What a 30-day pattern challenge taught me
- Anna Alács
- Aug 30
- 3 min read
About a month ago, I joined the Pattern Challenge hosted by Melanie Johnsson. I didn't know what to expect. And as time passed, it became a way to connect, loosen up creatively, and test my persistence and patience.
If you’ve ever considered joining a 30-day challenge, here are some things I’ve learned along the way that might help or inspire you too.
Why do a challenge like this?
I wanted to explore new and different ways of illustrating. Most of the time, I work on children’s illustrations, books projects or artwork for poems.
But with this challenge, I was aiming for something different—something that could open doors for future collaborations. I’d love to see my illustrations on everyday products, and this felt like a good idea to take some steps in that direction.
Maybe for you, the reason is something else.
A few things that helped me get started
What I prepped prior the challenge:
sketch ideas in advance: black and white pencil sketches for each pattern
create a color palette: to keep it more consistent throughout the challenge
set time limits: I limited myself to a max of 2 hours per pattern. (Normally, I spend 16+ hours on one illustration)
let go of perfection: I didn’t worry about whether the patterns would work in real life or if they were good enough. I knew that I'm new to patterns and so I'll learn.
What it’s like to create every day (or every other day)
My motto quickly became: “Create fast and consistent, not perfect.”
Posting to Instagram every second day isn’t easy, especially when life gets in the way. But somehow, this rhythm took off the pressure to be perfect. If one day’s drawing didn’t work, I knew that the next one will be better.
I didn’t spend hours fixing every detail, just worked until it felt fair enough for that day. Many days, I only had time to draw late in the evening. There were days I just wanted to go to bed or scroll on YouTube instead. On these days it was very hard to start, but extremely satisfying when the drawings were ready.
Things that didn’t go so smoothly
some sketches didn’t turn out as planned, and starting from scratch under time pressure was tough
after a while I started to realize I would change most of the patterns if I had time. But this was part of the learning, still so frustrating!
on tired and late days, it was extremely hard to continue with the challenge. But my inner motivation and curiosity if my sketches would turn out as planned was always stronger than my wish not to draw that day.
What I learned - consistency, discipline and dedication are key
discipline beats inspiration. Inspiration is an unreliable friend, it comes and goes. Don’t wait for the perfect mood or idea. Start anyway. Often, inspiration comes after you begin, so create a routine and a mindset that work for you
making quicker decisions becomes easier with every day. As the days passed, I got faster and more confident, created more and more with ease, and this felt so good
so lovely to have some content to post every second day
discovering new textures
stop being so hard on yourself. I didn’t know much about patterns prior this challenge—and it was deliberating not to be hard on myself because of that (first time since I started my creative career!)
community. Got to know some very talented artists and so happy about it (A proud moment: Mel featured one of my pieces in her story!)
Final Thoughts
A 30-day challenge can be tiring and very frustrating. But it’s also rewarding and so worth it. You don’t have to love every piece. But by the end, you’ll have created lot of new work, learned a some things about yourself, and maybe even opened a few new creative doors.
If you’ve ever thought about doing a challenge like this, I’d encourage you to try. And if you’ve done one already, what was your experience, challenges, thoughts around it? I’d love to hear them. 🩷
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