It’s the beginning of October, which also means it’s the start of Inktober, an annual art event held throughout various communities to promote the creation of artwork and encourage the sharing of art with others.
Inktober was started by Jake Parker back in 2009, his goals being to develop positive art habits for himself and hone his creative skills further. The event has gained popularity and thousands of people participate in the event, endeavoring to produce art and share their handiwork with other aspiring and participating artists via social media.
The Inktober rules are rather simple: ink your artwork, share it, and repeat it again for the next prompt. Artists of all levels of skill and experience can take on this challenge of constant creativity. Although nobody is forced to complete all the prompts, consistency and commitment to the event is encouraged.
Traditionally, Inktober is for people to use ink-based mediums to produce artwork that embodies the one-word theme of the given day. Each day of the 31-day month of October is assigned its own word and artists must use the provided word as the foundation for the work they create for that day.
It can be tricky at times for someone to decide what to begin drawing for some of the words, but forcing oneself to complete more difficult prompts along with the easier ones allows for more practice with idea generation. The one-word nature of the prompts allows for a lot of room for freedom with what one decides to draw, allowing for both looser and stricter interpretations alike.
Chris Lopez, a 21-year-old liberal arts major from Holland, PA, said, “I’ve never heard of Inktober, but I’m an avid doodler who enjoys using ink to create sketches and doodles.” In particular, he enjoys sketching people and faces. After learning about Inktober, he said, “I like the idea of prompts being used to guide people’s art because it allows them to focus their creativity on producing one thing.” He also stated he would consider taking on the challenge himself in the future.
Jesse Fischer, a 19-year-old journalism major from Bensalem, says he enjoys consuming art such as reading books and viewing the work of other artists. Although he would consider himself more right-brained and creative, he prefers writing more than drawing.
Fischer admits that he has tried drawing before, but wasn’t particularly satisfied with the outcome. When asked whether he would be interested in partaking in Inktober, he said “I would consider it because investing yourself into working towards an end goal is a great way to get out of your comfort zone and self-improve.”
Inktober’s 2023 prompts can be found online for anybody to look up if they wish to participate in the event for themselves. All can participate so long as they possess a little bit of creativity, something to draw with and a place to draw! Those who find themselves unsure of whether this activity is good for them or not should give it a go anyway; they could produce something they are proud of that they otherwise wouldn’t have!