In 2009, artist Jake Parker decided to set himself a challenge, he'd draw a picture every single day for the month of October in a bid to improve his inking skills and get into the habit of drawing regularly. Thus began Inktober:https://inktober.com/
The month-long art challenge now takes place every year, drawing participants from all over the globe, from professional artists to young children. As two people with very different artistic skills and drawing habits, Rose and I have attempted to participate several times...with varying degrees of success. But finally, this year I've managed to complete a drawing for each of the 31 days.
As the name suggests, Inktober participants are technically supposed to ink their drawings, which Rose did, but I have issues with perfectionism that mean digital art is much more enjoyable for me. So instead, I decided to use this opportunity to practise as many different artistic techniques as possible. Here's how it went...
NB: Even the presentations are reflective of our personalities as Sarah's is neat and tidy and mine is Chaotic!
Sarah's Inktober 2020 Collage
Rose's Inktober Collage
1. Fish:
S: Perfect opportunity to try drawing some brightly colour, glistening fish scales. I ended up branching out and drawing scales from all sorts of creatures; goldfish, rainbow trout, dragon (How to train your dragon, specifically), a snake and a lizards. I had a lot of fun playing with the different textures and colours, and like the variety.
R: Considering I planned on doing similar small snapshots to Sarah this was not the best start and shows a trend to me absolutely not following that rule. This fish was a tattoo inspired piece and my interpretation of a Japanese style koi but in goldfish form, I don't hate it considering it was drawn at 3am on one of my many sleepless nights but it is filled with problems but as far as my first tattoo style fish I don't hate it?
2. Wisp
S: One of my least favourites. Obviously I tried to draw smoke. I quite like the bold abstract curves, but the colouring varied from too bold to a smudged mess.
R: This is the beginning of the flirtation with backgrounds which generally I don't like doing as I am just plain bad at them as they are too intricate and honestly I don't have the patience or the attention span. But this is Sarah in a forest-y swamp-y place with some folklore based will o' wisps. I like the perspective of Sarah in this one but you can definitely tell I don't do backgrounds but I do keep trying!
3. Bulky
S: I followed a Youtube tutorial by a medical illustrator called Annie Campbell for this one. I'm really happy with how it came out, and that's all thanks to her fabulous guide. You can see it here. I like the bones, but I remember getting pulled away before I'd finished shading and never finding time to go back, it could do with a little more work.
R: The First of many Dungeons and Dragons related pieces, I am in a campaign where I play an 8ft warforged made of stone with 3 other humans or human variants and we have so much fun and this is Phieran behind a human sized desk in one of our many adventures feeling a little too big.
4. Radio
S: I tried to make this look like an old school speaker. It was a really quick piece and turned out fine.
R: This is one of the many pieces with more meaning than it needs. The word was radio and the only thing in my head was the Queen song "Radio Gaga" so I took some of the iconic lyrics and created a cartoon style radio going from a 1920s machine through to a mobile phone like now the war of the worlds reference, the smiling and crying all surrounding the brilliant song.
5. Blade
S: Another piece that could have done with a lot more time and care. I like the idea of the big swinging blade around the outside (I played a lot of Dota2 Aghanim's Labyrinth recently, and it was a good day when you got a trap room) and a more jagged dagger type blade in the centre, but I really didn't do it justice. So far in Inktober, I've mainly learned how half-arsed I am, haha.
R This took me a while to figure out and that is the sign of a bad picture. I had so many ideas but trying to get them to work is very difficult but I work in a Victorian Chemist and have been working on articles surrounding the idea of bleeding so a phleam kit seemed a logical choice and small enough to create a noticeable blade.
6. Rodent
S: I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It was my first ever attempt at fur, and it looks like someone's first ever attempt at fur. I did actually try hard with this one and played around with the layering for quite a while, but it's not a piece I'll be showing off.
R. I have to think of my favourite pair of ridiculous rodents and Pinky and the Brain were a fantastic cartoon about mice trying to take over the world and who doesn't love that.
7. Fancy
S: I really like how this turned out. It's by no means perfect (don't look too closely) but the light play was both challenging and fun.
R: Part two of the episodes of my beloved 8ft automaton, he spent a short moment drinking a graveyard grown tea in the town of Westbridge, he enjoyed it so much he had another cup but he didn't half feel fancy.
