I’m really excited to announce that Marc Taro Holmes and I are hosting another One Week 100 People challenge this year: 11-15 March 2024.

The goal is to sketch as many people as you can in 5 days either from life or from photos and see if you can reach 100. You can do this any way you like – simple pencil/pen drawings are totally fine  – and you can take more time if you need!

The idea is simply to push yourself to do more people sketching than you would normally do.  There is something special about striving for a big goal of 100 people sketches! Find out more about the challenge on Marc’s blog here.

If you post your work to Instagram please use the hashtags #OneWeek100People and #OneWeek100People2024

Here are some tips for doing this challenge:

• Hitting 100 is not that important – the goal is simply to push yourself to sketch more than you would normally. But if you want to try for the 100 consider including some simple line drawings in the mix.
• The challenge has always officially been for 5 days (makes a nice goal of 20 per day) but if you need to extend the period, or start early that is completely fine.
• Sketches can be done from photos and do not need to be done on location – though the scavenger hunt list is for sketches done out on the streets 🙂 And of course, if you are part of an Urban Sketchers group make sure your sketches comply with their guidelines before posting your work to the group.
• Your sketches don’t need to be done in colour or include the full figure. You could even consider doing some blind contour drawings as warm-up on the first day.
• Working small helps as does drawing with a pencil.
• Drawing people on location is hard! Don’t be discouraged by the results on the first day… just keep going and you’ll be surprised by the work you are doing at the end of the week. The overall collection of your sketches will be impressive!
• The goal is to have fun! Sketching people on location can be a little scary at times, but I always find that doing this challenge (and having my pages filled with lots of people sketches) always does a lot for my confidence. If anyone stops to talk to you, tell them about the challenge and chances are that they will cheer you on!

My approach to doing the OneWeek100People2024 challenge

This year the challenge will occur just after I’ve moved to my new place and so I know now that I won’t have a lot of time.

I won’t be able to spend hours in cafes as I’ve done in the past so I’m thinking of a minimal approach to this challenge.

A few years ago I did 100 people in one sitting (it only took just over 1 hour!) by doing small drawings with my fude pen and so this is what I’m thinking of doing this year.

This was less than one minute per person (including waiting time – the Village Green wasn’t that busy so I had time in between sketches!)

Last year I was sick and unable to go out sketching on location. I managed to do 20 marker faces from photos each day and really enjoyed doing these. So I’m wondering if there is a way of using markers out on location.

I’m also thinking about the first year we ran this challenge in 2017. On the Friday of that week, I was teaching a workshop for architects and managed to sneak in a super quick line drawing of some of the group. Less than 60 seconds for the whole sketch?

Note to self: No matter how busy I am, surely I can fit in a few quick line drawings like this!

I doubt that I will even bother attempting to do the challenge this year in watercolour. I’m going to keep it simple and minimal.

And this is my advice for you as well if you have a full schedule this year…

Do what you can, think about the simplest (and fastest) way that you can draw people,  get a small separate sketchbook and then see how much you can fit into your week (on your commute, while waiting in line etc).

I also recommend you do a trial run beforehand. Work out your approach and get an idea of how many people you can draw within a certain timeframe. This will help you set realistic expectations for the actual challenge.

Don’t stress about achieving 100 and take more time (or adjust the dates) to suit you!

This challenge is meant to be fun but at the same time push you a little outside your comfort zone.

One final thought: I find that I have much more confidence to draw people during this challenge. If anyone notices what I’m doing I say “I’m trying to draw 100 people in a week as part of an international sketching challenge” and I always get positive responses!

Further Reading

My articles

• How to include people in your urban sketches (2020)
• Tips for sketching people in public (2019)
• Researching facial features (2020)
• Watercolour skin colour mixes (2020)
• Sketching People: My Strategy (2107)
• Sketching People Part 1: This year’s progress (2017)
• Sketching People Part 2: My breakthrough (2017)
• Sketching People Part 3: Advice (2017)

My courses

• Watercolour On Location – Lesson 3
• Edges – Lesson 2 (Bonus Material)

I always have SO much fun doing this challenge. Will you be joining us this year?