In this open discussion episode, host Kendall Hotchkiss leads a conversation about participating in and organizing art and design challenges, from daily prompts like Peachtober and Inktober to collaborative projects and personal growth experiments.
This episode covers:
- Managing time constraints in daily challenges: Set 15-minute time limits, work in grayscale only, and batch multiple prompts on weekends to maintain consistency without burning out
- Design Before Motion and Food in Motion: Both Mark Lawrence and Jen Van Horn run collaborative challenges that pair animators with sound designers to create short animations from vintage imagery
- The reality of organizing challenges: Running a challenge requires managing participants and creating templates, which often means stepping back from creating your own work
- Constraints spark creativity: Limiting yourself to specific tools, color palettes, or techniques forces problem-solving and can help you rediscover joy in your creative work
- Playground Files as exploration time: Spend an hour just clicking buttons and testing unused plugins in your software without trying to create anything finished
- Challenges build portfolio work: Approach prompts like client briefs by documenting your process and creating professional presentations that showcase skills to potential clients
- Embrace imperfection publicly: Announcing a challenge on day one gives you permission to post imperfect work, and some days producing "duds" is simply part of the growth process
Upcoming Events:
Game Night: Wednesday, October 22nd at 6:30pm Pacific - Gartic Phone returns! Meet us on our Discord!
Help Wanted:
Monday Meeting is looking for volunteer hosts for upcoming episodes, as well as volunteers to join the team with editing, social media, and other tasks. The team is also planning to create a comprehensive 2025 challenge calendar and welcomes suggestions.
Visit MondayMeeting.org for this episode and other conversations from the motion design community!
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