As someone that loves working with vibrant colours, Huevember is an event I look forward to every year. Huevember is a 30 day challenge through the month of November that gives you a different Hue to create artwork with every day.
Usually, I draw some sort of fanart for each day, picking a character I associate with the hue of the day and doing a quick drawing. So, this year I decided to shake things up. Instead of being limited to one hue, I wanted to limit myself to a set colour palette. I wanted to force myself out of my comfort zone and work with colours I wouldn't typically pick, and huevember seemed like the perfect challenge to do so.
I started by hopping on a call with a friend who wanted to join as well, and picking colour palettes with her. We each ended up picking about half of the colour schemes, and I created this graphic to use as reference throughout the month.
I began each day by deciding what colour ratio I wanted to use in my work, and then thumbnailing some ideas for the day. I wanted to use the opportuity to work on my composition, so I focused on doing things I might not typically try and thought about what I wanted to communicate with each piece.
The thumbnailing process helped me think outside the box, and come up with more unique compositions than I may have thought of in the past, and coming up with a colour ratio in advance helped give me a goal for each piece.
As I got to work, I quickly learned the scope of this challenge wouldn't be manageable as a daily challenge, so I focused on creating the best illustrations I could on the days I had time, and not worrying if I couldn't complete a day. In the end, I made 16 full illustrations throughout the month.
As these challenges tend to go, I didn't end up loving every illustration I made. But I did end up liking each unique concept I came up with, even if the execution needed work. I also got some pieces I'm incredibly proud of by doing the challenge, and learned a lot about colour and composition design.
While I didn't finish every day, Huevember made me think more about what I want my illustration style to be, and what I need to learn when working with composition. Going forward, I'm excited to keep learning and growing my style with pieces like these.