8. Teeth
S: Not my most imaginative idea, but I love how gross and strangely realistic these teeth look. Plus, I learned that the wider the gaps between the teeth, the more off-putting they look, so there's that.
R: You get points for if anyone knows what this is but I do believe it was Terry Wogan's finest moment and taught me all about how to live got to love a Children's show that actually teaches you a lesson, unlike nowadays but everyone was scared of the Big bad I said no!
9. Throw
S: Probably my second laziest picture, I think I even used the fill function and the circle template (the shame). I'm a bit fan of this kind of simplistic cartoon style though, I haven't developed my own style yet, but I can see it being very similar to this.
R: Another symbolic piece really but a good excuse to practise the idea of hands, didn't go awfully well but the meaning behind this is going to the grave. There is another one like this later on but it shows throw meaning or not so it works. But my art does tend to have significant meaning to me or it feels pointless somehow.
10. Hope
S: We've finally hit my lowest point. Definitely the picture I put the least effort into. But the idea was unique at least. And in my defense, I looked at some reference pictures of Aang in an attempt to simulate the shading style, and it turns out there isn't much shading used for the cartoon either.
R: This one literally breaks my heart everytime I see it. I will say that in the series it was also one of the moments I always shed a tear everytime I see it. Charmander was left by a terrible trainer on a rock and he told him to wait for him, Ash sees the trainer and shouts at him because he says he abandoned it there. It begins to rain and as any good pokemon buff knows a charmander will die if its tail flame goes out. The Charmander waits and waits for his owner to come back and get it as the rain begins to slowly kill it, it remains hopeful that it will return but he never does and never intends to so I guess this is a warning that staying hopeful for something that doesn't deserve it, it a bad idea. Hopefully someone will show you before it's too late.
11. Disgusting
S: Still funny that this is my prettiest picture and it's for the word 'disgusting'. To explain, this is supposed to be slime (a bit cliche, I know), but for some reason I decided to draw the children's putty slime I'm familiar with, instead of the disgusting slime dripping from the ceiling of an ancient dungeon like I should have. Look how pretty and sparkly it is though. 10/10 would draw again.
R: Another pretty dark one to be fair but what I find to be the most disgusting thing to be is betrayal. I cannot abide by the idea of being stabbed in the back by someone you care about. This is an image of my character being stabbed in the back repeated with the final one being a large sword. The culprit is there but for the sake of my sanity they had to be removed from the final cut but the image is still as striking without the specifics.
12. Slippery
S: I like this a whole lot more today than I did when I drew it. You wouldn't believe how long it took to complete (I hand drew all of the scales!), so I was quite disappointed that it didn't look very realistic or impressive when finished. Looking at it now, I quite like the unique style (I'm getting tartan vibes, something I never thought I'd associate with snakes). Plus, I learned not to draw snake scales like this again, so it wasn't all for nothing!
R: This was the last one I actually drew because Slippery was a word I couldnt find an image for until one evening me and Sarah were talking and I said all I could think about was a banana and I am obsessed with Dota right now so she said it would be really funny if it was Monkey King Slipping on a banana skin so there you have it lady's and gentlemen a chibi Monkey King in his slapstick Chaplin audition.
13. Dune
S: And so the descent into references to things I love at the moment begins...Although this one is really simple, I love the colour combinations and composition. And I love Dune.
R: As with Sarah this is a fairly simple idea based on the sandworms from Burton's Iconic Film Beetlejuice. I have always loved that film and although the sandworm pretty much takes over this picture it still counts....I think.
14. Armour
S: I cheated on this one, the chain links were created using a special brush on IbisPaintX. Again, I love the cartoon-style shading on this one, but I don't feel like I learned much from this drawing.
R: Another abstract piece my character is hiding behind the armour of a smile when she's crying. This picture is the reason I don't like traditional art. When looking at it closely you can see that the pens bled and I had to find a way to try and save the picture mainly so I didn't have to draw it again because although I like the idea I didn't want to do it again.
15. Outpost
S: A great chance to try drawing different types of material. I actually tried a few different techniques for the wood, but I liked this style best. I think I'll be designing everything out of steel sheets if I ever going into architectural design though, much easier to draw.
