October 15th

Well, happy October everyone!

If you aren’t super into the art scene right now, and not like the fancy people actually selling their art, like the regular person art scene, you might not know that October is a very special month! Every year, a special challenge is held for ink artists, everyone from regular ballpoint pen doodlers to animators to calligraphers, to draw something new every day. This very special challenge, named Inktober, was created in 2009 by Illustrator Jake Parker to help him “improve (his) inking skills and develop positive drawing habits.” The goal of it is simple: create 31 black-and-white ink pieces during the month of October, ideally one each day, and post them to social media. By the end, you should see some improvement in your skill or your drawing habits. 

Since then, Inktober has totally taken over. There’s an official prompt list, as well as a subscription box that only comes at the beginning of October. 

But many artists have put their own spin on it, creating their own lists, challenges, and choice of media. (There was a bit of an issue with the copyright of Inktober last year, and I don’t totally feel the need to comment directly on that, because I don’t care, but here’s a link to some other fun art scandals/fights ) 

I have been participating or at least attempting to participate in, Inktober for about six years now, and every year, my take on it has been a little bit different. When I first started I stuck to the rules, making a simple ballpoint pen drawing every day. The next year,  I found a different prompt list, one that had a bunch of nondescript names of made-up apps, that I designed logos for. In the following years, I took it a step further, adding in alcohol drip ink (i would not recommend this, it was very messy and stained literally everything) and making more complex pieces. 

This year, I’ve decided to add watercolor and I could not be more… confused… about it. Getting to learn watercolor has been difficult. It takes a lot of time, isn’t nearly as perfect as I’d like, and the final results have been a little less than exciting. However, it is really calming, and it doesn’t take as much time to clean up as some of my other experiments have, so it’s pretty perfect for someone like me with limited time management skills. 

I might make an extra post at the end of October with all my pieces, it really depends on how I feel about them. 

An update on the original piece: layers two and three have been added, and she’s actually starting to look like something. I wouldn’t hold out hope for this dreamy cottage style though, its a real pain.