Challenge Accepted: Inktober

Challenge+Accepted%3A+Inktober

      Although it’s hard to believe, we are already in the month of October – a month that, so far, is full of strangely warm weather, one of the best holidays waiting for us at the end of the month, and more. However don’t be fooled, there’s something else we should all be looking forward to: Inktober. What is Inktober exactly? It’s described by its creator, an artist named Jake Parker, as a month-long art challenge that’s primary goal is to encourage consistent drawing every day to improve your art. Additionally, each day of October has its own unique drawing prompt. The other half of the challenge is following four simple rules: 1) Make a drawing in ink (you can have a pre-ink sketch in pencil if you want to), post it, hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2021, and then repeat until you complete all 31 days. Heck, if 31 days sounds too lame for you, you could even try the “One Drawing a Day a Week All Year Long”, otherwise known as Inktober 2021. (52 Weeks, 52 Prompts, 52 Drawings). Of course, these rules don’t have to be followed exactly. If you look under hashtags of Inktober on Instagram, you’ll see artists around the globe have taken their own unique approach to the challenge. Many bend the rules and use a variety of media, colors, and even different prompts than the “official” ones. After all, Inktober was made for everyone to make art. Making art manifests itself in a variety of different ways for different people. Take these three posts on social media with the hashtag “#inktober2021” for example. They’re all very different but inspired by the same online challenge:

     This is where the beauty of this challenge lies: artists coming together and sharing their work across social media platforms. If you really don’t like posting your artwork on the Internet, no biggie. Inktober’s official website says, “Post it on any social media account you want or just post it on your refrigerator. The point is to share your art with someone.” If you don’t want to share, it’s still a useful challenge for inspiration or motivation to keep up with your drawing skills. After all, practice makes perfect. Thus, art communities on social media flourish during the month of October in this period of constant creation and sharing. Hopefully, you can also find some inspiration to pick up a drawing utensil and try something new this month. I challenge you to draw all 31 days. (It’s okay if you start late, too. We’ve all been there.) Now a quote from Inktober’s official website: “That’s it! Now go make something beautiful.”

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