Join our NEW 28 Day Branding Illustration Challenge – Starts 8th April!
In developing this Challenge, we asked ourselves: what can we do to help more of you - our artist community - successfully land your first (or next) paid commission.
Here’s our answer:
A 28-Day Challenge to Create Your First (Or Next) Branding Illustration for motivation, inspiration and prizes!
This 28-Day Challenge will kickoff on Monday 8th April and will include:
Prizes. We’re going to bring in prizes to provide even more focus and motivation for you to complete TWO Branding Illustration Briefs.
Challenge Programming. Over the course of 28 days, we’ll provide a step-by-step structure for how to tackle a Branding Illustration project, from creative brief to research; concepts, client feedback, artwork and delivery!
Daily Check-Ins. If you’ve had a chance to join Inkygoodness for any of the courses or workshops we’ve run in the past, then you know how valuable these check-ins are going to be. Think about them as a “daily accountability” to keep you on track.
Weekly Break-Out Rooms. Meet and connect with other members each week to share progress, troubleshoot and get feedback.
Live Crits. Meet and connect with our Creative Directors twice a week for workshops as we review your progress, troubleshoot and provide industry level feedback every step of the way!
Industry Masterclasses. Attend three live branding illustration masterclasses with leading artists, illustrators and designers. Learn from industry professionals about the creative process involved and get your questions answered!
Final Showcase. Share your final illustrations with the group in a Zoom session hosted by your mentor Lisa at the end of the challenge.
Award Ceremony. Come together on our final day for our official award ceremony live stream, as we announce the lucky recipients of our agency commissions, mentoring spots and community prizes! Exciting.
Bonus Masterclass. Everyone enrolled will also get access to our upcoming GIF Animation Masterclass with Mat Voyce at no further cost!
Bonus Briefs & Level-Up Opportunities. We’ll also bring you a few extra surprises along the way!
And, as always, you’ll be part of a supportive community of fellow artists and illustrators on the same path to grow and develop their creative skills.
Katie Lukes – Mentor & Masterclass Speaker for our 28 Day Branding Challenge
This Challenge is perfect for Illustrators who:
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Want a little extra support, motivation, and focus as you find your creative voice and develop your portfolio.
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Love being a part of a smaller group or community as you take on things that may feel a bit challenging or overwhelming.
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Are motivated by deadlines or a little friendly competition.
Let’s dive into the details. Check out our FAQ here.
Enrol in one-click now | Or choose a payment plan
Dates
Our next 28-day creative challenge will run from Monday 8th April – Friday 10th May (extended by one week). Scroll down for full details on session timings.
Prizes, Prizes & More Prizes
Why are we offering prizes for this Challenge?
Because, for some of us, the extra nudge of an external reward may be just the push we need to focus or perhaps take the next step we’ve been putting off.
Whatever you’re doing with your portfolio development right now, it’s too important to let it slide, so we’re incentivising you further with the following prizes.
????1st Prize. For the first Illustrator who completes our TWO Branding Illustration Briefs set by our creative directors, and hits the deadline, we’ll award a spot on our brand new Make Your Mark Bootcamp in June 2024 (worth £599); a lifetime membership to Inkygoodness Collective (priceless value!) + a £150 Amazon Giftcard!
????Top 5. For the next 5 Illustrators to complete our TWO Branding Illustration Briefs set by our creative directors, we’ll provide a spot on our brand new Make Your Mark Bootcamp in June 2024 (worth £599) + a 1 year membership to Inkygoodness Collective.
???? Creative Directors Award. For outstanding creative work produced during the challenge, our agencies will each choose ONE artist for a live commission (within the next 12 months). Each creative agency will also choose a runner up artist for 1:1 Portfolio Crit.
???? Illustrators Award. For artists who complete our creative briefs to a high standard, our masterclass speakers will each choose ONE artist for a 1:1 Mentoring Session at the end of the Challenge. There are three spots up for grabs!
But that’s only the beginning.
We’ll also award five additional annual Community Memberships (worth £129) to those illustrators who excel during the 28-Day Challenge:
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Most Improved: We don’t want you to shy away from this Challenge because you’re just starting out or have gotten a little stuck. Instead, join and aim to become our Most Improved Artist or Illustrator in the Challenge!
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Best Daily Practice: Sketchbooks, drawing, exploration and experimentation demonstrate your commitment to honing your creative skills as professional illustrators. Share your creative development throughout the Challenge, and we’re going to award one of you with Best Daily Practice!
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Most Helpful: The Artist or Illustrator who provides the most support, encouragement and help to other members in the Challenge. Share your advice, lend a hand and be a friendly face!
