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Creating an Instagram Illustration challenge is an all-in-one experience that I totally recommend to do. YES! It is a challenging path but absolutely worth it.
I’ve participated in three awesome illustration challenges but the one I’m about to talk is the first one I created from scratch. One of the fun parts is that you get to collaborate with wonderful artists from all around the world and that gives you and your work another perspective. You get to have a closer glance from other people’s work and techniques.
In my case, I teamed up with the talented Irina. She’s an illustrator from Russia yet she’s based in Paris. Even though I don’t know Irina in person, we have so much in common. For example, we both are animal lovers and the way we worked together was so easy and amazing. You may think the distance could be a problem but it isn’t. At least not with her. Hope she says the same!
Irina has a wonderful illustration technique. When you visit her Instagram profile, I’m sure you’ll love it! You will find a lot of texture, colors, and a really fun way to see things. It’s hilarious! Go and give her some love!
Irina and I participated in a fun challenge called #animaladventuresweek and since we both are animal lovers, we decided to make our own.
First, we worked on the prompts. We were for sure, those prompts had to be all animals but not the regular animals we are used to see. We wanted to work with some fantastic ones and thanks to that, we came with the name of our challenge #incrediblecreaturesweek.
When you already have a theme, you’ll need to come up with the prompts. These will depend on the days of your challenge. For example; we wanted a five-day-challenge so we needed 5 prompts related with the name of our challenge so the name is #incrediblecreaturesweek and our prompts are the following:
1. Insects
2. Famous animals
3. Mythical creatures
4. Dinosaurs
5. Imaginary animals
Remember, we wanted incredible animals, different ones.
Before you look for your hosts (which is our next step) you may have an estimated date your challenge will be launched. I really recommend you to set a 5-day-challenge for 5 prompts. Of course you can work as many days and prompts as you want but it’s not an easy task. It’s a lot of work and effort.
Anyway, after setting the prompts and your theme, you’ll have to set the dates you want to start the challenge. IMPORTANT! Think in advance. For example; If you want to have your challenge in September, you should contact your hosts a month before. That’s only for you to have enough time in case some people you wanted in your challenge couldn’t be your hosts.
For me, ten is a good number of hosts for creating an instagram illustration challenge. Irina and I looked for illustrators whom love animals for sure but also illustrators with quite large community. We looked for those who have from 8k to 15k followers and the reason is that we can reach more artists to join #incrediblecreaturesweek.
If your account is a small one, don’t worry, you can reach illustrators from 1k to 5k but it’s important to have a big host so you can have a bigger audience.
This is one of the hardest parts because if they don’t follow you, maybe they won’t be able to see your DM. You have to be patient and wait but if patience isn’t your thing, you can write on one of their posts to make sure they read your DM. Your approach needs to be strong so they feel excited and want to join you.
Consider that many illustrators haven’t been part of a challenge so your first message needs to be clear and catchy. Make sure to tell them the theme and possible dates so they can check if they’re available.
Many will tell you they are super busy so I recommend you to have at least 15 different options.
GREAT! You already have your hosts! Now you need to create a group on Instagram and tell them everything about the challenge. The final name, final dates and when is every host sharing the information with their fllwrs through a prompt post.
Wait! You didn’t tell us before about this “prompt day post”, well, don’t worry. This is only the art that will help you and your hosts to spread the word about your challenge. Its main purpose is to invite your followers, friends and other illustrators to join you in your adventure for a week. I may recommend you to post this prompt day image at least two weeks before your challenge begins. And every host must post it the same day as you so you can reach more people.
How about checking out the #IncredibleCreaturesWeek prompt illustration and get a little bit of inspiration…
Making some Instagram stories will help you to keep everyone interested in your challenge. You may prepare some good stories before the challenge begins. Make them interesting, fun, cool and share them in advance.
I know, I know! This step can be obvious but I would never do a prompt the same day it has to be posted so my recommendation will always be that you work on your ideas at least within two weeks.
Getting your illustrations ready, can be really exhausting, that’s for sure but it’s also super fun to take your time for something you love.
The day has finally come! You’re challenge has started. You and every host will have to post their concept of the first prompt… and here is where the fun starts!
Enjoy every creation! I like to see how the same prompt is interpreted in a different and cool way. I guess that’s one of the things I like the most about making an illustration challenge on Instagram.
So now you can create your own challenge!
