Last year, during my first year of college, I decided to do a 31-day drawing challenge called Inktober. I hadn’t been drawing regularly at that time; in fact, the last period of my life in which I had the time and the energy to practice art regularly was probably my freshman year of high school. I would finish one or two pieces a month if I was lucky. I realized how much I missed art, and so on a whim, I tried the Inktober challenge.
Inktober is a yearly event in which artists of all skill levels challenge themselves to finish one drawing each day for the month of October using only ink. It’s a great opportunity for artists to practice with markers, fineliner pens, dip pens, India inks, or any other ink-related medium they want to get better with. Trying this event last October was, not to be dramatic or anything, probably one of the best decisions I’ve made since I started college. It’s like something clicked in my brain then and I realized that I really, really wanted to get better at art.
This past year is probably the year of my life in which I’ve improved most rapidly just because of how much I’ve been practicing. I finished 17 drawings for Inktober 2019; here are some of the ones I’m most proud of, compared with what I was most proud of last year:
The first is from 2019, the second is from 2018. I’ve gotten better at not making couples in my art look stiff and awkward, but I still have a long way to go!
I genuinely still like the drawing from 2018, but the 2019 drawing proves I’ve gotten better at sitting/lying down poses!
These two are actually of the same character, yet they don’t look similar at all. The drawing from this year, although simpler, is so much more dynamic and interesting compared to last year’s.
I had a lot of fun with both of these, and I think they both have their merits. The first one is fun and cute, but it’s also very much within my comfort zone. The second one is more ambitious, but as a result some parts of it look pretty awkward.
Inktober was so much fun, and I made several things that I’m really proud of! It’s exciting to know that things can only get better (probably) from here, though, and that I’ll make even better stuff next year.