Two Years of Inktober

This year, 2018, marks the second year I tried to participate in the drawing challenge known as Inktober.  Last year was the first go at it, and I did it simply to have a reason to draw again.  I don't do it often.  Granted, its because I'm not very good, or very fast at doing it.  There is a reason I reached for cameras in the first place.

This year I did it because my son really wanted to try again.

I did "succeed" both years.  Some days the drawings weren't good, even by my standards.  The days I put the effort in I learned something.  I thought I'd put some of the ones I like the best out of the 62 drawings I've made the past two Octobers, and mention what makes me stop on them when I thumb through the sketchbook.

The lead picture is done in a style that I like.  It wasn't one I was anywhere near successful with before.  Its the lead picture here because it sums up what Inktober feels like around, I don't know, say, day 18.

This one I liked because it was the first time I tried adding a "frame" behind the subject.  This one was done the first year, and you can see my masking wasn't perfect.  I also used water color paints for the color.  I was also excited to see the description of the sketchbook was not a lie and it handled all media with ease.

This was one was one from this year.  As you can see, I framed the subject again.  This time the masking was spot on.  The color is acrylic ink.  This one I like the pose, and the closest I've gotten to drawing a barefoot correctly.  Yes, I know, its still off, but perhaps it will be perfect in some future drawing.

I like the light blue color vs the bright yellow color in this one.  The colors were provided by Dick Blick's alcohol based markers.  Think Copics, just a lot cheaper and easy to justify for a non-artist.

This one is in here because of the little white highlights that separate the figures. I think they look neat.  The color, again, is acrylic ink.

This one I like 3D feel the varying thickness on the lines convey.  I think it feels pretty cool.

Finally, this one I like because of the sense of not knowing what is next.  This is a pretty common cliche image I think.  But, its common for a reason.

Overall I learned a attempting this exercise.  Since I'm not an "artist" I felt a sense of freedom to just try different styles, and approaches for nearly everything I did.  Some were pretty awful, and others, like these had something in them that I liked.  If it is something you think you would like to try, I encourage you to give it a go!

I used a bunch of different materials, but you really on need paper and a pen.

My material list:  An assortment of nib pens, Speedball black ink, Acrylic Ink, various sized black technical pens, brush pens, a small Crescent sketchbook suitable for all media, Windsor Newton Series 7 brushes for drawing and color application, the previously mentioned markers, annnnnnd pencils.