Inktober – was it worth doing?

The penultimate day of Inktober produced a very poor standard of picture. I did butterflies without bothering to look at reference pictures or how to draw them. So the resulting picture was, to be honest, very poor indeed. I could definitely do better. So I was determined that the final one for the month of ink drawings would be one I was proud of. And it is. I used a reference picture from the internet. I found doing the shapes of the individual grains of corn difficult. Nevertheless, not a bad job.

So, am I glad I did Inktober? Was it worth it? Yes. Although some of the drawings are not of a standard I’m proud of it was a process of learning. I did do some under drawing in pencil with some of them but for the majority I jumped straight in with the pen and had to turn mistakes around and just keep going. I enjoyed the ones where I used colour and bleeding techniques. And I would like to get into doing zentangles but realise that I would have to develop a steadier and more accurate hand. I think the key with those is slowing down and being more thoughtful.

Overall, this year of a drawing a day has been good. It has made me commit something to paper, even when tired and uninspired. My quick sketching has improved. Nevertheless I will be glad when the year ends and I can perhaps commit to something a bit more complex and do a picture over the course of a week or a few days. We will see. Not deciding that now, although I did watch a webinar on Monday morning by an artist whose Facebook group I am in. It was about developing creativity and there was a challenge to make a commitment to a ‘top goal’ from each of the 3 areas discussed. I committed to

1. Feeding my creativity by having a weekly quiet time with specific focus on crating ideas

2. Learning my craft by finishing the Udemy drawing course that I started ages ago.

3. Doing the work – 4 paintings in the next 30 days.

We are now back to normal. That is, a drawing a day and without any set format/style. I will continue to use the sketch a day word prompts, unless I feel drawn to do otherwise.