Viral TikTok Illustrator Hannah Pengilly Shares Her Tips to Win Big in Our iPad Challenge

"Draw the unexpected."

If you’ve spent some time on TikTok, you may have encountered viral illustration videos by a user named @pengoart.

From incredible digital drawings of iconic characters from Disney films to never-ending fantasy landscapes, it’s easy to get lost for ages on @pengoart’s feed.

@pengoart New digital drawing 💜 @andypikapi you are the master! Thanks for the idea! 💜 #disney #zoomart #mentalcanvas #drawing ♬ Kingdom Dance - From "Tangled"/Score - Alan Menken

Hannah Pengilly is the face behind the pencil. At just 22 years old, she’s garnered a huge following of 3 million users on TikTok, has her own Spotify original podcast, and is one of the official ambassadors for this year’s Student Edge iPad Challenge!

We want you to unleash your creativity and create some epic digital notes and illustrations using iPad and Apple Pencil. There’s thousands of dollars’ worth in gift cards in the prize pool. So, to increase your chances, we chatted with Hannah to get her biggest tips!

Here’s Hannah.

How did your illustrating journey begin?

I began posting my art to Instagram in 2018 and started expanding my skills to digital art in 2019 when I started getting views on TikTok.

Since then I’ve continued expanding my skills in both digital and physical art and drawing.

@pengoart Why didn’t I know this at the START?! 😨😨#what?! #hack #learnontiktok #tiktokpartner ♬ Fire - Official Sound Studio

Why do you illustrate?

I love illustrating because it’s such a personal expression of oneself. The drawing, colours, lines and textures all come out of your own brain and onto the paper. I think that’s really special.

What are your illustrating essentials?

I use Procreate on iPad for all of my digital illustration work, and sometimes I like to use Mental Canvas, which is a 3D drawing app.

@pengoart #answer to @abigailsharp02 Water 💦 with 0% effort 🤠 #ipad #hacks #pengopod @Hannah Pengilly ♬ G.O.A.T. - Eric Bellinger

I’ll usually chuck on some Netflix or music to get in the drawing zone, and curl up somewhere comfy for a couple of hours whilst I draw away!

What do you like to illustrate the most?

I really like to illustrate people and portraits, because of the complexity of drawing a face and capturing personalities and expressions.

What’s it like being an illustration influencer?

I love illustrating but it can also be difficult having to produce content all of the time for social media. I don’t want drawing and art to become a chore just because I do it for social media.

I love sharing my passion with others though, and I’m so glad I’m inspiring more people to be artistically minded.

@pengoart How did I not know this?!? 😨🫣#ipadchallenge #applehacks #applepencil ♬ Collide (sped up) - Justine Skye

What are two tips you have for entrants in this year’s iPad Challenge?

Draw the unexpected, and embrace your weird and wonderful style—because the unexpected is always interesting to look at.

You can head to the iPad Challenge competition page here to find out how to enter and what you can win. Good luck!