Inktober Day 6 and 7 Husky and Enchanted

A husky and enchanted man – Jorgen Von Strangle (Fairly Odd Parents)

Welcome to Inktober 2019 Catch-up edition, where I try my best to cheat, err, find ways to make up for the lost days in Inktober due to various circumstances.

I am way behind on my Inktober drawings… and to make matters worse, I am in a hectic schedule for the remaining days in October. Yay. -_-

Umm… in any case, here I am condensing what I can of the prompts…

Story time. 🙂

When I saw the day 5 prompt “husky”, I first thought of the dog breed. However, I wanted to be creative, plus drawing dogs and animals is not one of my best areas… hahahaha… maybe next year, I’d make a dog ink drawing… but for now, I wanted something easier…

Husky could mean a hoarse voice, or a strong and hefty guy. I was very tempted to go with the hoarse voice… but went the direction of the strong man. I originally thought of drawing The Commander from the webcomic Manly Guys Doing Manly Things – which I am sad to learn has also stopped updating. However, The Commander’s manly physique was too much for me to handle, so that got put on hold.

For the catch-up edition, I took a look at the next day’s prompt, and saw Enchanted.

Hence, I found my next subject for the prompt – the manly man with fairy powers – Jorgen Von Strangle.

Will this be the end of the line for my Inktober 2019?

Well, the month is not yet done, and I am not out for the count yet. It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings. 🙂

Hmm… what other cliche line can I put up there?Hahaha…

Anyway, that’s all for today…

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Have a nice day!

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Inktober 2019 Day 1 Ring

I needed to do something quick and easy for today. Mainly because I have a lot of things going on, and I am already late by a day.

The game of “catch-up” started early this year… oh, boy.

For this year, I plan to focus on quantity versus quality. I want to just stretch out my drawing skills to keep it from getting rusty – I don’t intend to make any masterpieces from this (probably).

So, here is the day 1 prompt. I am actually using the official prompt list so today is Ring.

I got a bunch of options, but I went with this. It’s not much, but it’s something.

It’s the Ouroboros – a snake eating its own tail. A symbol of infinity and immortality, a never-ending cycle.

Have a nice day!

How to Improve your Ink Drawings

This is my third year participating in Inktober, and, while I do not claim to be an expert at inking, or drawing, I do understand the struggles artists have with drawing in ink.

Ink is hard to work with because it is permanent. With paint, you can paint over a mistake and try again, unlike in ink, well, unless you are working with white ink, there are very few ways to remedy a mistake in inking.

That is why I like Inktober. It’s an opportunity to try a tough media. It can boost one’s confidence, if viewed in the right way.  However, approach the challenge with a different mindset, and it may destroy your confidence, rather than help build it.

I view Inktober as a way to experiment with my art. I can draw, but I can’t draw really well. Each media has its own technique to make it look good and stand out. Inking requires the artist to know his shadows fairly well. Without proper execution and rendering of light and shadow, you may have a drawing that looks cool, but it could have that nagging sensation at the back of your viewer’s head that keeps gnawing at them that something is not right…

So, how can one improve their ink drawings?

1. 1. 1. Study. A fairly obvious, but a very necessary step.  If one wants to improve their skill, they have to study and learn.  Inking uses different tools. Are you planning to try to use ink brushes? Fountain pens? Or your regular ball-point pens? Either way, each tool, would necessitate using different techniques. Study up on it. Watch video tutorials, read a book. A quick search in youtube can give you lots of results. If videos aren’t your thing, how about reading a book written by established artists? Depending on your skill level, you could buy a book that teaches you the basics, or pick up a title that covers more advanced topics.
      2. Practice. Confidence in inking is evident in one’s line work. A more experienced artist can make more fluid lines, as opposed to a less experienced one. When I was starting out with inking, my lines tend to be more rigid, shaky and tried their best to follow the outline that I had drawn with a pencil. As I have improved, I learned that I could make less detailed pencil work, and I could let the ink do most of the details. As you practice more, your confidence builds, and your skill will gradually improve.
      3. Pencil if you must. There are some challenge-takers of Inktober that believe that one must only use pure ink in their work. Well, that is their path. Do not be afraid to take your own path. If you must pencil in your work before you can ink them, then go for it! The important thing is that you will be inking it later, and by doing so, you will be improving yourself. However, I would recommend that you do not put too much detail with your pencil works. Perhaps just focus on the basic form, placement of elements and probably a guide on the light and shadow. Detailing with ink is different that detailing with ink.
      4. Do not be afraid to experiment. Get out of your comfort zone. Try things you have not tried before. Are your lines too clean and flat? Try variations in line thickness to add weight to  your illustrations. Try shading with crosshatching. Try a different subject matter. Why not try using ink brushes for an art piece? It does not matter what the result is – as long as you are trying and learning.

I try to have a positive view with Inktober, despite being a very time intensive challenge. I admit that I cannot draw everyday. In fact, I am trying my best to catch up with the daily prompts because my time is limited, and I have to balance things out between work, and an internet challenge, among other things. However, I believe that the core of this challenge is about self-improvement. If you haven’t tried drawing in ink before, now is a good time to start. I hope you like ink as a medium!

Happy inking.