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Most Engaged: We want to help you to build your confidence in this challenge and so we’re encouraging you to share your work on social! Document your creative process through reels; share your concepts and ideas; talk to your followers about taking up the challenge and what you’re working on every week – that’s our most engaged Artist or Illustrator in the Challenge!
- Most Fearless: Who seizes this Challenge with the most gusto? That’s our Most Fearless member.
We’re not done.
Every member of the Challenge who completes at least TWO briefs during the 28-Day Challenge – or is the recipient of one of our three additional awards – will be eligible for our final award – a six month mentoring opportunity with Inkygoodness founder Lisa Hassell.
Finally – everyone who takes part will be invited to submit their work for our digital showcase that we will publish on @inkygoodnesscollective and distribute to our press contacts and client list in Summer 2024.
Results
Prizes are just one way we’re setting up this Challenge to bring you focus, motivation, and some great support. The other is making it a paid Challenge.
One observation we’ve made over the last six months is that people pay more attention to what they pay for.
And we want you to be set up to take this Challenge seriously. So, we’re charging a one-time fee of £199. Enrolment is now open until 22:00 BST on Thursday 4th April.
Masterclass Speakers
Let’s meet the illustrators taking part!
Murugiah – Mentor & Masterclass Speaker for our 28 Day Branding Challenge
Masterclass Speaker: Murugiah
Murugiah is an award-winning multi & interdimensional artist in London, UK exploring identity & awe & everything inbetween based in London, U.K. Born in England & raised in Wales with Sri Lankan heritage, Murugiah trained as an architect in London before choosing his current creative path, specialising in Fine art, illustration, art direction, typography and design. Today, he makes psychedelic work infused with the dichotomy of his Sri Lankan heritage and western upbringing. All made in a surreal, joyful, style using bright bold colours and detailed graphical compositions.
His selected collaborators and commissioners include New Balance, Apple, Disney, Marvel, Facebook, Penguin, Vans, Wired, Los Angeles Times, and Mondo. And he has been featured by BBC, Creative Boom, Creative Lives in Progress, Digital Arts, and SixtySix Magazine.
Murugiah will share a cross-section of work for the likes of Saatchi & Saatchi and Bola football; before taking a deep dive into the creative process on three branding illustration projects including illustrated branding for Greenman Festival; his largest public site-specific installation Rangoli Mirrored Cosmos; and his community project Compassion for Refugee Week.
Masterclass Speaker: Franz Lang
Franz Lang grew up in the mountains of Northern Italy, near the Austrian border. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice before moving to London. Her work is created by hand in sketchbooks, before transferring to the computer where she is also adept at bringing life to her characters through movement. Franz has worked with various clients to build their identities, such as Gaia Family, a new IVF service and kind of blau as sustainable fashion label.
She has also worked on projects for Google, Etsy and Rapha creating image libraries and animated campaigns. Franz is probably best known for her work for Mailchimp creating a distinctive set of hand drawn characters as part of their redesign. Editorially Franz has worked for Condé Nast, Die Zeit, Culture Trip Weapons of Reason and has created covers for McSweeney’s.
Franz will deliver a talk and masterclass presenting her work for Mailchimp amongst others!
Katie Lukes – Mentor & Masterclass Speaker for our 28 Day Branding Challenge
Masterclass Speaker: Katie Lukes
Katie Lukes is a freelance illustrator and real human being living in Chicago, IL. She has an affinity for celebrating everyday objects and scenarios within her work. When she’s not creating colourful, sometimes humorous illustrations for clients small and large, she’s probably traveling or mixing up a new cocktail recipe.
Katie will be joining us for a Masterclass as part of our upcoming 28 Day Branding Challenge to share her creative process – from brief to final delivery for Chicago Bulls, Hero Cosmetics and Pure Leaf.
Each of our masterclass artists will also choose ONE artist for a 1:1 session at the end of the challenge!
Art Directors – Creative Briefs + Award Judges
We’ve also invited two leading brand experience agencies on board to set illustrators taking part in the challenge a creative brief! We will drop one brief every week throughout the challenge – and you’ll have 3 weeks to turn it around.
With live workshops, group sessions and industry talks along the way, our 28 Day Challenge offers you an unrivalled opportunity to get your work in front of art directors whilst working on a live brief. Expect briefs on packaging, spot illustrations and animated gifs!
Each of our art directors will judge the submissions at the end of the challenge and shortlist TWO artists for a paid editorial commission OR 1:1 Porfolio Crit later this year.
Let’s meet the creative directors supporting the challenge!
Vault49 – Mentors & Award Judges for our 28 Day Branding Challenge
Award Judges & Mentors: Vault49
We’re delighted to welcome Vault49 back on board for this new challenge – and this time around the team will be setting a creative brief!
