✍️ MightCouldDrawToday: July 2024 Theme
MCDT: An initiative to gently encourage you (and me!) to draw today!
Holy moly, it’s July?!
Halfway through the year already, I can’t believe it. Welp, let’s keep drawing as often as we can with a brand new MightCouldDrawToday (MCDT) theme! As a reminder, MCDT now has one month-long theme, with four mini-prompts within that theme to carry us through the four(ish) weeks of the month.
I had the goal last month of creating one MCDT drawing for all four prompts, but I ended up eeking out three. So I didn’t quite hit it, but it’s more than I drew the month before! MCDT is thankfully very accepting and forgiving and casual and acknowledges that we all have busy lives (it’s summertime and the kids are home, amirite?) and we DO THE BEST WE CAN! That’s all we can do, right?
Anyways, let’s leave the baggage of what we did or didn’t draw last month behind and move on to be inspired by our next theme! Below, you’ll find:
This month’s theme and prompts
Featured art from last month
If you’re new: More info about MCDT and how you can join us!
Can’t wait to see your art this month, whether it’s one drawing, three, four, or thirty-ninety (as Butterbean would say)!
⭐️ July 2024 MCDT Theme: CottageCore!
From MCDT Co-Host, Nick Harbaugh:
This month's theme takes inspiration from the wind-swept summer countryside from days of yore. It's Cottagecore time!
According to the Googlebot, "Cottagecore is an internet aesthetic and design style that celebrates simple living in the countryside and is inspired by old-fashioned rural lifestyles. It encourages a lifestyle rooted in traditional skills and self-sufficiency, such as baking, gardening, sewing, and raising chickens."
The prompts are a little more open-ended than before, leaving a lot of room for creative interpretation each week.
Let's unleash our inner Beatrix Potter and draw some cute, cozy Cottagecore stuff!
Week 1: Cozy Cottage
Week 2: Animal Friends
Week 3: Dresses and Outfits
Week 4: Vintage Patterns
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How to Draw With Us!
Subscribe: Make sure you’re subscribed to this email list. Free or paid!
Get the Theme/Prompts: You’ll receive each month’s theme and prompts on the first Monday of the month as an email. You can now also find the theme listed on the MCDT page.
Draw! All art styles and mediums are welcome! You can choose to draw each prompt once or more than once. If you miss a week, you can go back and double-up or just skip it!
Share your art in the Chat: Each month will have its own Chat Thread where you can share your drawings so we can inspire and motivate each other! Tap on Replies to open up the thread and post as many times as you like throughout the month!
June Featured Artworks
I was blown away by the artwork submitted last month for our Richard Scarry Cars theme! It’s obvious y’all were having fun with the prompt—it shows in the originality and inventiveness of your work! Thank you to everyone who shared their art with us last month—seeing the wide variety of what others draw and how we are all inspired differently is one of the best things about MCDT!
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Ok! If you already know all about MCDT, you can stop reading and go draw! If you’re still kinda confused and want to learn more about MCDT, keep reading!
❓What is MightCouldDrawToday (MCDT)?
MightCouldDrawToday is an initiative I started in 2016 that aims to gently encourage us to make time for drawing, within a supportive and uplifting environment of artists from around the world. Through its many iterations and countless participating artists over the years, we have created over 30,000 pieces of art with more than 200 drawing prompts! 😲
❓How is MCDT different from other art prompts/challenges?
I could go on and on about the philosophy of MCDT, but I’ll try to be brief!
It’s like texting a close group of artist friends. This is not social media, y’all. We’re not here to compete, go viral, or build an audience. We’re not sending our art out into the internet void. We’re here to get inspired together and share our art together—with real people! People we know or you will come to know! Many of us have been drawing together for years, sharing the birth of babies, career changes, and cross-country moves. It’s like an ongoing text thread with friends you went to art school with. ❤️
It keeps us accountable. Having a dedicated space to share our art with a group of artist friends is the best way to keep up a drawing habit.
It’s loose and low-key. Our prompts can expand or contract based on how much time you have from week to week.
It’s a goalless practice. We’re drawing just to draw, and sharing with our friends. Our very loose, goalless goal is just that we might could draw today!
❓How do I participate in MightCouldDrawToday (MCDT)?
Yay! We would love for you to draw with us! Here’s how to join:
Subscribe: Make sure you’re subscribed to this email list. Free or paid!
Get the Theme/Prompts: You’ll receive each month’s theme and prompts on the first Monday of the month as an email. You can also find the theme listed on the MCDT page.
Draw! All art styles and mediums are welcome! You can choose to draw each prompt once or more than once. If you miss a week, you can go back and double-up or just skip it!
Share your art in the Chat: Each month will have its own Chat Thread where you can share your drawings so we can inspire and motivate each other! Tap on Replies to open up the thread and post as many times as you like throughout the month!
❓Do I have to make a Substack account?
You do not have to have a Substack to view my emails or posts. However, if you want to comment on posts or share your art in our MCDT Chat, you will need to create a Substack account. It’s easy and free! Joining the chat will prompt you to create an account if you don’t already have one.
❓Is there a Substack app?
Yes! The Substack app makes snapping a photo of your art and uploading it directly to the Chat a breeze! You can also read posts from other Substack writers you follow in the app as well.
❓What is the Substack Chat and how do I get to it?
Rather than another lame social media site where our art disappears into the void of the internet, our Substack Chat is more like a group text with friends! Here, you can share your art with us—your friendly group of artist pals!
💻 How to find the Chat on the web: If you want to use the Chat on your computer, you can find a link to the Chat in the menu bar of the I Might Could Do That! homepage.
📱 How to find the Chat on the app: In the Substack app, you’ll see the Chat icon in the bottom menu bar. The app makes uploading your art to the Chat fast and simple!
❓How do I upload my art to the Chat?
Once in the Chat, tap on I Might Could Do That! in the list. Inside our Chat, the most recent thread should be that month’s MCDT theme! Here’s what that looks like on the web Chat:
Tap on Replies at the bottom of the thread to open up that thread and see the artwork that has been shared so far! You can reply to within that thread to comment on other artworks or upload your own work! You can do all that on the web or the app.
❓Who are the MCDT co-hosts?
I’m thrilled to have two amazing artist friends who help me run MCDT and are my MCDT Co-Hosts: Nick Harbaugh and Donut By Day! Nikki, Nick, and I collaborate each month to come up with the themes and prompts. I am forever thankful to these two spectacular people for teaming up with me to run MCDT and help us all draw in our sketchbooks more! ❤️
Whew! That was a lot, but I hope it helps explain some of your questions about MCDT! We would love you to draw with this month’s theme, and can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Hope to see you (and your art!) over in the MCDT Chat this week!
<3,
Christine
P.S. If you have more questions or comments, please comment on this post or reply to this email—I’m more than happy to help! :)
Definitely sounds like fun. 🤗🤗😘