Inktober 2020- Part 1.

Every October, the drawing/sketching/designing community embarks on a challenge called the Inktober challenge. A set of prompts for 31 days is announced on the Inktober Instagram page, and individuals are free to interpret and draw pictures based on these prompts in any manner they choose. The challenge itself was started in 2009 by illustrator and artist Jake Parker, and has since garnered hundreds of thousands of followers around the world. 

I've been following these Inktober challenges for a few years now. This year, I said to myself, why not try to take part. So, 2020 marks my first Inktober-October. 

Most illustrations that are uploaded to social media under the #inktober2020 are.. what's the word... fantastic. It's so great to see how people interpret the same word in different ways and then go on to picturise them so. The influences of this community's art are many: classical art, anime and manga, video games, Disney, Harry Potter, and good old-fashioned imagination. It's also nice to see the members of the community sharing their experiences of procrastination and stopping the challenge mid-way through and the positive reinforcements and encouragements coming in from the rest. Especially reiterated is the message to not blame oneself for not completing the challenge or for skipping a few days. 

This said, my Inktober experience has been more personal. I began dabbling with watercolours and sketching a few years ago as a diversion from my mental health issues. Saturday morning watercolours became a time I started looking forward to. I can't say I got any better (I can make decent bookmarks, that's it), but I stuck to it because they made me happy. And that's what matters, right? 

The illustrations in my Inktober challenge are simple ones; I can't help but admire and envy the works of others. Most of the scenes are from images or memories I have experienced. In addition to the images, I thought it would be an exercise to use the prompt to write a little something to go along with the illustrations. These too are deeply personal emotions and experiences, but I did try a couple of 'light' ones. The official Inktober website states that the illustrations have to be in a single-colour ink, but hey, there's some leeway in art, right So these are my Inktober pictures till the mid of the month. 

                                                                                                  

This one's for Wes Anderson.