The yearly tradition of Inktober is upon us. Have you heard of this artist holiday? The weird thing is this online holiday (as it’s still hasn’t been sanctioned by the wall calendar folks) is quite popular. The how to Inktober is really for anyone as so easy, even if you don’t feel you are a professional artist or full time creative.
How To Inktober: You Can Do it!
The naming of Inktober probably has you already assuming what this holiday is about. Yes, it’s a daily chance to draw in the month of October. Actually, not just to draw, but join a worldwide community of artists breathing life into images. Creative types come together once a day for 31 days and embrace the art for a chance to see what might come from that blank sheet sitting before them. The limits of what is upon the work are lifted, the focus is found and all that is left is imagination.
Researching how to Inktober, you will find there is only one rule. Technically, it’s not really a rule though. It’s more like a guideline. The holiday activity creator, Jake Parker, prominently displays the first rule on his website: Just Pick up a Pen and Start Drawing.
Pretty simple right? Well, you could go a little further and really get involved by drawing the daily custom prompt within your art. The how to Inktober includes the custom prompts and sharing the art with the world. On October 16 is “rocket” and on October 27 is “music”. There is a new word every day. Inktober is a pretty fluid activity, so even if you don't share your illustrations every day you can be inspired by checking out what has been done on social media.
Twitter account of Inktober offers a daily idea to embrace and pursue as you insert it into your drawing. And if you find this inspiring, the chance to do it every week has artists drawing concepts with custom prompts after the month of October.
As a creative who finds it hard sometimes to keep writing, I can see the advantage of putting together a piece of art every day and sharing it. With a hashtag online ( #inktober or #inktober2020 ) others in the community can see your designs and the best are retweeted by the official Inktober Headquarters account. The idea is a solid baseline to give creative types a reason to come together while still working apart. It’s actually a genius way to be part of something bigger just and it only takes a personal daily commitment to get started.