Okay, yes, it's December, and Inktober is in October, but I'll be honest: I'm still working on it. And there's never not a good time to create or talk about art, so let's do that.
By the way, in case you don't know what Inktober is, it is a month-long challenge to create a different piece of art with ink every single day (I'm not going to say a drawing, although most of them are, because you could also do a painting in ink wash). It was invented in 2009 by Jake Parker, who runs the Inktober website at www.inktober.com. Every year when Inktober rolls around, Jake publishes prompts for each day, in case you have a little difficulty coming up with ideas, or if you like the challenge of how to conceptualize the prompts. You don't have to follow the prompts, though; the point is just to make yourself create on a regular basis. Keep those art muscles limber!
Now, as you may know, I am terribly lazy, and "challenges" are even more challenge-y because of that. My first year participating in Inktober was in 2017, and I didn't know about the prompts, so I just drew whatever. Ink is actually one of my go-to media, as anyone who has been hanging out on my Facebook page or on this blog probably knows (the title pic is from a calendar I did back in college that had all ink drawings), so this should be a breeze, right?
Well, the laziness, remember.
Anyway, that first year saw me produce about four drawings, all in ballpoint pen, most on Post-It notes, because I did all of them at work. Here's one:
I hadn't started on October 1st, and I probably didn't even do those four drawings on consecutive days. But, I did do them, and without Inktober, I probably wouldn't have done them, so there.
Last year, I actually did start on October 1st. I think I did know that there were prompts, but I said pffft and still drew what I felt like drawing. Again, I did all of my drawings at work, but at least I did them on actual paper and not colored Post-It notes:
And yes, again, I only produced a few drawings. I was going to do a stylized alphabet, because what could be easier? And it would get me through 26 days without having to even come up with any original ideas. Well, I got allllll the way to...B. Yes, I managed to do even less last year than the first year. A, B, and one other drawing - some floral doodle thingy. But hey, again, I drew something. I had tangible results of my minimal efforts.
This year, I started Inktober late, and I had a very good excuse: I had a portrait commission to fill. Once that was done, though, it was still October, so I though, "what the heck"? and visited the Inktober site for the prompts. The prompts for Inktober 2019, just in case you want to toy with it, are:
1. ring
2. mindless
3. bait
4. freeze
5. build
6. husky
7. enchanted
8. frail
9. swing
10. pattern
11. snow
12. dragon
13. ash
14. overgrown
15. legend
16. wild
17. ornament
18. misfit
19. sling
20. tread
21. treasure
22. ghost
23. ancient
24. dizzy
25. tasty
26. dark
27. coat
28. ride
29. injured
30. catch
31. ripe
I'm sure you are wondering how things went this year, aren't you? Actually, not too badly. As I said, I started extremely late, but this past year, I became active in two local art groups, and having companions who were hitting Inktober pretty hard, as well as chances to join them for drawing sessions, was very helpful. Eschewing the scrap paper I'd been festooning with my scrawls, I bought a small sketchbook that was actually dedicated for the purpose. This made a difference in the quality of my drawings, as well. I did pencil sketches first, instead of working alla prima (this is not against the rules--you get to do ink your way, and that means any way).
In the interest of not making this post overly long, though, I will do a follow-up concerning this year's effort, since it can be another whole post unto itself, maybe even two or three. Stay tuned!
