Inktober Early Planning

[olivermoss]

Hi all! I thought I'd start a post for Inktober preparation. Here we can talk inking materials, troubleshooting and sharing inkspiration. October is still two weeks or so away, but this gives people lead time to learn new techniques or order new supplies if they want to.

Feel free to ask any trad or digital inking questions in the comments so we can help each other. Also post tutorials you've found helpful, artists to study and whatever else might be relevant.

I am still not very practiced with any of them, but I've acquired a lot of supplies over the past year. I've got a variety of papers, inks, inking pens, ink pencils and also a small LED lightbox. In the picture above, the lettering is my first time using a pen you dip in ink. That banner is my pre-Inktober starting point. If people are interested I will list, talk about and/or demo my supplies.

The official Inktober prompt list is up is up here. I am not going to use that list, I am making my own unless I can find a really good one.

So, what are your Inktober questions, plans or hopes?

Comments

[syntheid]

I missed this post, but I've been ... sort-of Inktober prepping? I'm definitely not doing Inktober proper at all, probably not sticking to ink-only and doubtful that I'll post a thing a day. But I have been using the official prompt list to brainstorm ideas since it's got that gross-creepy vibe a little. (I'm a little amused so many of you really dislike this year's list, ahah, I usually am not very inspired by prompts but this year I seem to be getting more inspiration from it.)

Last year I focused on actually 'finishing' a sketch in some sort of ink-medium and posting it every day, which was interesting. But my other goal of really pushing the creepy/unearthly factor in my artwork didn't happen at all. So that's more what I'm focused on this year, trying to push the conceptual side of my art.

Supplies-wise, I'm not really sure what I'm going to end up using/how much finished work I'm actually going to do; I've had so much stress lately I kinda just want to do whatever/however much seems fun so there might not be any finished work at all. Sketching has mostly been either col-erase or ballpoint pen and some water-based markers because the sketchbook I'm using lately is terrible for pretty much all other mediums. I did buy myself a new brush pen because I was curious about one brand I hadn't tried that is waterproof, but otherwise I've always got fountain pens or fineliners, ink wash brush pens, and a variety of watercolor papers, too... I might end up trying to do watercolor pieces instead of ink/washes for some of the ideas I've come up with.

[olivermoss]

Even if you aren't being hardcore about it Inktober is still fun because artists sort of band together and share a lot during that time. I hope to see some of your stuff.

I think I got back into drawing last year just after Inktober was over.

[goss]

Yeah, even if it's not done to the letter, it's still a good opportunity to motivate ourselves to create, whether it's experimenting with unfamiliar media or working on something daily, etc.

Last year I thought I'd do Inktober everyday for just a single week (well, 5 out of 7 days) and it was quite productive, and not too stressful, and then I took it week by week. I knew that the rest of the month would have been hectic in RL, so I gave myself a challenge time frame that would work for me. Plus, I hadn't really tried drawing with inks before, so that was interesting.

This year, I might try to do a drawing twice a week, or something like that.

Also, it's great that you're finding this year's official prompts inspiring. Looking forward to seeing your take on them. :)

(Do you have any words you'd like to contribute to our own community prompts list?)