R: With army on the brain that day I drew a very basic idea of what a British outpost looked like in a desert area trying to keep the images simple but noticeable was difficult and trying to differentiate yellows on with pens on apparently bleeding paper was incredibly difficult. But as it is almost entirely background I am actually really pleased with this.
16. Rocket
S: Thanks Candy Cane Kennie for a tutorial on how to draw starry skies that was a lot of fun to follow! I realised too late that I put a little too much black into the sky for such a small area, but I couldn't be bothered to go back and fix it...I know for next time though!
R: This another one to show my love for pokemon because despite the several possibilities that could have happened only Team Rocket Came to mind and what is more iconic than the OG Jesse and James and their famous phrase.
17. Storm
S: Another tutorial is behind this one, this time by Color and Scribble. Honestly, the cloud turned out nothing like I planned, partly because I'm a sucker for pretty and went with pinks instead of the moody greys I needed for a storm cloud, but mostly because I don't have any artistic skill. Sorry I let you down Color and Scribble, let my inadequacies not reflect on you. All that said, I like how it looks from a distance!
R: Not my favourite by any means but another word I actually struggled with so I copped out and went for Zeus from Dota as I have been obsessed with the halloween event so not a fan of thisa one to be honest but at least storm was done.
18.Trap
S: Where I officially dropped my 'rune' idea and just started drawing whatever I wanted. And boy oh boy did I want to draw Little Nightmares at the point. This was the day I finished the game for the first time, and I loved it so much it was a real fight against myself not to make every word Little Nightmares-themed for the rest of the month (I failed a couple of times). Anyway, this is 6 and I love her...it.
R: A shackled, leashed and trapped creature which is my character in were wolf form in fact she was a werewolf before she was a human which is a bit strange but it took a long time for me to build the confidence to dra a human and although I try it now it is not brilliant but ill get there one day.
19. Dizzy
S: My eyes hurt looking at this one, but the is idea really fun. I'm honestly a bit conflicted about this one because I both love and hate the colours. They're pretty but although I used a reference picture, I just didn't quite get the colours right and it really stands out because they're so bold and contrasting. I'd like another go at this at some point. (I used the circle tool for the entire thing. Naughty).
R: Part three of Phieran. In the campaign Phieran can be very unapproachable and yet his little companions always try. Mal tends to hide in bushes when he's scared and Lothaal tries to troll Phieran but when Phieran is trying to learn about human etiquette there is no annoying him and he belts Lothaal with a large stony hand which would make anyone dizzy.
20. Coral
S: Ew, I hate this one. The colours remind me of a mouldy 70's bathroom, and it looks nothing like coral. To make it all 100 times worse, it took forever! I didn't even end up finish the shading because I didn't feel like it was worth the effort. On the bright side, not deleting and restarting was really in the spirit of Inktober! Go me.
R: Another Cop out to be honest, I drew a Corsola from pokemon. A pokemon I don't like really and a word a wasn't feeling not a good combination....less said the better really.
21. Sleep
S: My negativity is getting a bit repetitive, but I think this is the last one I truly disliked. It's just bad. I accidentally did everything on the same layer and by the time I realised I was too far into it to restart which is why the colouring is so primary school. I also wasn't particularly invested in the idea, but I'd already done a night sky. The one thing I quite like is the sheep (I know the perspective is off, but for me it's quite close).
R: Phieran being an automaton doesn't really need to sleep so I thought for sleep I would show all the other people having a long rest whilst Phieran watches out. It comes with its own story of Lothaal again trolling someone but that is another story for another time but needless to say the DnD stories we have are clearly amazingly insane.
22. Chef
S: Another Little Nightmares reference. Teehee. Didn't learn anything at all here, just copied a reference picture (it was this or Quinoa from FF9). No regrets.
R: The best and only Christmas carol there has ever been for me every year I watch it and I can be heard singing the songs and humming the tunes all year round and it always cheers me up. So here is the swedish chef from the Muppets Christmas Carol Good Times.
