Don’t Do Inktober Until You Read This
If you don’t know what Inktober is or this is your first time, let me give you a brief introduction. Inktober is a drawing challenge created in 2014 by the artist Jake Parker. He created Inktober to practice and improve his inking skills. If you'd like to learn more about inktober from Jake Parker, I'll leave a link to his video:
How To Do Inktober! By Jake Parker
Should you do Inktober?
Is it worth the time?
If Jake Parker, a talented, experienced professional comic artist and illustrator can improve his inking skills, then so can every other artist who wants to improve their craft.
But there are 5 things you should know before you dive pen first into Inktober.
These are all things that I’ve learned and have helped me greatly over my 5 years of participating in Inktober.
1. Plan ahead
Plan what you are going to draw.
Go through the inktober list, write out each prompt and next to each prompt do thumbnail sketches with descriptions of what you are going to draw.
This way you won’t have to spend time wracking your brain trying to come up with an idea during the challenge.Schedule out what time of day you are going to draw the prompt.
If you know ahead of time that you can't do the prompt until later in the day, I recommend starting a day early so that you can post your art in the morning. This way others will have time to see your art, give support, feedback and encourage you.Prepare your sketchbook.
Go through the sketchbook page by page and write down the prompt on each page so that you don’t have to go on Instagram to find the prompt.
This will help save time and possibly prevent you from getting distracted on Instagram.
2. Simplify:
Choose 1 tool.
It could be a dip pen, a brush pen, or a BIC ball point pen.
It doesn’t matter.
Just pick one and get good at it!
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t experiment with the tools you use.
But, if you start to get overwhelmed with all the different options and choosing a tool starts to take more thought away from the actual practice of inking, you need to narrow it down.Choose 1 theme.
Creativity thrives with limitations.
Is there a story that you’ve been working on?
Do character art for that story.
Do you just want to draw cars?
Ink 31 different cars!
Is there an artist’s style you want to try?
Do all the Inktober prompts how you think that artist would do it.
The more specific you can be the better!
It will take more energy away from WHAT to draw and give that extra energy over to HOW to ink your subject matter.Choose 1 Skill to practice.
Composition, smoother lines, line weight, rendering with ink, or lighting.
The more intentional you van be with your practice, the more you will gain from this challenge.
3. Time management.
Set a time limit.
You need to be realistic with the amount of time you spend on this challenge.
If you spend 2 hours a day on this challenge, you will lose 14 hours of your week or 56 hours of your month. These are hours well spent; however, most people can't afford to spend that much time on an art challenge.
Don’t try to do two prompts in one day if you missed the day before.
It would be better to take extra-long on one good illustration with intentional practice than to try to rush out two prompts that you didn’t learn anything from.
Start NOW. Do your sketches Before October.
This will give you some breathing room during the challenge.
4. Tools & Materials:
Tools and Materials.
Choose what type of inking tool you are going to use.
Make sure you have any kind of accompanying materials you might need.
Depending on the tool you use, you might need a specific ink or paper.
References.
Find the references your need ahead of time.
Make a Pinterest board exclusively for Inktober 2024, so that when the time comes you aren’t spending an extra hour scrolling through Pinterest trying to find references.
5. Daily Practical Tips:
Start a day before so that you can post on social media early in the day.
There is a large community full of amazing artists invested in inktober.
Take advantage of this season of artists being social all in one place!
Engage in the community! Give feedback, keep each other accountable and cheer others on!Don’t be afraid to pivot last minute.
If your original sketch or thumbnail isn’t working out, change it.
You aren’t bound to your early ideas.
I'd recommend doing a couple of thumbnails for each prompt before you work on your main page.Don’t Compare.
When you get on IG to look at the inktober hashtag for the day, and see an artist who is on another level, you are going to be tempted to feel bad about your art. DON’T!
There are so many amazing artists participating in this challenge, don’t get discouraged! We are all doing this challenge to get better, not to be perfect. Everyone has different experience and time constraints.
Don’t get sidetracked trying to look good, stick to the goals you set out to accomplish.Relax!
This is supposed to be fun!
Don’t take it too seriously.
If you don’t enjoy it, you are not going to stick with it.
Choose a tool you will enjoy using, choose a subject matter you will enjoy drawing and have fun!
BONUS:
When you make your art, post it on Instagram and tag me! (@noahhallink) I'd love to see all the amazing art you make during this challenge.
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