Hey folks! I wanted to share with you a drawing challenge that can be a great exercise for finding your style and figuring out economy of line in your art!
It's called the 8 Minute Drawing Challenge (#8minutedraw) and it goes like this:
Pick a subject, could be anything. Like a dog, or a truck, or a helicopter, or a self portrait, or a tree house. I drew a tank this time.
list itemGrab a sheet of paper and divide it into 6 even sections.
Click play on this 8 minute timer video: http://youtu.be/jsrQ6Iynx4w and when the timer starts you have 4 minutes to draw your subject in one of the sections.
When it beeps again you start another drawing in the second section, but this time you only have 2 minutes to draw it.
Then do it in 1 minute. Then 30 seconds. Then 15 seconds. And finally 5 seconds.
Now compare your drawings. Post it online with the hashtag #8minutedraw
It's also a great exercise for getting faster at drawing. Kind of like sprint training for artists.
Post your drawings here, I'd love to see how it goes for you.
You can watch me do the challenge here: https://youtu.be/06GxNHHREJA
@Jake-Parker This way really fun and hard, I drew a sneaker and I started laughing by the end as the time flew by faster and faster. The last is just a scribble. Wow...ps you got an impressive amount of detail in on your last 4 panels with under a min left. 
@Jake-Parker I really enjoyed this and I am definitely going to make this a part of my daily morning routine. It really does force you to let go of all the details and think about each drawing differently. Was really a lot of fun!
I failed magnificently 
You guys did awesome!!
HIppoooooooooooo
It's is fun watching these come through!
Great to see these everyone!
One key thing to remember is to get a finished drawing down during each time segment. Think of the entire character or subject and how you might simplify and simplify each time so that you get to the essence of what your subject matter is. The 5 sec drawing should still show the entire character, head and body, only simplified. I know it's hard, but that's what this exercise is about!
Check out Anthony Holden's stab at it today. he's a great example of this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBDWzOsRccR/
And here's some other good one's posted on instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBDkVPDqw3b/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBDcX-yhP3Q/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBDOaRxojjW/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBDHTrcuBw9/
Ok, ok, I know: I'm not Speedy Gonzales.
@Jake-Parker This is an excellent exercise for improving the lines of action when drawing body gestures from life.
At university we often started the sessions with the timer reversed. Several poses of 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 30 seconds... finally a long one.
Oy Vey!
Thanks! That was fun 
Just got a Google Cardboard, so my wife suggested the topic. Thanks Jake for a fun exercise!
Had to do another one this morning as a warm up. Man it does get your blood pumping!
Picasso did something very similar to this challenge in 1945. He used a bull so I figured I would too...We basically came to the same conclusion 
Oh dear, haha. I'm going to have to practice and do something about this....great challenge Jake! I will be doing more, it was a good exercise. Hope it's okay if we hashtag multiple pictures. I intend to improve upon this first one.
@Jake-Parker I really enjoyed this and I am definitely going to make this a part of my daily morning routine. It really does force you to let go of all the details and think about each drawing differently. Was really a lot of fun!
