though and seeing what I can do when I really push myself. I hope that I've inspired you to do a month-long challenge whether you use an official one like Inktober or come up with your own like I have this month!

That's all for this week's post. Sorry that I missed last week but as you can see from this post I've been very busy recently. I've noticed that although I set a schedule of posting every week, I keep missing a post. Therefore, I think that in the new year I might make a few changes to the schedule and my blog so that it's less stressful for me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed seeing my colouring pages and hearing about this challenge.

Over to you...
Have you ever done a month-long challenge? Tell me about it in the comments. Do you enjoy colouring, any tips? Also, what are you doing for Christmas? I'd love to know.




8 comments:

  1. This was so interesting to read about, Megan! I have loved seeing your creations on instagram. I wasnt sure if you had had a chance to read your mail? I sent an email about a week ago, and also I just posted your letter.
    New blog: rosiemaearoha.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you so much Rosie, I'm glad that you enjoyed it! I think I did read your e-mail a while back, I'm sorry that I didn't reply. I've been a bit scatter brained recently! :D Yout letter just arrived yesterday and I loved it so much! Thank you for your lovely presents and beautiful letter, I'm about yo create a Christmas themed letter for you! Sorry that I haven't left a comment on your new blog yet but it looks great, I've bookmarked it so I can comment soon! :D

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    2. Thank you so much Rosie, I'm glad that you enjoyed it! I think I did read your e-mail a while back, I'm sorry that I didn't reply. I've been a bit scatter brained recently! :D Yout letter just arrived yesterday and I loved it so much! Thank you for your lovely presents and beautiful letter, I'm about yo create a Christmas themed letter for you! Sorry that I haven't left a comment on your new blog yet but it looks great, I've bookmarked it so I can comment soon! :D

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  2. Hey Megan! First of all I'm just going to start off by saying that I LOVE your new blog background! The pale green goes so well with the holly and it looks super festive! And happy belated Christmas!! <3

    I've absolutely loved watching your progress through this awesome colouring challenge throughout the month! And it's inspiring me to have a go too! Because oh my, I assumed that you'd used blending tools to colour each page in but you didn't! Your amazing talent at colouring with Prismacolor pencils just goes to show that it's worth doing a colouring challenge like this! And gosh I'm so jealous. xD I find it super hard to blend with my Prismacolor pencils and keep using the white pencil but it always gets covered in the other colours and makes a mess. >.< I'm working on it though and will hopefully somewhat be able to achieve your level too one day! :D (I think I need more practise with colouring haha!)Not to mention, I love the lineart by Heartfelt Illustrations - every page is a festive delight and I'm itching to colour those pages in too!

    It's really interesting how you picked up varying techniques as you progressed, like avoiding the blending tools for advanced practise and developing a strict daily schedule like in Inktober! Those are some excellent colouring/art tips too! <3

    I'm guessing you used yellow to add lighting highlights at the centre of the red post box? It looks brilliant! :D The gingerbread men one is also another one of my favourites you coloured in this calendar because I just adore the colours you chose! Kind of crimson, red and brown mixed with seasonal green! The shading on the gingerbread men also really allow them to have some kind of centre of attention, the way that you've built a lighter tone in the middle of each one of them. C:

    Beautiful work Megan!! It shows that you've achieved so much by completing this challenge... I wonder what a spring/summer one would look like soon this year? :D (or should I say next year? xD 2017 is so close!)

    I haven't as many tips as you in colouring since you have better experience at it than me(!) but if I have learned something it's that it's always best to start light and gradually get darker as you go along and plan out exactly where the light source is coming from and any additional features you plan to add.

    Looking forward to seeing more of your posts! <3 (LOL that's a great new year's resolution btw! 8D)

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    1. Hey kenza! Oh thank you very much! Happy belated Crhsitmas to you too ha-ha! I hope you had a great time! What did you get?

      I'm so happy that you've enjoyes watching me colour my way through the book! It was a lot of fun for me to do it too! Actually, I'm looking forward to uploading the last few pages of the colouring book so I can feel accomplished. I find that you're colouring is amazing too! That fish question mark picture was stunning and whenever you do a piece of art in prismacolor it looks great too! I think our colouring styles are just different. When we did the fish question mark page at the same time, your page was gorgeous because of how subtle the colour was, they were both good in different ways so don't think that you have to be better because you already are great with colour. My white pencil is at a tiny little stump noe and I think I might have lost it in my sofa type thing in my bedroom too! I think a ll my pencils have given up the will to carry on ha-ha! I agree- I loved the lineart too!

      I found it to be a really interesting learning tool too. I think that some people don't take colouring very seriously because they think it's just for children but I believe that people should do it more often!Particularly artists because it can be really helpful to improve like you said.

      Yes I used a pale yellow/cream for the centre, I wanted to add a warmth to the picture as well as a highlight. Thank you so much! That was probably one of the page sthat took the longest amount of time but I think that it was one of those where time really paid off. I liked the plum tones that I used for the banner. I don't often use those colours from my Prismacolor set so it was nice to try them out.

      That's a great tip. It's something that out art teacher tells us whenever we so coloured art but shhh...I always do the opposite tee-hee! I know that people say start light for a reason but I guess I've just got into the habit of starting off dark. It alays seems to turn out alright because I always go back and add white/light tones anyway which works well. I should probably practice staring from light to dark just in case I can't fix something. :')

      Thank you, I always look forward to your kind comments too! That reminds me, I have been meaning to comment on one of your posts recently so I'll do that as soon as I can! :)

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    2. Hey kenza! Oh thank you very much! Happy belated Crhsitmas to you too ha-ha! I hope you had a great time! What did you get?

      I'm so happy that you've enjoyes watching me colour my way through the book! It was a lot of fun for me to do it too! Actually, I'm looking forward to uploading the last few pages of the colouring book so I can feel accomplished. I find that you're colouring is amazing too! That fish question mark picture was stunning and whenever you do a piece of art in prismacolor it looks great too! I think our colouring styles are just different. When we did the fish question mark page at the same time, your page was gorgeous because of how subtle the colour was, they were both good in different ways so don't think that you have to be better because you already are great with colour. My white pencil is at a tiny little stump noe and I think I might have lost it in my sofa type thing in my bedroom too! I think a ll my pencils have given up the will to carry on ha-ha! I agree- I loved the lineart too!

      I found it to be a really interesting learning tool too. I think that some people don't take colouring very seriously because they think it's just for children but I believe that people should do it more often!Particularly artists because it can be really helpful to improve like you said.

      Yes I used a pale yellow/cream for the centre, I wanted to add a warmth to the picture as well as a highlight. Thank you so much! That was probably one of the page sthat took the longest amount of time but I think that it was one of those where time really paid off. I liked the plum tones that I used for the banner. I don't often use those colours from my Prismacolor set so it was nice to try them out.

      That's a great tip. It's something that out art teacher tells us whenever we so coloured art but shhh...I always do the opposite tee-hee! I know that people say start light for a reason but I guess I've just got into the habit of starting off dark. It alays seems to turn out alright because I always go back and add white/light tones anyway which works well. I should probably practice staring from light to dark just in case I can't fix something. :')

      Thank you, I always look forward to your kind comments too! That reminds me, I have been meaning to comment on one of your posts recently so I'll do that as soon as I can! :)

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  3. I see that you add loads of tone - awesome! It looks so realistic, my favourite is the cute gingerbread man! xx
    anaeldaydreamer.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you! It was fun and relaxing to add lots of tone. I thought the gingerbread lineart was cute too!:D

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