Best of 50 Ships Drawing Challenge

I was in a creative rut in August 2018. My confidence was low after abandoning a project that didn’t work out. I kept doodling, but I didn’t have the burning passion I normally do. I was reading the sci-fi novel Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie during a trip to visit family and absolutely loving it. So I started doodling spaceships in my sketchbook. It was like something unlocked, and I was back to my old creative self.

The doodling of those initial spaceships led me to try to draw 100 ships throughout the month of September. I ended up only drawing 50 because I then did Inktober in October. While I didn’t make it to 100 ships, it was still a success in my mind because it was fun and sparked creativity.

My approach was simple: black and white line art. It was a design exercise to me and less about having super polished finished pieces of art. I tried to use basic shapes to build the ships. When I was in the groove, I’d draw four or five in a day.

Here are my favorite ships of the 50.

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There you have it. A bunch of spaceships. I can’t recommend taking on a Draw X number of things challenge enough. It’s a great way to generate ideas and explore something with low stakes.