This Week’s Art Experiences

Inktober 2018 Challenges

For this post I’m letting you in on the challenges of this week’s art experiences. Inktober 2018 has kept me busy and constantly trying to figure out how to draw things that I normally wouldn’t.

If you’re familiar with my work by now, you know that I draw animal portraits in graphite. Why graphite? It’s easy to work with and it’s erasable. Obviously, I can’t use pencil for an event like Inktober. Ink poses its own challenges. It’s permanent. It’s not nearly as easy to fix when you make a mistake. Ballpoint pens are notorious for ink blobs. And with my current skill level with ballpoint pen, it’s difficult to get a smooth value without looking obviously cross-hatched, which isn’t smooth at all.

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You would also notice that I’ve drawn things other than animals this Inktober. But some words really challenged me to stick with animals. In a way, I guess it’s a good thing in that it forced me to get out of my comfort zone. But drawing inanimate objects has never really been fun and exciting for me. (Sorry to all the product designers out there!) And you’ll notice throughout the month that I will get back to drawing animals whenever possible.

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One of the prompts even had me using a brush pen and Copic markers. The last time I picked up either of those supplies was at least ten years ago when I was still in school. Shockingly, they still had ink in them! The challenge for me with these items is that the ink is a bit too flowy for me. But, as you can see, I managed and that’s what counts.

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If you’ve joined in the #inktober2018 fun, what challenges have you come across with your art experiences? Let me know in the comments below.

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