Want to harness the power of sketching? Sketchtober, a challenge for UI/UX designers is here!
Want to practice sketching but just haven’t been able to? Well, great news for you. Announcing Sketchtober, a month-long challenge for everyone to practice sketching daily for a month.
Inspired by Inktober, Sketchtober is a challenge for anyone who wants to harness the power of sketching to supercharge their ideation, iterate upon an idea, and share their ideas to get feedback.
List of UX Sketching prompts
- Shapes
- Arrows
- Connectors
- Buttons
- People
- Icons
- Lettering
- Text Fields
- Annotations
- Gestures
- Dashboard
- Expressions
- Tools
- Forms
- Charts
- Faces
- Date Picker
- Tab Bars
- Maps
- Car Dashboard
- Your choice!
- Cards
- Transportation
- Profile Page
- Service Blueprint
- Persona
- Journey Map
- Chat Screen
- Diagrams
- Navbar
- Menus
Sketchtober Instructions
- Research the prompt
- Set a daily goal and keep sketching until you reach the goal
- Share your sketches with friends or on online using the hashtag #Sketchtober19
Research the prompt
Research ideas for the prompt before sketching. Here are some resources to get you started.
- The Noun Project
- Bootstrap
- iStockPhoto
- Dribbble
- Mobbin
- Material Design Guidelines
- Apple Human Interface Guidelines
- Awwwards
- Font Awesome
Set a daily goal and keep sketching until you reach the goal
Set an achievable yet challenging daily goal for your sketching. Your daily goal could be based on time, space, or quantity.
For example
- Time-based goal: Set a goal to sketch for 10 minutes every day. Keep increasing the time to keep it challenging.
- Space-based goal: Set a goal to fill up a page in your sketchbook using the prompt for the day.
- Quantity-based goal: Sketch a specific amount of the prompt for the day, for example, you can decide to sketch 10 different examples for the prompt of the day.
Sketch the prompt for the day and keep sketching until you reach the goal you have set for yourself.
Share your sketches!
Share your sketches with friends and online using the hashtag #Sketchtober19 to add accountability and so others can be inspired.
Things to remember
- Use a pen when you can! By using a pen you will practice sketching faster and will be less likely to try to make your sketch perfect.
- Don’t jump to the next day! If you finish early challenge yourself to continue sketching until you have completed your goal for the day.
- Keep increasing the daily goal as you get comfortable!
- Steal like an artist! There is no shame in copying something while you are practicing as long as you don’t claim it as your own creation. By copying you will be able to perfectly practice and speed up your learning. If you share what you copied, make sure to credit the source!
- Don’t go for perfection!
- Experiment, experiment, experiment! Try out new types of pens, pencils, markers, and papers.
- Don’t self-edit! Let your ideas out, let them run free!
- Have fun!
In closing
A small investment in time each day is going to pay off at the end of the challenge. You won’t even have to wait till the end, you will start to notice a change in how you approach sketching and your mindset even during the challenge. You will be on your way to becoming a Sketching Machine!
The goal of the Sketchtober challenge is for you to get in the habit of sketching consistently. It’s not about how perfect your sketches are, it’s about getting your ideas out of your head to share with others so you can have the right conversations to move your ideas forward.
Remember to share your sketches using #Sketchtober19 to follow along, learn and be inspired by other participants of this challenge. Make it fun and challenge your friends and coworkers to join the challenge with you.
You got this. Go forth and sketch! 💪🏾
Need help or have questions about Sketchtober? Reach out on Twitter or Instagram
