I think we can all agree that 2025 was a tough year. It was a rollercoaster year for me with several downs. But one of the ups was that I reconnected with drawing.

For years I doubted my drawing abilities, thinking I wasn’t “good enough”. This mindset kept me from drawing and creating for a long time. But in 2025 with everything else being topsy-turvy, I thought, “What the hell? Why not just try drawing again?”

So, I signed up for a Skillshare membership and took several courses on Procreate. I also joined a couple other artist tutorial membership programs.

By the end of the year, I was feeling confident in my Procreate skills and feeling better about my drawing abilities overall.

In December on Instagram, I started seeing all these posts about different art challenges. I’ve seen these types of posts throughout the years, but again I let self-doubt talk me out of participating in one.

Not this year though!

2025 already robbed me enough. I wasn’t going to let it rob me of the fun and enjoyment I’d get from participating in one of these art challenges.

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I discovered a post for the Merry Melodies art challenge hosted by several illustrators I’m a fan of. Out of all the art challenges, this one inspired me the most. I made a commitment to myself that I would complete this art challenge and stay on track with the weekly prompts.

Each week the prompt was to create an illustration inspired by one of the Christmas songs given for the week.

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Not only was I able to complete the challenge from week to week, but I looked forward to it every week.

This art challenge kept me motivated to keep drawing even though December was a busy, depressing month.

It kept me coming back to my art.

What also kept me coming back week after week was the improvement I was already seeing in my illustrations. These were some of the first illustrations I created without following a tutorial.

Before this art challenge I was a little nervous about creating full scene illustrations on my own without a tutorial. I still had that lingering self-doubt telling me my illustrations wouldn’t be “good enough”.

By participating in this challenge, I proved to myself I can create illustrations on my own without a tutorial.

I can rely on my own imagination and skills to draw a scene.

I still have a lot to improve on. I have a lot left to learn. But I didn’t worry about my art being “perfect”. I had to post it before the next week’s prompt. This timeline kept me from fixating on perfectionism.

 I just allowed my illustrations to be what they were and be proud of myself for creating something.

I’m proud of myself for following through on my commitment to myself. I’m proud of myself for creating 4 original illustrations. I’m proud of myself for coming back to my art week after week despite all the busyness and emotions in December.

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 There were several art challenges going on in December that seemed like they’d be fun, but when I read about the Merry Melodies challenge, I was instantly inspired.

This excitement kept me committed instead of faltering halfway through the challenge. So even if an art challenge sounds cute, wait until you have that excitement to sustain you through the whole challenge.

Instead of having your focus on making sure your art is perfect before posting it, be more concerned about posting it on schedule. You could spend days and days on one drawing and still compare it to others.

An art challenge is a great time to practice, “don’t make it perfect, make it done.”

It’s so fun to see how differently everyone’s brains work. Celebrate the uniqueness of everyone’s different perspective. This is a great way to practice admiring people’s work without comparing yours to theirs. This is your first art challenge and for others it may be their 50^th.

If you start to feel like you’re comparing, close out of the app. Pull up your own illustration and remind yourself of all the things you love about it.

*If you want to gain more creative confidence in just one week, subscribe to my newsletter to receive your FREE copy of the 7-Day Confidence Building Workbook*

This is a challenge for you. It’s not something you’re being graded on or are going to win money from. This is a time to practice making consistent art, creating a drawing schedule that works for you, and exercising your drawing muscles. Practice makes progress.

I decided I wanted all my illustrations to be animated. If you check out my art Instagram account @kayladonndesigns, you’ll be able to see how I animated all my illustrations. This made the art challenge even more exciting for me.

There are a number of ways to add your own challenge. You could have a limited color palette, you could draw all of them in different styles, you could only use one color, etc.

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Look back on the illustrations you created for the art challenge. Vocalize where you see improvements in your art over the course of the challenge.

Write down your thoughts on how the art challenge went for you. What did you learn from it? What will you take away from it? What could you improve on next time? Did the drawing schedule you created help you?

This is helpful to look back on for your next art challenge.

You completed your first art challenge, and you should be very proud of yourself! You made a commitment to yourself and you stuck with it! You tried something and you learned from it! Congratulations!

I can’t wait to participate in more art challenges in 2026 and maybe even host my own!

Are you planning on joining an art challenge this year? If so I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments!