Art and its format have always been changing. Art is always adapting and so is the formats that are on. Art today is expressed either physically (such as art shows) and now digitally (on websites). Digital art, which is an art form that I am relatively new to, is probably one of the most profitable art forms nowadays. However, to me, digital art is not always about creating pieces digitally. People still create pieces physically, but they don't publish the pieces physically. They mostly upload it to sites such as Instagram and YouTube.

As someone who follows a lot of artist on websites such as Instagram and YouTube, I found a pattern that these kinds of artists tend to do other than the methods I stated above. This pattern is an artist challenge.

Artist challenge can be anything really. The most popular ones are usually those who limit the artist of their materials. For example, one trend is called the Three Marker Challenge. This challenge, as you can tell, limits the person to only 3 markers. Therefore, they are limited in things such as colors and thickness.

After following these artists for quite a while, I decided to try one of these challenges myself. Before I was a bit hesitant because A) I wouldn't even know what to do and B) I don't think I have the right kind of supplies. Yet, coincidentally and humorously, I realized that my art experience, as a self-taught artist, was a challenge of its own. I was limited to supplies and papers growing up because my mom couldn't afford much and my school didn't have many supplies. So, I decided to try one out.

The challenge I chose was one I wanted to do for a while but couldn't because it fell more into the realm of digital art rather than physical art- The Palette Challenge.

What is the Palette Challenge?

The palette challenge is what is sounds like: create a piece out of a given palette. After googling the name of the challenge into google images, I found one that's been passed around through Tumblr for a while. I am not entirely sure who originally created the palettes, but I liked the specifics of this one. The rules are simple:

Someone would send me a character and a palette, and I would draw a character.

However, I wanted to give myself as much creative freedom as I could with this challenge, so I made some changes and exceptions:

1. Black, white, and some grays are accepted in all of the palettes

2. Slightly darker and lighter tones of the colors in the palette can be used to help emphasize light and shadow

3. Skin tones can be used if the palette did not provide one, but the skin tones shouldn't distract the viewer from the initial colors

4. Since I lacked friends and time to wait for friends to suggest palettes, I would choose some randomly or mood.

With these limitations and exceptions, I started the challenge.

The Results

I made 5 characters with 5 different palettes. Overall, they turned out nice. Here are the results based on what palettes I chose first.

Palette #12

The first palette I decided to do was palette #12 since I was feeling the mostly spooky colors (well, I saw it as spooky). So, I decided to make a modern-day witch.

**Note: This piece had an SD because that's how I sign my work when I post a piece on Facebook

Palette #9

This palette caught my eye because of the warm colors. I don't have really much of a story with this character, but I felt like with the warm colors, she should have a warm personality. The sweater is very winter like though.

Palette #2

I loved the greens in this palette. I put a little background within this character I was drawing a sketch. I decided that this person would be non-binary. I love them!

Palette #14

The last palette I chose just caught my eye because I personally love pastel colors. Also, I was listening to a song about crushes, so I feel like this palette fit the mood of the music (which had a ukulele in it).

Conclusion

I really loved this challenge even though I was very limited of color. Even though it was a bit frustrating at first because I would have to think of a character that would fit the palette and a potential outfit, it was a good challenge. It helped me creatively, which I need to strengthen as an artist.

Overall, I highly recommend this challenge to anyone who is looking to make their creative juices flow.