Last year was the first year in which I saw the Inktober challenge through to completion and as October rolls round again, I'm already deciding my game plan for the up coming spate of daily ink drawings.
Here are some of the takeaways from the previous year which I will keep in mind when going into this Inktober:
When working with such a punishing medium such as ink, you've got to be patient. Sometimes I had to let the ink dry in one part of the picture before I could work on another and, when it came to the more textured pieces, I had to painstakingly work it in all manually. There were no corners to cut by dropping in a photo and setting that layer to 'overlay' to add texture to a piece.
I had to force myself to slow down, be more precise and wait before progressing forward. I mean, you gotta be patient in life in general, not just when drawing with ink, so it's good to remember and practice this in aspects of life other than drawing.
Do With Intent
If you're going to do anything in this life, do it with intent. I know that other artists who took part in Inktober were using the official prompt sheet, some had a story they wanted to tell and some were working to a theme from the get go. I didn't do any of these things.
My reasons for getting involved were to get drawing again and, shallowly, to have something to post on my newly started Instagram account. While these two intentions were immediately fulfilled, my lack of theme or general direction meant that I began to struggle by day eight.
When my intention changed to something more along the lines of using the challenge to experiment and try new things, and I locked that intention in, that aspect of the challenge went away and I found it easier to see Inktober through to the end.
Be Okay With Making Mistakes
As said before, ink is punishing and unforgiving. I made many mistakes throughout and I either abandoned the piece (even when close to completion), got creative in covering things up or just left the smudge or wayward pen stroke in there for all to see.
I let go of the need to produce something highly polished and with that I really started to enjoy the process. Also, my brush pen control got better as time went on so mistakes happened less and less. This better pen control was only achieved when I remembered that making mistakes is key to the learning experience, and you only get better by buggering things up completely from time to time.
Finishing Is Important
As I hinted at above, the temptation to pack it in crept in when I struggled to think of things to draw around day eight. In previous years, I'd get nine, maybe ten, drawings in and I'd quietly call it, hoping no one would notice I had stopped. Last year though, something within was constantly saying "not this year, keep going. Even if it's shit, it doesn't matter, keep going."
I was going to do all thirty one drawings for Inktober, come Hell or high water, I was going to do it. And I did. While not all of my drawings for the month are gold, or have any future value in turning them into a painting or anything, I still did it and the fact that I had finished something personal for the first time in a long time, did wonders for my passion and love for drawing.
Tips for next year: plan ahead, set a theme, illustrate a story, sketch things out before hand and don't forget to enjoy the process.
If you're taking part in Inktober 2017, have fun, post stuff up and get creative! I look forward to seeing your own ink drawings on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram.
Lloyd Harvey
www.lloydharvey.co.uk
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