In 2019 I hemmed and hawed about doing Inktober.
I mean, which was more important? Inktober or getting some character and mechanical designs done for a new comic? Inktober or editing my novel? Inktober or working on some new pieces to turn into art prints?
And then Inktober’s first keyword was RING.
Damn you, Inktober. Tolkien is my weakness, my Achilles heel. Surely you know that! Have you no shame?
And then I found myself doing a piece the second day. And once you’ve done three, well, then you’ve committed to it, there’s just no turning back. Sigh. Cue another year of the nerve wracking pressure of trying to get something cool done every day in Inktober!
Boiling Down Your Art to the Fundamentals
I knew I couldn’t spend too much time on it every day, not with all the other projects eating up my time, so I needed a strategy!
Basically, I wanted to try and simplify my art, right down to the basics. Instead of layering tons of details, the challenge would be to work in simple shapes—indications of subjects and composition, not details. Iconic, is the word! Not only would this help on managing how much time would be spent on each piece, it would also serve as another learning experience.
First, to limit my tendency to spend too much time on details, I decided to work on smaller canvasses. Second, I chose to work mostly in positive and negative space instead of line.
It kind of helped that I didn’t have time to do any under drawing. Most of my 2018 pieces had started with a pencil sketch, but in 2019 I started each day with a blank canvass, using only black and white ink to hack out the final image. That’s not to say that I didn’t do a preliminary—I often worked out a very quick and rough image in broad strokes before setting that aside to do a final, finished piece. Other times I just hacked and hacked at the shapes until I found what I wanted—but that meant that I was essentially painting with positive and negative space.
All of this was extraordinarily useful for an artist who usually relies HEAVILY on line, a way to go back and sharpen some of the tools I don’t take out of the tool box often enough.
The Future
So, will I do it again? Every time I’ve finished a round of Inktober, I’ve been seriously glad to be done. It really is exhausting, and really does take up more of my time than I’m kosher with. I have so many projects that I’m working on, so many projects that I have simmering on the back burner.
Can I really afford to spend an entire month of art time on Inktober next year?
I guess I have until October 2020 to figure that out! I have a feeling that by the time Inktober rolls around again, I’ll have forgotten how grueling it can be, and only remember how happy I was with the outcome the previous years.
And then I’m sure the first keyword will be HOBBIT or something and down the rabbit hole (er, Hobbit hole?) I’ll go again…
In the meantime you can check out the results of my 2019 adventure right here.