#Inktober2016

mrjakeparker,com/inktober

It’s that time of year again where artists from all over the world participate in something called “Inktober” which lasts for the duration of, you guessed it, October!

The major premise is to create an ink drawing every day in order to enforce good practicing habits and self-improvement. While this is the example followed by most, you do not have to draw every day in order to participate. Anyone is welcome to try it out!

Here’s how to join in:

• Use ink (ballpoint pens work fine if you don’t have anything else).
• Draw daily, bi-weekly, or however you see fit (try to be consistent!)
• Post to your favorite social media platform
• Tag your work with #inktober and #inktober2016

The trend started in 2009 by illustrator Jake Parker as a personal challenge where it then took spread to others. You can also use this link to find other resources from the artist himself to use.

Personally, I don’t like drawing in ink as it seems permanent and I like being able to erase my mistakes or erase the extra lines I make in sketches. Clean lines are just not something that get along with me. The Ctrl + Z shortcut is my best friend in drawing programs.

Then I realized that part of challenging yourself includes stepping out of your comfort zone.

I did end up creating a few doodles last year to start off with, but did not end up following through. Actually, I didn’t make it past the first week. Oops.

True to the Inktober spirit, these were originally posted to my twitter. I believe I used sharpie for both drawings, and sharpie will probably continue being my marker of choice for this year. My excuse for the uneven lighting is that I did not have a working scanner at the time.

I hope to broaden my horizons by drawing less humans, but we'll see how that goes.

The Inktober page has an official prompt list which is what I'll probably be piggybacking off of, but that is totally optional. I hope more people can get in on the action!