23. Rip
S: I'm not a serial killer, I promise. It just turns out that skin, bones and muscle are really fun to draw...And I'm not the only person that thinks so, I used a tutorial by CG Cookie Concept. (Yes, I had to Google 'how to draw..." a wound, bones, blood AND muscle, and I'm probably on a watch list now). The bruising looks a bit amateur but I didn't have the brushed the tutorial suggested and couldn't really get the effect right. It looks OK from a distance though.
R: I may have taken this a slightly different way but it is what it is Rest In Piece over a rip of tear. I tried to put more emphasis on the background some of which I like some of which I don't but it's getting better.
24. Dig
S: The toys and items in this one are from Don't Starve (a reference to Pipspook's quests) so I deliberately went for a simplistic cartoon style, but it somehow looks a little too two-dimenstional. I think I should have reduced the opacity and increased the shading on the items. It's OK though, I don't mind it.
R:"Diglett Dig Diglett Dig"
25. Buddy
S: Awh, hi little guy. If you haven't played the Little Nightmares (I recommend it!), you won't know how heart-breaking this picture is. I love him though. I decided not to tidy up the lines on this one...or the following Little Nightmares picture actually...I'm not sure why, but it means you can see exactly how much I struggle with perspective and scale. I persevered though, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.
R: Phieran's best buddy is in fact the lovely Doris a mytical old lady who has made him learn to love again.
26. Hide
S: I had a great idea for a Little Nightmares picture here, just saying. I exercised self-discipline and tried my hand at drawing leather though. You know when you watch a speed-painting video and at the beginning you're like how is THAT going to end up like the thumbnail? I felt that drawing this one. I followed a tutorial by Sketch a Day and it looked like a dirty brown stain to start with, but it turned into leather by the end and I really like it. Thanks, Sketch a Day!
R: A particular highlight from the adventures of Pheiran when he was attempting to hide his friend Lothaal from a vengeful woman after he "accidentally" killed his husband and on an insane stealth roll he decided to pretend to be back pack on Phieran and it appeared to work quite well.
27. Music
S: My guilty secret is out, I love K-Pop. Turns out the white squiggles on the BTS LY:A album aren't that easy to simulate. I always expect these large, swirling shapes to be easy to copy, you just wiggle your wrist around, right? Turns out that doesn't really work. Ah well, it's better to develop your own style anyway.
R: This is Transcendental Jeff a bard from a campaign I DM and he was always playing the bagpipes. I realise that a lot of mine seem to be inside jokes and silly stories but I love art that means something and will make at least one person smile.
28. Float
S: I really love this one, yet another tutorial (Kellogsloops) and it turned out so well. I also threw in another little Don't Starve reference with the message in a bottle. This is one of my favourites.
R: Everything Float down here Georgie.
29. Shoes
S: I really impressed myself with the patience I displayed drawing this one, as silly as that sounds. Drawing the shoes was a tedious task, and before starting this challenge I probably would have decided I had better things to do with my time. It really showed me that good habits CAN be formed and DO pay off. Three cheers for Inktober.
R: I hated this one too but it has its basis in Cinderella and ironically let me learn more about drawing hands than feet which is odd.
30. Ominous
S: OK, before you say it, this picture doesn't disprove the message of yesterday. I wasn't being lazy, I was taking the opportunity to practise drawing shadows. I love how this turned out. I have no idea what clipping layers or masking overlays are, but they work!
R: An homage to my current obsession with Diretide, It is me as Viper and an amazing Io! Keeping me alive to grab the trick or treat candy and getting the win. But the big scary Roshan always want to be fed candy and that ominous shadow is the candy bucket waiting to be filled to calm the beast an ominous shadow when you don't have the candy.
31. Crawl
S: Final picture, and I was struggling for creative ideas for this one. The picture itself started off really well, I like the skin tones and the hair, but I couldn't quite get the shading right on the goose bumps and I honestly got a little too excited that I'd reached completed Inktober and stopped working on it before it was finished. Oh well, this was still an achievement I'm proud of. Let's see if I can keep it up by drawing a little more regularly this year! Next challenge: 52 drawings in a year.
R: A nice Samara to leave you with just crawling out of the television ready to take you down after seven days. Perfect Halloween end to a fun challenge very enjoyable. I have missed drawing and I really enjoy the challenge of making a story out of anything!!!
Now I just need another one to finish the sketch book can't have it half full.
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