If you have read about my prior Inktober exploits (and I would like for you to! Links below), you know that I have fallen laughably short of completing the challenge of drawing a different ink drawing a day for the 31 prompts. Usually that is because either I don't start on Day 1, or because it just takes me too long on each drawing, so I start falling behind almost immediately. I do always get a few good drawings out of it, and hey, there's nothing wrong with that.
For this past Inktober, though, I formulated a pretty good plan of attack. I decided to play to my strengths, which are: 1. coming up with ideas for the prompts and 2. establishing a quick pencil sketch. These would, hopefully, make up for my weakness, which is how dang long it takes me to get something inked.
The prompts for Inktober are released before October actually starts - at least a week or so. I belong to an Inktober group on Facebook, and there were quite a few people who just jumped the gun, beginning to post their drawings before the month even started, resulting in a lot of caterwauling from purists who insist on doing it "the right way", producing one drawing each day, on the day (the creator of Inktober said there's no "right way" to do Inktober and there are no rules. It's just a personal challenge). I do tend to agree that I don't want to see artwork too early, though, because I like to consider the prompts in a vacuum, coming up with my own ideas without having been influenced by anyone else's interpretation. Of course, the easy fix for that is to not look at the group's posts until I'm ready.
So, time to launch my plan. When the prompts were released, I didn't start making ink drawings and posting them early. What I did instead was start doing rough after rough in pencil. Over that "preview" week, I drew the first nine prompts as pencil sketches and then started inking Day One, "Crystal", above (you can click on any picture to view it larger). Of course, the obvious picture would be of crystals, but the prompt made me think of the Marvel superhero Crystal. I wasn't interested in drawing her, specifically, but it got me in a superhero frame of mind, so I made up my own superhero, a witchy woman with a magical staff topped with a crystal ball and adorned with a few other crystals.
I gleefully posted my drawing, finished the night before, on October 1st, and industriously started working on inks for the second sketch. Once again, I was able to post this one on time. The prompt was "Suit", and in the spirit of COVID, I did a sketch of a family wearing hazmat suits. This was based on a still of Dustin Hoffman and Renee Russo from the movie Outbreak, but I drew different people and added a child to emphasize how it affects everyone, regardless of age:
Pleased with my timely performance so far, I started on my fourth picture. The prompt was "Knot". Was I able to post that one on time...or knot? Stay tuned for the next installment!
https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2022/04/inktober-restrospective-2020-part-two.html
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