30 Day Drawing Challenge for Beginners: One Easy Prompt a Day
A 30 day drawing challenge is a simple deal with yourself: one small drawing a day, for 30 days. Below are 30 easy prompts, ten minutes each, on any paper with any pen. They start with things on your desk and end with places you remember from your travels.
You don't need to be good at drawing. You need to be willing to finish ten minutes.
The rules (there are only five)
- Ten minutes a day. Set a timer; when it rings, stop.
- Any paper, any pen. A receipt works. A sketchbook is nicer.
- No erasing. Cross out if you must, or draw the line again beside it.
- Date every page, and note the place in a word or two.
- Don't judge on the day. Look at your pages after day 30, not before.
Week 1: things near you (days 1–7)
Draw what you can see without leaving the room.
- Day 1: your favourite mug
- Day 2: a pair of shoes, one tilted
- Day 3: a piece of fruit
- Day 4: a houseplant
- Day 5: everything from your bag, laid out
- Day 6: a chair
- Day 7: the view from your window, as three big shapes
Week 2: places on your route (days 8–14)
Time to go out, or at least to look out.
- Day 8: the front door of a building
- Day 9: a street corner
- Day 10: a bridge or a staircase
- Day 11: a café table
- Day 12: a tree you pass every day
- Day 13: a bus or tram stop
- Day 14: a line of rooftops
Week 3: light and mood (days 15–21)
The same world looks different at different hours. Draw how it feels, not only what it is.
- Day 15: morning light on a wall
- Day 16: a long shadow
- Day 17: a rainy window
- Day 18: evening lights in a street
- Day 19: a reflection in water or glass
- Day 20: a lamp at night
- Day 21: the object from day 1, drawn again
The last stretch: trips and memories (days 22–30)
- Day 22: a place from your last trip, from memory
- Day 23: a souvenir on your shelf
- Day 24: a market stall
- Day 25: a landmark in your city, small
- Day 26: a street in another city, copied from a photo you took
- Day 27: your dream place to sit and draw
- Day 28: a hand-drawn map of your neighbourhood
- Day 29: a tiny house on a hill
- Day 30: your favourite page so far, drawn again
What to do when you miss a day
You will. The challenge doesn't end; it moves. Do two prompts the next day, or skip one and carry on. If you miss a week, restart from where you stopped. The aim is 30 drawings, not 30 consecutive days.
Tips for staying with it
- Pick a fixed time. Right after coffee, or right before dinner.
- Keep the sketchbook where you'll see it. On the table, not in a bag.
- Draw small. A page the size of a postcard is enough.
- Put the 30 prompts on the first page so you don't have to decide each morning.
- Look back on day 30, then flip to day 1 and compare. The change is usually larger than people expect, but only your own pages will show it.
When a prompt every day is too much
Thirty days in a row suits some people and stresses others. A gentler rhythm is one prompt a week.
SketchMap Atlas is a free app for sketchers with a weekly challenge: one simple theme a week and a gallery of everyone's answers, so you can see how other people drew the same prompt. Tap "Accept the challenge," draw on paper, photograph the page and add it. You can add where you drew it and the date, and the sketch goes on a world map. If you'd rather keep it to yourself, hide it from the shared map and only you see it.
Free to start, with up to 30 works and 3 folders on the free plan.
More to explore
- 25 Easy Things to Sketch: a bigger pool of small subjects.
- 30 City Sketch Prompts: a ready list for the street.
- the gallery: sketches by well-known artists for inspiration.
Questions
Can I do a drawing challenge with no experience?
Yes. Prompts here are objects and places everyone knows. Ten minutes and a pen are enough.
How long should each drawing take?
About ten minutes. If you finish early, stop. If you want more, add a second page, but keep the daily one short.
What if I don't like my drawings?
That is normal in the first two weeks. Date the page and keep going; the comparison with day 1 is the reward.
Should I post my daily drawings online?
Only if you want to. Your sketchbook is yours. Share what you're happy with, and keep any pages made at home off public maps.
Illustrations in this article are AI-generated (Google Flow).
