What Inktober 2019 was like
Updated: Dec 20, 2019
October 2019 brought with itself a big change for me and my art this year- the first year I attempted (and successfully completed) the Inktober Challenge.
In case you're unaware, Inktober is a challenge that runs through the month of October where artists put out for the world to see one ink drawing for every day of the entire month. This challenge was created by Jake Parker in 2009 to challenge himself- and now millions of other artists- to improve their inking skills and drawing habits. This year I decided to hop on the bandwagon and boy, am I glad I did.
The Inspiration
The bulk of my inspiration for Inktober 2019 came from the ink drawing of two specific art YouTubers- DrawingWiffWaffles and PypahsArt . I spent a good amount of time not only looking through their Inktober 2018 videos, but also the videos of several other artists, understating their process and absorbing what spoke to me as an artist.
The one thing that got me the most excited was being able to work with ink. The challenge- creating mood, tones, expression, and emotion using just a collection of Micron fineliners. and a bottle of India Ink.
Almost 15 days prior to Inktober starting, I was already harboring the immense excitement that working with ink was to bring for me. I had started to look at objects and understand the game of light and shadow, trying to imagine what it would look like if I had to draw that using only a bunch of lines.
The Process
Every previous day (or so it was meant to be, at least), I decided to make little mock ups of what was going to become a completed inky illustration by the next morning. For the majority of the days I would make tiny mind maps of the words, phrases and different ideas that came naturally to me. Then, I expanded upon them- giving them meaning and ironing out each idea.
I chose the one that spoke to me the most. Since it was in fact my first year doing this, I let myself choose the idea that I connected to the most, rather than focusing on the outcome or how good it would look once I was done.
Every mindmap was followed by tiny rough sketches- doodles filling the pages as a way of brainstorming. Using a regular graphite pencil to do these sketches was truly the part I enjoyed the most. I watched a bunch of scribbles turn into something- an idea. It may sound like I'm exaggerating, but it was certainly a feeling indescribable.
Here's some of my preliminary sketches.
Some days demanded more brainstorming than others, but some days I knew as soon as I looked at the prompt what I wanted to draw.
There's something very important I learnt during this process- thumbnailing. I realized how essential preliminary sketching was to the practice of illustrating. I learnt what ideas looked good in words, but not so good when I drew them out. I learnt what aspects of a certain drawing I need improvement on, like human features, dragons, or even everyday objects for that matter.
Pinterest was my best friend this month. (Pinterest is actually my best friend all months of the year everyday.) I would look up words related to the prompt for that day, find inspiration and scribble in my sketchbook ideas that originated from me, making sure I was wasn't remaking an art piece or copying another artist. I looked up references of things I was having difficulties with and practiced them.
Once I was satisfied with the outcome of my sketching I would move to an A4 size drawing paper and begin my final illustration.
The process from then on was pretty straight forward. I used 4B graphite pencils to sketch out the idea, lightly erased with a kneaded eraser, and then began inking. I mostly used Micron fineliners, but some illustrations saw the usage of the India Ink I mentioned before.
Illustrations like the ones above were solely done using Microns.
Some called for Microns, as well as Ink. I needed to use the brush strokes and the "wet on wet" techniques to my advantage to create different textures and ambiances.
The Challenges
The biggest challenge I faced was finding time during the day to sit down and sketch. We had our examinations going on during the majority of October, and last few days of the month I was travelling. For the most part I managed keep up, sketching whenever I got the time- at coffee shops, or at 2 a.m..
For the days that I wasn't able to include some drawing time, I decided to let myself complete it the next day. I wanted to make sure that this challenge wouldn't get too overwhelming for me, otherwise there's always a chance one may want to quit midway. I'll be very honest, I did end up missing a few days, going up to 3 days of not posting any Inktober drawings on my Instagram. However, I made sure I made up for the lag somehow.
Another big challenge I faced was coming up with ideas in my head- and being able to transfer them verbatim on to paper. I'll admit, some ideas seemed way better in my imagination than they did on paper and that was a real downer. I truly envy those artist who have the ability to draw their thoughts as close to their imagination as their skills allow. Some of the ideas I came up with seemed so grand and elaborate in my head, but I quickly realized how difficult it was to reproduce them on a blank piece of paper.
Working with ink was another hurdle. I had never really worked with ink before other than what we did in art school- but that was only in relation to assignments. Here, I could use my materials however I wanted. In the beginning, it was definitely a challenge as I learnt how to used the medium to my advantage- getting the strokes and lines that would only benefit my illustration.
One other thing, I found myself comparing myself and my art to other artists and their work. In this day and age it is so incredibly easy to be discouraged and disappointed in yourself based on what we see online. Comparing yourself to others is something we all do at some point.
For the most part, I enjoyed looking at other people's work. In fact, I found some insane artists that I now follow. I learnt how many different renditions one idea can have, how many different ideas are sparked for a single word. It was like getting sucked into a world of imagination.
However, on my not-so-good days, upon seeing other people's art I felt incredibly small and irrelevant. Some days I even questioned my abilities. And then there was the question of self-confidence and self-doubt in a fight. I would wonder if all the rest of my days would be like this one bad one, or all my art would turn out to be a big dissatisfaction.
But the thing that let me down also picked me up. Seeing other artists, and my friends participating in this challenge and supporting me immensely kept me going. Each bad day was a reason to make the next one better.
The Outcome
In the end, I had in front of myself 31 ink drawings- some were good, some were bad. But each and every one of them had a different story to tell. I was surprised at the different realms of my thought process that was involved with each drawing. I have certainly become more confident with my strokes, as well as the medium. I learnt the importance of preliminary sketching and the rendering of ideas, what it's like to be inspired by a single word- the prompt- and compare my idea to someone else's idea that was completely different, even though they originated from the same word.
But most importantly, I learnt to enjoy my art, and appreciate it no matter what. Inktober made me realize that it was okay to have some bad art days, because that means you're learning and have a chance to learn more, and not all days will be like that.
I would certainly encourage you to tag along in the next year's Inktober challenge, and tell your friends about it too. There is so much learn and explore, it's actually insane.
Oh and also, another big outcome of this year's Inktober- 31 different fine art prints! Go ahead and check out my shop if you'd like to purchase any of the fine art prints of any of the Inktober 2019 illustrations.
You can check out my Instagram too, where I posted for every day of the month.
Make sure to say hello!
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