Just wanted to put the call out to anyone participating in Inktober this year? For those who don't know Inktober is a fantastic initiative for the month of October where you are challenged to produce a drawing every day and share on social media. They provide a prompt for each day and you get to choose something that relates to that keyword as a way to get the creative juices flowing. The original idea is that it is to be a pen and ink drawing but there is no rule saying it has to be that, you can paint or do pencil or charcoal drawings everyday if that's what suits. There's also no rule saying you have to follow the prompts, you can draw whatever you like, the only thing that matters is that you are drawing which is what it is all about.

It was created by artist Jake Parker as an in initiative for artists, or complete novices like myself to build the habit of drawing regularly and I think it's a fantastic way to get people who are stuck in a rut with their creativity just doing the work and also bringing people in the same boat together. A lot of the time aspiring artists stop for a while when the key is 'doing'. I know myself I've done a lot less drawing practice since the last Inktober so I'll be trying to keep up the habit much more in the next 12 months.

So how about you all? Anyone else having a crack? @DeelightfulPlay are you having a shot this time round? Interesrted to hear anyone's thoughts! 

 

 

Edited September 13, 20241 yr by Grapeviney
Title change

Good shout, @layzie!  Have you made headway in the past 2 weeks?  Would love to see your work!

Alas my only Inktober so far is watercolour calligraphy on placecards for 92 guests at a friend's wedding.

I have been toying with the idea of doing a few sketches of our incoming players and some tributes to our outgoing players... I also have a bunch not uploaded here because I've yet to figure out the whole imgur thing!

2 minutes ago, DeelightfulPlay said:

Good shout, @layzie!  Have you made headway in the past 2 weeks?  Would love to see your work!

Alas my only Inktober so far is watercolour calligraphy on placecards for 92 guests at a friend's wedding.

I have been toying with the idea of doing a few sketches of our incoming players and some tributes to our outgoing players... I also have a bunch not uploaded here because I've yet to figure out the whole imgur thing!

Thanks @DeelightfulPlay! I've tried my best to make a real effort and get it off to a good start this month. Not sure if getting ahead is seen as cheating but I've always wanted to be a couple of days ahead just in case things come up and I'm not able to draw that day haha. I know the idea is to not think about it too much but I do like to take a little time to get things how I like them! Definitely a novice though, I don't even call myself a drawer more of a sketcher. Most of the time Black fineliners/pens are my go to medium and I think I'm just fascinated my monochrome sketching and conveying as much detail as possible just with hatching and cross hatching etc but I have used this Inktober so far to experiment a bit more with things like India Ink wash with a brush.

Incidently the other thing I've been trying is watercolour for the first time, very different and a bit of a learning curve! Would be very keen to see your stuff and how it's done properly! Also I think you should definitely do the incoming player sketches! been trying to do a lot more faces/anatomy I really REALLY struggle with thhinks like eyes and facial features!

More than happy to share some of my stuff with you, appreciate it!

 

Wow, that's very organised of you, @layzie!  I don't think it's cheating, or antithetical to the spirit of Inktober.  I've seen some people who have thumbnails prepared for the whole month, and who create very detailed artworks.

Sounds like you're a draftsperson, honing your linework and cross hatching!  I also prefer monochrome sketching - it's easier to pick up and put down from time to time, and practice understanding tone.  That's why lately a lot of my work has just been pencil sketches haha

Oh thanks!  Only in the past year and a half did I decide to learn watercolour, I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly too!  Bit of a departure from my footy artwork though, since I do botanical art (a bit painstaking tbh).  For me, hands are my weak point + if I haven't undersketched properly I get the body anatomy out of proportion haha

Yeah I tried thumbnails to sort of setup the first 10 days and it does help a lot!

Haha it is funny you mention that, I do a lot of sketching for my job and have often thought about going back to study drafting. I know a lot of people find it boring but I really like perspective sketching and making sure things are in proportion etc. So much to try out when it comes to hatching. Lines, line weight, layering, stippling. I'd love to just spend heaps of time practicing all these and drilling them in!

Yeah that would be me as well, I live off pencil undersketches. Definitely not one of those people who could paint a structure willy nilly, there has to be some guide. 

I'd like to be able to change the title to 23. I don't really want go start a fresh thread.

Anyway I will not be watching, listening or consuming any form of footy media this week. I am diving straight into Inktober right now.

We're back for Inktober 24! I'll kindly ask the mods to update the title pretty please 😀

Quick summary, Inktober is a 30 day drawing challenge where you are given prompts and have to produce a drawing each day. It's a great way to help develop the habit of drawing and there is no right or wrong way to do it. Just have a go!

The prompts are out and I'm currently trying to figure out what to sketch each day. The creativity hasn't been flowing much lately but I do have an idea of Christian Petracca on a chessboard (open to interpretation). 

This year I've been trying to learn and practice more gesture and figure drawing techniques. It's been tricky to get through the head as I'm much more used to perspective sketching, hoping to implement this a bit more along with the odd stab at ink wash and maybe using my new Ohuhu Graphic markers.

@DeelightfulPlay are you getting on board?

Update: Learning Gesture is hard, really hard. When you've been so used to sketching what you see and trying to get as much detail an contour down as early as possible, training your mind to forget all that and just start loosely scribbling stick figures feels like kicking on your opposite foot. 

Line of Action is a great site for anyone keen on doing some quick sketch figure drawing practice. You can setup a slideshow of models posing and time how long it will be on the screen for (30 seconds, 2 mins etc). It forces your brain to get the rhythm or perceived action of a pose down. 

Obviously like anything, gesture drawing requires a lot of practice to understand it better, something I'm not doing anywhere near enough of right now as I frantically revert to my way of sketching! 

Last December I decided that as I’d be spending a lot more time sitting at home, I’d try to get back into drawing, something that I hadn’t done for decades.So, I bought myself a nice Derwent A3 sketch pad and a ROtring Isograph Technical Drawing Pen set, ready to relive my days at Swinburne as an aspiring graphic artist, back in the early 70’s.

Then, courtesy of the chemo (which no doubt people are getting tired of hearing about, by now 😉), peripheral neuropathy has pretty much killed off any likelihood of me reliving that particular part of my past to any great degree, but I am now considering using Inktober as a form of therapy, and to test the power of mind over matter; not that it matters.

Thanks for alerting me to the Inktober challenge, as I’d completely forgotten about it until now.

On 23/09/2024 at 04:07, hardtack said:

Last December I decided that as I’d be spending a lot more time sitting at home, I’d try to get back into drawing, something that I hadn’t done for decades.So, I bought myself a nice Derwent A3 sketch pad and a ROtring Isograph Technical Drawing Pen set, ready to relive my days at Swinburne as an aspiring graphic artist, back in the early 70’s.

Then, courtesy of the chemo (which no doubt people are getting tired of hearing about, by now 😉), peripheral neuropathy has pretty much killed off any likelihood of me reliving that particular part of my past to any great degree, but I am now considering using Inktober as a form of therapy, and to test the power of mind over matter; not that it matters.

Thanks for alerting me to the Inktober challenge, as I’d completely forgotten about it until now.

Get stuck in Hardtack! The site with prompts is here

No right or wrong way of doing it, you don't even have to follow the prompts or even use pen and ink. It's been a great initiative to get people drawing regularly. 

This one has been a tough one personally. Most years I like to try new techniques out but this year time has been a factor so I've just been getting work out as soon as possible with not a lot of thought on detail.

At some point I might post an example, just be kind!