Art by Crista Kempton
October isn’t just the month for pumpkin spice lattes and Halloween decorations. There’s actually an October-exclusive, month-long creative challenge called InkTober. You might have heard of this if you’re a visual artist. InkTober was created by Jake Parker, illustrator and co-founder of The Society of Visual Storytelling. Essentially, the challenge is to create ink drawings everyday for the entire month of October.
Parker initially started InkTober as a personal project to improve his drawing habits and skills. It then grew from an individual goal to a public drawing challenge that reaches millions of participants all over the world. Anyone can participate in InkTober no matter the skill level. Despite InkTober’s focus on drawing or comics, the challenge isn’t just about creating something everyday. It’s a great way to become more confident about your art practice and be motivated to make new work.
Here are the basic rules to get started:
- Make a drawing in ink
- Post it on any social media site
- Use the hashtags #inktober and #inktober2018
- Repeat
InkTober also provides an official prompt if you need some drawing inspiration! Each word on the list is related to a day in the month and all you have to do is interpret the listed words however you want.
October might be winding down, but you can still participate in Inktober any time during the month! Whether or not you’ve been drawing since Day 1 or joined late in the game, you can find many inspiring ideas from the Inktober challenge that you can apply to your own art any day.
Try these tips to improve your drawing techniques:
If you’re completely new to InkTober and have no idea where to start, here are some materials to get you started!
Now make some drawings and spill some ink!
Want to improve your illustration skills on a deeper level? Enroll in our free courses:
Comics: Art in Relationship
California College of the Arts
Introduction to Graphic Illustration
Cornish College of the Arts