Vault49 blend ‘art studio’ with ‘design agency’ and ‘innovation lab’. Hands-on image-making sits alongside strategy and digital creation. Playfulness, hunger, curiosity, and adventure are woven into the fabric of their agency culture. Vault49 was described as a ‘genre in their own right’ by WGSN in 2009, and we were the only design team included in its 10 most important graphic influencers of the decade.
Their team comes from all disciplines, including art, illustration, music, design and much more, sharing a curiosity about the world, a hunger to create something different, and a love for what they do.
Vault49 – Mentors & Award Judges for our 28 Day Branding Challenge
We’re delighted to have the creative team at Vault49 on board to support the 28 Day Branding Challenge – not only as it affirms our longheld belief that Inkygoodness Collective is really something special – but also because we’re so incredibly passionate about supporting emerging talent and cultivating connections with agencies who commission illustrators on a regular basis.
Award Judges & Mentors: Flow Creative
What to expect
Each agency’s creative brief will be tailored for the challenge. Their live feedback and guidance will help you create your best work. At the end of the challenge, ONE paid commission will be awarded by Flow Creatie; and a six month mentorship will be awarded by Vault49; both agencies will select two runners-up for a sit down and 1:1 portfolio crit with the creative team.
The commissioned winner will work with one of the agency’s clients on a live brief (within the next 12 months). As the runner up, you’ll receive a thorough 1:1 portfolio review with the creative team to help you develop your professional practice further. Both awards promise unique opportunities for creative development.
Alongside this everyone taking part can look forward to getting inspiration, motivation alongside forging new, meaningful relationships with two leading brand experience agencies and the prospect of attracting creative opportunities in future!
What will I be working on?
Artists on the challenge can look forward to working on two briefs with very different approaches! Expect a mix of packaging illustration, merchandise and for Tequila brand Casatera set by Vault49, who will be inviting you to step away from your screens and get your hands messy with analog materials (if you want to!) and a campaign for Mental Health Charity Mind presented by Flow Creative, working across character design, posters and spot illustrations – and the added opportunity to make some animated GIFs!
Session timings
We aim to keep the challenge as accessible as possible and host sessions at various times to accommodate different time zones and schedules – so wherever you are in the world you should be able to attend some sessions in real time!
There are apx. 3 hours of live sessions per week and we recommend allowing apx. 4-6 hours each week to develop your brand illustration work.
Each brief will require a turnaround time of 10 days with key stages and deadlines in place to keep you on track. Project deliverables will include thumbnails; colour drafts and final artwork delivery for submission to our Creative Directors who will judge the entries for the Awards.
Workshop sessions are designed to support you with live feedback in a group setting and provide you with tools, advice and critique along the way to help you navigate the challenge and produce your best work!
Got questions? Check out our 28 Day Challenge FAQ here.
Key Dates (Zoom + Live Streams)
All Zoom sessions will be recorded and uploaded to Vimeo and made available to watch on replay within 3 hours of the live event. All live streams will be shared inside our private space!
All timings listed in British Summer Time (GMT +1)
All zoom sessions will last between 1-1.5 hours.
- 28-Day Branding Illustration Challenge – Kick Off Event (Zoom) – Monday 8th April @ 7pm
- Creative Briefings (Zoom Webinar) @ 10.30am – Every Tuesday (09/04+ 16/04)
- Daily Check-in Every Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday – Various Times, Live Stream
- Hit the Deadline! (Zoom) @ 5pm – Every Monday (15/04+ 22/04 + 29/04)
Masterclass Sessions (Zoom Webinars)
- Masterclass w/ Multi & interdimensional Artist Murugiah – 10/04 @ 6pm – 7.30pm
- Masterclass w/ Illustrator Franz Lang – 18/04 @ 10.30am – 12pm
- Masterclass w/ Illustrator and Muralist Katie Lukes – 24/04 @ 6.00pm – 7.30pm
In our Masterclasses, each guest speaker will take a deep dive into their creative process, inspirations and tricks of the trade, as we explore brand campaigns across print, murals, site-specific installation, motion and experiential for global and local clients.
Expect to gain access to exclusive content as they each lift the curtain on their tricks of the trade, techniques and creative processes!
Creative Briefings w/ Design Agencies (Zoom Webinar)
- Creative Briefing + AMA Session with Vault49 – 09/04 @ 10.30am BST
- Creative Briefing + AMA Session with Flow Creative – 16/04 @ 10.30am BST
Sessions will be divided into an Industry Talk, Briefing + Ask Me Anything Q&A!
