30 Faces/30 Days - Pencil (2027)

✏️ The Challenge: Draw the human face in pencil every day for 30 days, starting January 1, 2027!

✍️ Improve your skills, one face at a time, with six inspiring teachers and fellow participants from around the world.

♾️ Get lifetime access with purchase. Go at your own pace. Revisit forever. 

👇 How It Works

Each day of the challenge, you get a reference photo featuring an inspiring face and a video lesson on Sktchy. Watch the lesson, draw your muse and share your drawing with a global community of fellow participants.

• 30 video drawing lessons (~60 mins/lesson)
• 30 inspiring reference photos
• Six extraordinary teachers

🔓 Unlock the Power of the Pencil

The humble pencil is your most powerful tool—simple, accessible, and limitless. With it, you can capture any face.

Over 30 days, six inspiring portrait artists will guide you step-by-step to transform your drawing skills. You will learn how to:

Conquer the Blank Page: Overcome creative fear and start every portrait with confidence.

Build Strong Foundations: Block in big shapes, master facial anatomy, and use the Loomis method for accurate proportions.

Nail the Likeness: Handle challenging angles, sharpen your observation skills, and capture true personality.

Master Shading & Mark-Making: Craft depth using dynamic line quality, hatching, and blending techniques.

Elevate Composition & Lighting: Use focal points and dramatic lighting to create compelling portraits, even from weak reference photos.

...and much more!

Learn from six extraordinary graphite artists from around the world.

Alyssa Marie Johnson (Sktchy, Instagram) is a self-taught American artist. Through line and shade she focuses on capturing the unique features and personality of her subjects.

She started cultivating a daily ritual of drawing over the past few years and has found great joy in the pursuit of bettering her artistic abilities, and also the connection to communities of other artists and muses.

David Tenorio (Sktchy, Instagram) is an illustrator and art instructor in the Bay Area, California. He has taught art for 15+ years to students of all ages, including serving as an art mentor to clients at Pixar, Disney and SF Film.

Additionally, David has helped place numerous high school students at the nation's leading art programs including Art Center, CalArts and RISD. His specialties include sketchbook techniques, figure drawing and entertainment design.

Imola Dalma (Sktchy, Instagram) is a photographer and watercolor painter based in Spain, with work exhibited in Spain and Hungary.

Trained in photography and art history, she transitioned from detailed graphite and charcoal portraits to watercolor as a way to embrace looseness, color, and unpredictability.

Her portraits celebrate natural, imperfect beauty and reveal the expressive power of limited palettes to convey emotion and individuality.

Juan Perednik (Sktchy, Instagram) is an Argentinian graphite artist who uses his grasp of classical drawing techniques to bend artistic “rules” and bring his imagination to life on the page.

“Drawing,” he says, “is the most sincere form of art and the foundation for working in any other medium.” His “obsession” with drawing in pencil has led to commercial work for celebrity clients like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and earned him a passionate fanbase of 115,000+ followers on Instagram.

Neil Rogers (Sktchy, Instagram) is a Staffordshire-based portrait and landscape artist with over 40 years of drawing experience. Known for his work in pencil and charcoal—mediums he favors for their speed, simplicity, and expressive immediacy—Neil brings a wealth of expertise to this challenge.

A member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art, his work has been featured in prestigious exhibitions including The Pastel Society, The RBSA Gallery, and the TALP Exhibition. Neil was also featured as a contestant on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year (2024). Drawing regularly from life and finding inspiration through modern sources like the SReal/Museum App, Neil is passionate about helping artists master the fundamentals of drawing with confidence. 

Tiffany S. DaVanzo (Sktchy, Instagram) is a professional medical illustrator specializing in art for medical publications, education and the medical legal field.

She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Art as Applied to Medicine Program, and a member of the Association of Medical Illustrators since 2001.

Tiffany lives in East Tennessee with her husband and two daughters.

30-Day Challenge, Lifetime Access

As a participant, you get lifetime access to all challenge content (videos, photos, etc.) on Sktchy, where you can communicate with your teachers and connect with fellow participants from around the world via desktop and any iOS or Android mobile devices.

FAQs

What materials do I need to participate?

The only materials you need are pencil and paper. That said, here are the specific materials the teachers use in their lessons:

• Pencil: lead (2B-8B, 2H, HB); mechanical (2B, 4B, HB); colored (various colors)
• Paper: white/light and, optionally, toned
• Eraser
• Optional: charcoal powder; paint brush; shading stick; stencils

Is the content all new?

Yes! The teachers created their video lessons specifically for this edition of the challenge.

What skill level do I need for this challenge?

The challenge is suitable for artists of all skill levels, from beginners on up. 

Do I need an iOS-device to participate?

No! We are hosting the challenge on Sktchy, which is available on iOS, Android and web.

Where do I access the challenge?

We publish all content related to the challenge on Sktchy.

Do I get lifetime access to the challenge?

Yes! Your purchase gets you lifetime access to ALL challenge content.

What is your refund policy?

Get a full refund, with no questions asked, any time before January 1, 2027, or within 24 hours of purchase.

Any Questions?

Contact us. We'll reply asap.