Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Inktober 2019: The debate to participate

If you were following my Instagram account last October (thank you, by the way) then you probably saw my attempt at the Inktober challenge. If you're unfamiliar, Inktober is a socially interactive attempt to make a complete ink drawing each day for 31 days in October. Here's a really quick video explanation by Inktober founder Jake Parker:


Long story short, I made it to day 15. Did I learn anything? Like Jake points out in the video above, I learned that coming up with new ideas was a really large part of the challenge. I did not use the Inktober prompts (I probably would this year) and just drew whatever I felt like each day. I made a cobra, a pumpkin head, and a zombie shark to name a few. I also learned that consistent creativity feels amazing! The reason I stopped half way through the challenge was that I had to put commissions and other art projects on hold to produce a new ink drawing each day. I also had a two-day and three-day comic con and art festival respectively and had to draw while engaging with attendees which is very, very difficult for me. I really don't like drawing in public. I ultimately decided that the Inktober challenge was not worth asking collectors to wait even longer before their special pieces were complete.

As October 2019 approaches there is a buzz on social media about the upcoming Inktober challenge and I have been debating whether or not to participate this year. I hate to fail and the thought of not getting through all 31 days frustrates me. I am glad I made the 15 pieces last year but when going through my available originals I found that five were still unsold. This gave me an idea for a new challenge. If all five remaining original Inktober 2018 pieces are sold before October 1st then I will jump in for this year and take another stab at all 31 drawings. I made a post on Instagram and Facebook showing the remaining pieces and now there are currently four left. If you want to help with this current challenge and grab one of those originals for yourself, they are in my Etsy shop HERE. Finding a home for the last four drawings will push me to crank out new ones and we can have fun with this together.

As always, thank you so much for your encouragement and support.

Bryan


No comments: