Mutation March 2025 - prompt list and details

* drumroll *

It is time for the Mutation March pre-game season! I like releasing my prompt list a month ahead of time to allow for ample planning. In my years of doing daily art challenges, I have found this part to be crucial. Review all the upcoming prompts, brainstorm ideas, sketch thumbnails, and perhaps mostly importantly—be honest and realistic with yourself about your energy and priorities and what you want to accomplish with a daily art challenge or practice.

Now, regarding this year’s challenge. This is the seventh year of Mutation March, and after six years and over 600 different drawings, I’ve noticed a number of different motifs I tend to gravitate towards. That had left me feeling a little overwhelmed with the number of directions I could go in. It also started to feel like I had throughly mapped out my creative landscape in the immediate area, but there was a lack of depth. As an experiment this year, I picked a theme I really liked—plants!—to start digging deep and see what I can uncover. So, the premise of this art challenge is the same: draw some animals but make them weird/surreal/mutated/etc, but now through the additional lens of botanical influences. Flowers and their intricate parts! Leaves and their vein patterns! Fractal networks of roots and branches! Bark texture!

I am also letting go of my committment to generating three different concepts per prompt. It was fine in the beginning when this was simply doodling in my sketchbook to explore. But it also became a bit addicting, continuing to seek novelty and sharing them as quick hits to catch the Internet’s attention. As my skills developed and audience grew, that level of production became unsustainable. Since I’m also withdrawing a bit from Instagram and TikTok, I’ve decided to not commit to making accompanying daily video content for the series.

A couple places to follow along and participate in “Mutation March: Botantical Beasts” is on Bluesky and Tumblr, with the the hashtag #mutationmarch2025. If you want to tune in to my preparations and see what I’m brewing ahead of time, you can join me on Patreon, which I’ve set up as a digital tip jar. Also, as a quick reminder, I have sticker packs on Etsy featuring some of the surreal animals from previous Mutation Marches.

That’s it for now. I will be back here soon to talk about the homework I gave to myself to gather a list of plants for inspiration, as well as share with you websites and resources I like to use to learn about the flora and fauna of our planet.

Cheers!
~Teresa

Text-only version of Mutation March 2025 prompt list:
1. cephalopod
2. hippopotamus
3. jacana
4. narwhal
5. centipede
6. catfish
7. sauropod
8. a rotund animal
9. serval
10. cobra
11. jellyfish
12. arachnid
13. basking shark
14. star-nosed mole
15. sage grouse
16. seadragon
17. kinkajou
18. rotifer
19. bearded vulture
20. Surinam toad
21. ladybug
22. moose
23. sea spider
24. blue-footed booby
25. handfish
26. stick bug
27. gelada
28. lamprey
29. chameleon
30. cockatoo
31. horse