[Brad]

Hmm… I'm surprised I've never posted about this before. For a couple years, I've participated in Inktober. Inktober is like NaNoWriMo but you draw random pictures instead of writing a book. It's really it's just a way to challenge yourself to draw something every day for a month. There's a published prompt for each day, and then, well, you try to draw something in ink that fits the prompt.

The official rules say:

1) Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil under-drawing if you want). 2) Post it* 3) Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2022 4) Repeat Note: you can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. What ever you decide, just be consistent with it. Inktober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better. That's it! Now go make something beautiful. *Post it on any social media account you want or just post it on your refrigerator. The point is to share your art with someone.

Official prompt lists are here, but this is the type of activity that has inspired alternative prompts among specific niche communities too.

Drawing is one of the "simple" skills that I've wished for decades that I could do better, but I rarely put in the time to actually practice. At a previous job, I had a wall-mounted whiteboard near my desk, and I would try to write or draw something random on it almost every day. That was seven years ago, though, and my doodling opportunities ran dry everywhere since. So, now I push myself to stick with each Inktober so that I have a time-constrained extrinsic motivator.

Anyone else want to join in and draw stuff for the next 30 days?

Here's my drawing for 2022 Day 1's prompt: gargoyle.



I take a really long time for most of my drawing — often like a solid hour — to think about and pencil and ink and erase. Then I scan and spend even more time digitally coloring and shading in Photoshop. Despite all the time and post-processing, I'm still my own worst critic, and I can't help but cringe and agonize over my obvious mistakes and awkward proportions. I love it and I hate it. But hopefully I see some kind of improvement at the end of each month.

Here are a few of my favorites from previous years. Yes, I frequently look up reference images, but I try never to copy exactly what I see. Sailor "Majora" Moon and the Halloweeny "leekspin" girl here are by far my worst cases of direct plagiarism.

[drewprops]

These are great! I scribbled a quick one last night. Not sure if I'll have time to do the entire month


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[Brad]

Any scribble is a good scribble! For the sake of Inktober, I hereby declare this thread a judgement-free zone for our art.

Inktober 2022 Day 2: scurry.

When I think "scurry", I think of little furry friends scurrying across the floor.

[drewprops]

I am so impressed with your drawings! I have not been drawing for so long that I need a month of doodling to get back in shape. And I'm *really* interested in getting an iPad Pro with Procreate.


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[Brad]

Thank you!

I'm doing all my cleanup and coloring in Photoshop with plain old mouse and keyboard. I have a small Wacom tablet (Intuos, the kind without a screen) that I probably should be using, but I never feel like I have the same precision and responsiveness using that as I do when I use my mouse. Maybe I should force myself to use it for the rest of the month to get in some practice there too.

And now for my Inktober 2022 Day 3: Bat.

Or my best approximation of an anatomically correct Batman (1989) logo.

[Brad]

And, FWIW, I just do my drawings on plain old printer paper. I haven't used my home inkjet printer in literally years — I don't even know if it still works! — but I do still have a couple reams of its paper sitting on a shelf collecting dust. Might as well put a few pages to good use.



Once I'm sure my ink is dry, I just slap it into my USB document scanner (sitting unceremoniously on the floor next to my desk) and go to town in Photoshop.

[drewprops]

Found paper is my favorite kind of paper. I have tons of saved scribbles drawn on envelopes and church bulletins and meeting minutes.

My doodles are posted on my Insta @drewprops

Need to get my IMGUR working again for here.

I think I'm beginning to find my groove again with BAT.

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[Brad]

Day 3: Scallop.

Not super happy with my doodle today, but I gotta commit to the bit. I'm all out of creative juices tonight; so, I just drew a literal scallop shell.



One of my problems with drawing freehand is that I can't hold my hand steady to save my life, and virtually any attempt at drawing lines goes all crooked and wobbly like this. This whole shell drawing is barely three inches across, and I can't keep it straight for a fraction of even that. So, I try to hide it (not very well) by slathering on some colors afterwards.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by drewprops My doodles are posted on my Insta @drewprops

https://www.instagram.com/drewprops/ to save anyone a search.

I really like what I'm seeing!

[Brad]

Day 5: Flame.

Slightly off-model Beavis says the current situation is acceptable.

[drewprops]

Lol!!!

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[turtle]

I love it!

[Brad]

Day 6: Bouquet.

Let's say I was inspired by the release of the Mario movie trailer.



Before cleanup, coloring, and shading:

[Brad]

Day 7: Trip.

It's supposed to be Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker, who I seem to remember spent about 50% of his screen time with this squinty scrunched-forehead confused/thinking look on his face. I didn't quite get his features right, but it's close enough for Inktober.

[Brad]

Day 8: Match.

[Brad]

Day 9: Nest.

Back in 2016, a pair of house finches nested in a small fern we had hanging on our front porch. A couple months later, I discovered five baby birds chirping their little heads off, and they looked like this with their shut eyes and spiky pin feathers.

[709]

Originally Posted by Brad Day 7: Trip.

This is hilarious.

[drewprops]

Originally Posted by 709 This is hilarious.

And it needed NO explanation whatsoever for ME!



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[Brad]

Originally Posted by 709 This is hilarious.

Originally Posted by drewprops And it needed NO explanation whatsoever for ME! ...

Thanks!

I got a similar response from another old colleague who immediately recognized my "Trip" without the explainer too, much to my surprise!

[Brad]

Dat 10: Crabby.

[drewprops]

01 Gargoyle


02 Scurry


03 Bat


04 Scallop


05 Flame


06 Bouquet


07 Trip


08 Match



09 Nest



10 Crabby




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[drewprops]

I know that I messed one up but it'll have to wait...


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[709]

These are great Drew! Love the sneaky flytrap in the bouquet.

[drewprops]

Thank you. It has been a good exercise to move a pen again. So out of practice. Like everyone else, I wish that I could stop working and just make things - or at least have more time to draw again so that I could recuperate from the atrophy. It's fun seeing all the creativity out there, and daunting to see all the talent O.o


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[drewprops]

I really didn't like today's prompt and almost quit the game over it.

#eagle



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[drewprops]

I am running late on these.
This is for FORGET - I posted 2 different versions.


.



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[drewprops]

Still running late.
This is my entry for the prompt "Empty".




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[drewprops]

Armadillos are weird.




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[drewprops]

Fowl!



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[drewprops]

For what it's worth, I think this contest has helped convince me to get an iPad Pro. I hope I win.



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