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Inktober 2020 and An Update

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Well here I am, sitting pretty at the end of another Inktober. Did I say pretty? I actually meant PRETTY TIRED...

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But I did it! Thirty-four drawings in 31 days. And no, I’mnot bad at math….I actually did do 34 drawings (to including one full illustration)for Inktober. (One I had to redo, another needed something extra, and the finalwas a submission to an art contest.)

And in case you have wandered onto this page without the faintest inkling (*ahem*) of what Inktober is, it is a drawing challenge created by Jake Parker to help better traditional inking skills. Draw and ink one picture every day in the month of October and submit it online under the hashtag #inktober. Started in 2009, thousands of artists have participated since.

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There is an official prompt list, or you can draw whateveryou like. This year, I decided to draw everything Star Wars—and BOY did I havefun! I’ve always been a huge fan of Star Wars, and it seemed fitting to pay homageto it since my hubby and I were going through The Clone Wars television seriesand couldn’t wait to watch The Mandalorian, Season 2.

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Inktober can be as much of a challenge as you want it to be.There are a few popular ways of participating, as demonstrated in race terms:You can run the “5k” (create one drawing for each week in October), the “Half-Marathon”(create a drawing every other day), or the “Full Marathon” (create a drawingevery day.)

I decided to participate in the full marathon. And yes, itWAS a challenge.

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I had several reasons why I wanted to participate in the full Inktober prompt challenge this year, because I wanted to:

  • Better my inking skills

  • Challenge myself to create high-qualityillustrations in a timely matter

  • Expand my repertoire of current artwork

  • Continue building my audience

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My main reason was to practice my inking skills using the Zebra fude brush pen (up until now, I was tolerating the use of micron pens.) I’ve recently discovered this pen and have seriously loved inking with it. It gives me dynamic line weight, but also suits my drawing style. It holds up to heavier pen pressure and yet still allows me to incorporate a lot of small detail. I could go on about this pen, but I’ll save this for another blog post.

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The other main reason I did Inktober was to see how hard I could push myself in creating high-quality images in a limited amount of time. As an illustrator, it’s good to take time in composing a scene correctly and doing your research, but that only goes so far when it comes to comics. The fact of the matter is that you just don’t have time to give to each comic page as you would a book cover, but it still needs to be well-crafted and skillfully done. I was challenged to “trust my instincts” when it came to creating these Inktober images and not spend too much time on any one of them. Some turned out better than others, and that’s fine. I’m beginning to believe that it is more important (for a comic artist like myself) to create more good-quality art, rather than fewer “perfect” pieces. And composing, drawing, and inking an image every day did just that. I can’t help but think of a weight-training analogy: the first time you pick up ten-pound dumbbells and crank out several reps, it’s going to be hard. But the more often you do it, the easier it becomes.

Same with drawing, the more often you create/draw/ink/whatever,the more confident and better you become at it.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces (I’ll feature the rest of my drawings in my gallery soon. In the meantime, you can view them on my Instagram or Facebook page.)

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Inktober-3-Bulky_web_1000w-714x1024.jpg
Inktober-17-Storm_web_1000w-776x1024.jpg
Inktober-25-Buddy_web_800w-682x1024.jpg
Inktober-14-Armor_web_1000w.jpg
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Inktober-12-Slippery_web_800w-1-575x1024.jpg
Inktober-20-Coral_web_900w-747x1024.jpg
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Now Inktober is done and packed up, I am pleased to announce that I have some new and exciting art updates coming in the near future!

FIRST, take one last stroll around this old site, because it’s about to be packed up and renovated into a new, shiny website! (It’s about time, too.) I will be retiring some of the older art pieces from my portfolio, but I will still have most of them featured on my Deviantart page.

Secondly, I’m getting ready to launch part one on my nextBIG project…..

…INTERSTELLA.

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I am SO excited to share this with you, but I’m going tokeep you in suspense a little longer. Just know that there are some reallyexciting things coming your way!

