Did you know 2026 is the tenth year of #OneWeek100People?

I’m somewhat amazed to be saying this year marks the tenth year of #OneWeek100People! 

For various reasons, this year my co-founder Liz Steel and I have set the official dates as: Monday March 9th to Friday March 13th. 

[ Note for new visitors: #OneWeek100People is our annual free drawing event, where we sketch 100 people in a single week; usually from life; in the spirit of Urban Sketching or maybe a life drawing workshop; but we’re not picky – do it however you want. From imagination. From reference. Doesn’t matter! The important thing is drawing together (online or with friends) and posting your work! Read more about how to participate: [ HERE ]

So wow – ten years hey?  Seems like a tremendous amount of time for artistic growth. 

But then on the other hand it seems like sketching doesn’t really change. 

Yeah, I’m doing it with watercolor now instead of just pen or pencil, but it’s amazing how my approach has remained the same all these years. 

What I mean is. sketching from life is the same practice at any skill level; it’s an eye-to-hand connection that circumvents the brain, and lets your hand do the seeing. 

It’s the most simple and direct artform, the closest I think to a natural handwriting. Everyone has a unique sketching style that is their very own. 

In the ideal world it’s easy; you just look – you just make a mark on paper – you don’t edit – you just keep going!

Either way, the inherent power of #0neWeek100People is the time limit – drawing that quickly – and therefore that casually – circumvents the self-criticism and procrastination that can stop us from enjoying art.

I want the project to highlight the value of Quantity as a goal, rather than Quality.

If your goal is Quantity (100 Drawings!) – not 100 *great drawings* – just 100 *total drawings* :)

You can’t fail as long as you don’t quit :)

All you have to do is get down 100 lines! 

If you truly remove Quality from your self-critical mind – heck – you can *absolutely* do this in a week. You can probably do it in a day! < HERE’s the most recent time I did 100 in a day – check it out:) They’re not overly precious, I promise you.

So you can’t fail. Trust me.

You’re not going to allow any self-criticism. 

You’re doing it with friends (you can always send your drawings to me if you don’t know anyone else :)

It’s going to be a lot of fun!

I hope you’ll join us for the TENTH YEAR of #OneWeek100People!

Ok; read more about the event [HERE] or just stay tuned to this page.

Thanks very much,

~Marc