Our creative directors will also host two interactive group workshop sessions each week to give you feedback, guidance and direction at the sketch stage. Further feedback will be provided at colour rough stage, inside our private group at specific points during the challenge! Timings to be confirmed.
Final Showcase (Zoom) Pick ONE to attend + Award Ceremony
- Morning Showcase – 09/05 @ 9am – 10.30am BST
- Afternoon Showcase – 09/05 @ 6pm – 7.30pm BST
Award Ceremony – 03/05 @ 12.00pm (Live Stream)
*Please note – our zoom webinars are watch & listen only; you will not have your video cameras on. All participants will be invited to ask questions and interact with one another in the chat, however this is optional.
Meet your hosts
Our 28 Day Packaging Illustration Challenge is brought to you by Inkygoodness Collective. Live workshop sessions will be hosted by Lisa Hassell and her co-hosts Joel Ebsworth, a designer and illustrator based in Sydney and founder of Studio JoelEbs, and Liverpoool based illustrator Luke McConkey.
Lisa Hassell – Founder of Inkygoodness + Inkygoodness Collective
Lisa Hassell is a creative consultant, public speaker, design writer and founder of Inkygoodness, an organisation focused on championing emerging illustration talent. Founded in 2010 on a shoestring, Inkygoodness now has a global audience of 70k, made up of design students, creative graduates and young professionals. Previously she ran WE ARE GOODNESS, a creative consultancy and illustration agency representing a diverse roster of international artists.
As an artist agent she has worked with art buyers, advertising agencies and design studios to deliver illustration to clients like Google UX, Google Play, Facebook, The Guardian and New York Magazine. In 2022 she launched Inkygoodness Collective; a brand new online membership for emerging and established artists and illustrators.
Joel Ebsworth – Designer, Illustrator and Co-Host at Inkygoodness Collective
Studio JoelEbs is the accumulation of years of varied creative experiences. Unwilling to accept a single label, Joel has continued to refine his craft in order to be an illustrative led designer, who puts the art into creative thinking. Working across Food and Beverage, Events, Technology and Innovation, and Mural Activations; Joel loves to express a multi-pronged effort to creative problem solving.
His expertise includes Packaging Design, Art Direction, Visual Identity, Print Design, Mural Painting & Merchandise Design and more. Joel runs Bring Your Work, a dedicated space inside Inkygoodness Collective to support our artist community. He will be on hand throughout the challenge to lend technical support, feedback and inject a boost of motivation when you need it!
Luke McConkey – Illustrator and Co-Host at Inkygoodness Collective
Liverpool based Luke McConkey has a unique style which focuses on bright colour, bold lines and fun characters. His work draws inspiration from music, games, cartoons, food and just about anything around him.
With experience of working on editorial, design, branding and logo projects as well as album artwork, murals, beer labels, posters and social content, he has a truly collaborative approach and can’t wait to hear his client’s ideas. To quote the man himself, “I proper love to bring joy and tell stories with my work.”
Luke is represented by illustration agency Handsome Frank.
What Else Do I Need to Know?
The most important thing to know about this 28-Day Challenge is that this is going to stretch you – and that by committing the time you’ll leave with TWO incredible branding illustration projects for your portfolio.
Use this Challenge to complete your first (or next) branding illustration a little bit faster and with more focus than doing it alone on your own!
Please note – due to the structure and format of the 28-day challenge, our industry talks and illustration masterclasses will ONLY be available to artists enrolled on the challenge.
Our brand new 28 day challenge will start on Monday 8th April at 7pm BST with a Kick-Off session led by Lisa. Then, the Challenge will end on Friday 11th May with our Award Ceremony!
Artists taking part in the 28 Day Creative Challenge will be invited to join our private group hosted inside Inkygoodness Collective on Thursday 4th April 2024.
Join our next 28-Day Branding Illustration Challenge now
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Still undecided? Here are some lovely things our members are saying about our 28 Day Challenges!
“As always the 28-day challenge with Inkygoodness was brilliant! As the name suggests, it certainly is a challenge, but it’s also so rewarding! Being able to complete all of the briefs and receive criticism from other illustrators and industry professionals is invaluable. It’s a confidence boost and reassurance that is so crucial as a freelance illustrator working alone from home. I absolutely love the community that comes together during the challenge!”
– Jess Jenkins, 28 Day Branding Challenge, July 2023
– Rick Hyde, 28 Day Branding Challenge, July 2023
Our NEW 28 Day Branding Challenge runs 8th April – 11th May with live sessions running on various dates & times throughout the challenge.
Ready to enrol? Hit this link now and secure your space
Or choose a payment plan and enrol for just £69 today!
We look forward to getting you on board!