In round two of my art competition, I put three artists through a pretty evil (but weirdly useful) constraint: 60 minutes to complete four separate drawings while the reference on screen rotates every 5 minutes. The subjects are a skull, a portrait, a dog, and a landscape—so you’re constantly context-switching between anatomy, likeness, texture, and space. On top of that, each artist is locked into one medium for the entire hour: alcohol markers, twistable crayons, or colored pencils. I went with twistables because I used them when I was younger and haven’t touched them in forever, which made it the perfect “relearn the tool while under pressure” kind of challenge. Watching the others was a reminder that speed doesn’t just mean rushing—sometimes working quickly makes you more interpretive and gestural, and sometimes it exposes where you want to grow. The big takeaway is that the 5-minute rotation sounds brutal, but it’s actually manageable once you commit to simple decisions and keep moving. Also: alcohol markers? I’ve got a bone to pick. The colors on the barrel did not match what hit the paper, and the values didn’t go as dark as expected—so you either layer like crazy or accept chaos. By the end, you can literally see the confidence curve as everyone adapts to their medium and starts going all out.