The month of October is already a third of the way through! Which means I’ve come to the Inktober party a trifle late!

What is Inktober?

Inktober is an art challenge set up by Jake Parker in 2009 (so it has been running a few years now).
The idea is to encourage the artist to commit to a discipline of producing an ink drawing everyday, every other day, or once a week, and to share it using the #inktober hashtag. If you don’t want to share it online—just share it with someone you know (I suppose sticking it on your fridge could cover that?).
Once you decide which option is best for you and fits in with your life, or work schedule etc. you must try to stick to it. But, it must be fun!

Anyone can do Inktober
Just pick up a pen and start drawing

Jake Parker

The objective of the yearly challenge is to produce one drawing a week for a whole year. Just think!—that would mean you could end up with a total of 52 wonderful ink drawings!

Preparation and Inspiration

Mr Parker (is he a super hero?) suggests that you get started early and prepare in September — sketching out ideas, and gathering inspiration, so that come October you can concentrate and focus on inking. Oops! I’m way too late for that!

Prompt List

There is a prompt list for artists to follow. Today is the 11th of October so I’m a little late for ‘Hope’! Disgusting is today’s prompt word…hmmmm. What can I draw that is disgusting?

Throw

I did this sketch yesterday. I know, it’s a day late!(one thing not to do is get stressed out by your schedule! Does it matter if it’s a day late?).

My picture of the little boy who is ‘just about to throw a brick into the river’ was inspired by the day 9 prompt word ‘Throw’.

I might carry on with this ‘Throw’ theme as an animation, because when the little boy throws the brick into the river there is a wonderful big splash! (no time to do that right now though). I drew ‘Throw’ on my iPad. Is that cheating according to the Inktober rules? Is it time to look for my old pens?

It has been a very long time since I used pen and ink (I mostly scribble on my iPad these days). I love digital art, but the prospect of digging out some old pens and ink is exciting me! I wonder whether the bottles might have all dried up or evaporated by now?

Traditional inking tools

Anyway, late though I may be joining the Inktober party, I am now going to take up the challenge to draw in the ‘old fashioned way’ and go and rummage in an old cupboard and see what traditional tools I can rediscover that have been lying therein untouched for years!

I’m off now to see what old inking tools I can find…

I’ll let you know how I get on later! In the meantime, stay safe 🙂