Creative Challenges & Side Projects for Artists & Designers
Creative lulls can be an all-too-real thing for artists and designers. Not every project we work on sparks inspiration and these blocks can disrupt your workflow.
Luckily for us, the nice people of the internet have made plenty of prompt generator websites and creative challenges to help get us past our creative slumps.
These side projects are the perfect thing to revitalize your motivation or just to bolster your portfolio in your free time.
Daily Logo Challenge
Sometimes spending too much time on a project can bog you down mentally. The Daily Logo Challenge offers designers a great way to break out of that creative rut with their daily logo prompts. Just sign up with your email address and within minutes you’ll be sent your first design challenge. You’ll receive these prompts every morning for the next 50 days!
The Daily Logo Challenge is a fun opportunity to flex your creative muscles and work on your design skills and process. You shouldn’t feel daunted either. You can skip days, opt-out at any time, and there are no due dates to worry about. However, completing the project could be a great piece in your portfolio!
Branding, Marketing, and UX Design Challenges from Sharpen Design
The incredibly simple, yet wonderfully useful, Sharpen Design prompt generator is a must-try if you’re looking to hone your skills. Sharpen Design offers mock briefs in Branding, Marketing, and UX – all at the click of a button.
Just tap ‘New Challenge’ and you’ll be given a completely new design challenge. Sharpen Design keeps its prompts short and to-the-point but leaves plenty of room for you to get creative.
Paris Collage Collective Weekly Challenge
Break the mould of your process with the Paris Collage Collective’s Weekly Challenge. Artists are challenged to create a mixed media piece based on a new image each week. Hop-in or out whenever you feel like just make sure you tag it #pariscollageclub on Instagram for a chance to be crowned the best of the week!
36 Days of Type Typography Challenge
Officially occurring for only 36 days each year, the 36 Days of Type Challenge has outgrown its official dates to go all year round. Adopted by many in the creative community as a personal project, 36 Days of Types challenges designers to express their interpretation of a single letterform every day... for 36 days.
You can take this project on yourself and share your creations on Instagram with the hashtag #36daysoftype.
WTF Should I Letter
Looking to expand on some of your letterform concepts from the 36 Days of Type? Or maybe just experiment more with the art of lettering? Then WTF Should I Letter is for you. This prompt generator gives you cheeky phrases to use in your next typography project. Quit wasting your creative energy on finding the perfect phrase and go straight to the fun stuff.
Illustrator, Photoshop, & Xd Challenges on Behance
These Behance challenges are a great way to learn new design methods or brush up on some old ones. You can follow along with daily challenges or dive into all the past challenge time frames and pick your favourites to learn. Each task comes with an instructional video and focuses on different tools and effects in either Illustrator, Photoshop, or Adobe Xd.
BONUS: Art Idea Generators
Get straight into the artistic action with these art prompt generators.
By Harlen Malkowich