Inktober 2022
Updated 5th November
Inktober is over for another year. This year I did struggle a bit more motivationally but managed to keep up by shifting the rhythm from a daily drawing to chunking two or three every few days. I realised that the pressure of completing a "good" (polished) drawing i.e. the botanical style I aimed for this time, with a daily challenge, kills my enthusiasm for drawing every day. Despite this I'm very happy to have completed the 31 drawings (watch the tour below), learning a lot about my local native flora along the way.
Original post:
I feel the year has gone by quite quickly and it's suddenly October already! Once again I'm keen to participate in Inktober (the annual drawing with ink challenge). Continue reading to find out what's different this year!
See my process below or jump straight to the materials I'm using.
Inktober
If you're not familiar with Inktober then you can read more at the official website. There are both official and community-made prompt lists, however, I've followed my own for the past few years. Last year I focused on improving my nature journaling skills by going for a small walk around my neighbourhood and drawing from life every day. I also occasionally followed Marley Peifer's prompts if they aligned.
My 2022 challenge
This year my aim for Inktober is to learn more about the native West Australian plants around me. I again hope to foster a daily drawing habit and draw from life where possible. That means I won't be following a prompt list this year for the first time.
I predict I will spend more time doing detailed line work (so I'll probably sketch in pencil first) and researching than getting lots of information down and experimenting compared to last year.
By the end, I would like a cohesive series of botanical-style ink drawings of the different varieties of native plants in my area, annotated with the information I have learned about them. I might create downloadable line arts or an ebook of all the Inktober drawings for my members, so if you'd like to be notified make sure to subscribe to my (free) newsletter:
Materials
Once again the materials I'll be using will be minimal: a pencil, black, grey and white pens and my handmade toned paper sketchbook. Since I don't have enough pages left in that book I'll probably also draw in my other handmade sketchbook with bamboo paper.
Process
Learn about my process for doing this Inktober challenge from nature journaling, inking, dealing with decision paralysis to researching.
Joining in?
I always enjoy seeing how other people go during this challenge. 😀
Good luck!
Member discussion