With that all said, thanks again for everyone who liked,commented, and encouraged me throughout Inktober. I really enjoy it when peopleget excited over the same things I get excited, and especially love theconversations that it creates.

I’ll end with a quote from Jake Parker: “Whatever you haveis exactly what you need to make your best work.”

So go and make good things!

 

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Inktober 2017: Returning to the Heart of Art

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During the month of October, I participated in “Inktober”—a challenged to create 31 inked drawings and post them on social media. This year I finally decided to participate in full, and so every draw I put my pen down to paper and rendered something new for each day in October (sometimes even more than 1 drawing per day). The challenge was designed by illustrator Jake Parker, who wanted to better his inking skills. And now—8 years later—thousands of artists worldwide have joined in the challenge.And boy, it was a challenge.There were several reasons why I wanted to do Inktober, but the main reason was because I wanted to fight through an artist block that I have been battling for the last two years.Ever since I got back to the states, I placed heavy expectations on myself and my artwork, mentally telling myself that “playtime was over, and now it was time to get work done.” But things rarely turn out the way we plan, and before I knew it, my own expectations and false images of what a successful artist looked like started to crush my creative spirit. I was creating artwork that I believed would please people, rather than creating what truly pleased myself. The results were suffocating and demoralizing, and I never felt as though I could satisfy the critic in my head. Even before my pencil could hit the paper, the critic in my head would say it’s gonna suck, or my skills are not good enough, or so-and-so would think it’s weird, terrible, unoriginal, blah blah blah.Through this long slog of artist block, I’m coming to realize that I’m missing the heart of my work. And the heart of my art is to play, to explore, and to revel in the beauty of being alive. It’s not about money, or recognition. And as trite as that sounds, it’s such a common and subtle pitfall that I believe most people get stuck in it at some point of their life. Because we want to be recognized and praised, and who doesn’t want to make money off of doing what they love?And I really do believe my troubles started when I placed these objectives before the heart of my work. I’ve put a false image of success before me like a carrot on a string, and have been chasing it around in circles ever since.So I’ve been having some hard talks with myself lately, really asking what is most important about making art. And it really comes down to because I love to create. Just as my heavenly Father creates, so I too, love to create. I desire to add beauty and truth to my world and the world around me. And maybe that means I won’t get published. And it probably means I won’t make much money off of it. That’s alright for me. It won’t mean that I stop trying to get published—and sure it’d be great to make some money on the side—but first and foremost I will follow my heart’s calling.And so, for that reason, creating a drawing every day for Inktober was very challenging, because I knew that I was putting my artwork out there to be praised or criticized. I had to constantly remind myself that first and foremost I was creating art for myself, and not because other people thought it was or wasn’t cool. And through the challenge I learned a lot of things about myself and why I make art, and it really helped me to recognize my trouble spots and areas I wanted to improve—both skillwise and in practice. Here are some of my major takeaways:

  • Knowing when a drawing is good, or when it needs more work.
  • Careful planning is good, but there’s a difference between that and over-analyzing something. Don’t be wishy-washy—make a decision and go with it!
  • Oftentimes, simple is best.
  • Making sure your drawing is clear and easy to read.
  • Making art is first and foremost for myself, but it’s good to keep in mind relatability with the audience.
  • When inking, things will not turn out exactly as you intend them to (there will be variation with this)--and that is okay.
  • Mistakes will happen. Deal with them.
  • Don’t Rush.

I've learned so much from this challenge, and I’m grateful for all the positive feedback and affirmation from friends and family alike--and especially grateful for my loving and wonderful husband, who constantly encouraged me and put up with all my late night Inktober drawings. Thanks, babe. ;)My journey is far from over, but I’m excited to see where it takes me. And to wrap up this post, I hope you’ll enjoy some of my favorites from Inktober 2017! Onwards and Upwards! :)

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