More Fun with Inktober

Inktober 2020 has officially ended, but I still have so much to say and to show you! In the last post, I started sharing the drawings I had done for Inktober 2019. I started them when it was still October, but the month ran out on me. Nevertheless, there is no reason not to continue with the artwork, so I kept doing a little here and there all throughout the following months. Why not? It kept me making artwork, and I had complained in this post about how hard it is to be motivated to create when I don't have the pressure of a portrait commission and its attendant deadline. I enjoyed continuing "Yeartober" (maybe I should trademark that), and I will probably keep going. 

Now, on to the artwork: 

Day 6 - Husky (above)

I frequently do realistic animal illustrations, but I wanted to make a comical illustration of a husky dog. He's not extremely cartoony because I did use photo reference to ensure accuracy in coloration and general features. He's friendly-looking, though, isn't he? I wanted to make it all about those pointy ears and that giant schnozz! 

Day 7 - Enchanted

I enjoyed the addition of limited color in my day three picture, "Bait" (it's in the previous post), so I used the same transparent green color to add a little glow of magic. 

Day 8 - Frail

Okay, this one is a bit heavy and conceptual. The person pictured appears to be old and frail and clearly has wasted away in some dark dungeon for a long, long time. But we can observe that the frail hand could easily slip out of the large, loose shackle--and if that weren't enough, the shackle itself is connected only by a little paper chain. My attempted commentary here is that some people are imprisoned of their own volition or may feel trapped within a prison of their own mind. Maybe they have grown so accustomed to their situation that they don't take a chance to escape when one is presented. There are many factors that could come into play: fear, stubbornness, denial, delusion, depression, sense of duty.  

Day 9 - Swing

Another political cartoon, after years of NOT doing any! Well, it's been a pretty crazy year. The prompt "swing" made me think of "swing states", and so I drew North Carolina with a scale to depict how the state swings as voters decide to switch support from one candidate to the other. But North Carolina is often "Too Close to Call" right up until the very last vote is counted -- as can be seen this very day. 

I hope you have enjoyed the latest Inktober installment. I did a few more for 2019, which I will cover next time, before starting in on the 2020 work. Have you decided to illustrate any of the prompts yourself? 

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Inktober 2020 is Under Way!

Well under way. As a matter of fact, seeing as how it's October 28th, the dang thing is almost over! However, since technically it's still October, I'm doing a bit better than my last post about it, which was in December. Read it. It's fun! https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-little-backstory-on-inktober.html

Actually, that was my last ACTUAL post on this entire blog. In DECEMBER. Oof. 

All I can say is - I did tell you I was lazy. Also pandemic, yadda yadda. The pandemic has kept me from meeting in person with the art group; however, since we also belong to a Facebook group, everyone is sharing their Inktober work, and that spurs me on. I have been participating this year, and will probably continue after the month is over, because you know I won't finish on time. I am already hilariously behind, but that's cool - it's a good excuse for me to not participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated) for the "however long it's been in existence"th year. 

But wait - in my last post, I shared some of my work from Inktobers past, and I shared the prompts for Inktober 2019, should you be interested. But I hadn't yet shared the drawings I did for Inktober 2019. So, um, time to do that now, clearly. I'll get to 2020 when I get to it, okay? Who knows, that might even be before Inktober 2021. One can hope, anyway. 

Day 1 - Ring

One of the reasons I like the Inktober prompts is that they are often open-ended, which leads to a lot of creative possibilities. Think of all the different kinds of rings - the kind you wear on your finger, the kind you leave in the tub, a "faerie ring" in the forest, that creepy movie where the little girl crawled out of the TV. There's also the verb form of ring, which reminds me of telephones, church bells, school bells, alarms. You can make conceptual associations, such as "let freedom ring" or "for whom does the bell toll", or even draw the ill-fated Challenger shuttle, downed by a failure of one of the o-rings. I went the predictable route with this one: an engagement ring. But perhaps not the predictable response...

Day 2 - Mindless

It's creepy-looking, I guess. Just a commentary on how everyone is so into what's on their phones that they are often unaware what's happening around them in the real world. Also a bit of social commentary that has been especially on my mind the last few years, about how people are so easily swayed by what they see presented as "facts" online that critical thinking seems to be going very much by the wayside, leaving us without a mind of our own, or so set in our own beliefs that we tune out opposing (or even different) points of view and join those who only want to hear those same views in a "hive mind".

Day 3 - Bait

I follow politics, but it's rare for me to make what might be considered a "political cartoon". I have pretty strong feelings about how funding from NRA lobbyists have allowed our gun culture to run rampant and cause so much heartache. The vast majority of Americans, including gun owners, want reasonable regulation on guns, such as comprehensive background checks. But money talks, right? As our nefarious lobbyist says, "best bait ever."

Day 4 - Freeze

Continuing my streak of bad actors, here's Mr. Freeze from DC's Batman comic book and movie franchise. Chillin' like a villain! 

Day 5 - Build (pictured above)

Okay, here's a funny one, because I can't draw incisive and depressing political cartoons every day (or really, draw anything every day). I think we've all seen those houses whose owners obviously had more time and money than sense, or places with a rather odd mix of architectural styles. I figure, why not ALL of them? How many different kinds do you see? 

One more thing I will add about this year's Inktober is the ist of prompts, in case you would like to get started while it's still actually going. And if you start late, hey - you're in good company! 

Inktober 2020 Prompts:

1. fish

2. wisp

3. bulky

4. radio 

5. blade

6. rodent

7. fancy

8. teeth

9. throw

10. hope

11. disgusting

12. slippery

13. dune

14. armor

15. outpost

16. rocket

17. storm

18. trap

19 dizzy

20. coral

21. sleep

22. chef

23. rip

24. dig

25. buddy
26. hide

27. music
28. float

29. shoes

30. ominous

31.  crawl

Thanks for reading! I will share more, hopefully soon! 

Yay, here is the next installment: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2020/11/more-fun-with-inktober.html

All images original art by the author. Use of "Mr. Freeze" character trademarked by DC Comics is not intended to infringe. The NRA can kiss my wazoo. 

For regular shenanigans, please follow my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/allsortsofart