#inktober 2020 day 1

[solanaceaeartium]

Inktober 2020, where all the drawings were of my cat, who we'd acquired over the summer.

[gashicalmy]

Ink2020. Day 1 fish

With this inktober I was way more personal that I ever been, and I wanted to include a phrase to ever single one. There's a source and a meaning, but not sure to share it 😅

In the mean time, enjoy!~

Also, just to let people know, this is 3"5 x 2", or something like that. It's really small :v

[sknow-and-ink]

2020

Day 1 - Eyes

You'll never see things the way I do, Alex. I have eyes everywhere and only one of yours is any good. I've seen you live out a million lifetimes, and I've been the end of many of them. If you think I have even the slightest bit of compassion for you or for anyone, you're wrong.

"Then kill me."

...You don't want that.

"No, but if you hate me so much and want this version of me gone that badly, then why haven't you? What's stopping you? What would be the consequences, and if there are none..."

Life can be worse than death, mortal. Watching the people you love perish would be a much worse fate.

"Then why aren't they dead?"

You loved your father once, didn't you?

"..."

Her lips curled up into a devilish smile.

[dailysaeran]

IT'S TIIIIIMEEEE🍁🍂🎃🔥

I may have been too busy last year to make one (and I must thank saeranz on Instagram again for making the 2023 Mystictober list) but this year WE ARE SO BACK!!!

Heads up that there's an art raffle related to this going on in my Instagram for those who are interested👀

If this is your first year, Mystictober is a silly little prompt list event for October that's become a yearly tradition since 2020. The list is filled with both MysMe and Halloween/fall related prompts to inspire you to create!!

Every day has two prompts to give you more freedom, and each day you can

1. choose either one of the prompts to inspire your work,

2. do both prompts separately if you're feeling crazy or

3. combine the prompts! 👀

So for example on day 25 you could make something about Jaehee x MC, something about an unrelated tea party without them or Jaehee and MC having a tea party!! Oh and "MC" includes any CMCs, OCs and self inserts of course😌

Even though this list is inspired by Inktober, it's not stricly for ink drawings or drawings for that matter. Be it drawing, writing, cosplay, memes, editing, any work of art counts!

When posting your work, please tag it with #MM_mystictober2024, so all the works can be found in one place!

You may start working on your pieces before October already (and I recommend that if you plan to post every or most days), but please don't post your work's before October and the prompt's date! And it's okay to miss some days or post your work a little late, this should be a fun stress-free event for everyone!🧡🍁🍂

🍁 A few other versions of the list with different backgrounds under the cut!

[jaegerpilotmax]

Inktober 2020 day 1, fish

ghost barracuda

[cloud-savanna]

more old art from october 1 2020 through october 14 2020, from a self made lumity themed inktober I never finished. still proud of the sheer amount of time and effort put into day 5

[bad268]

Dream (Sebastian Montoya X Reader)

Fandom: RPF/Formula 2/3

Requested: Day 1 of Writing Inktober prompts instead of drawing!

Warnings: none.

Pronouns: First person (I/me)

W.C. 386

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

Writing Inktober 2023 Materlist

~~(^Google/Redbull announcement)

It’s been years since I was in the paddock. It was weird being back after so long. I almost missed it, but it also brought back a lot of memories. 

The promotion videos I made with Gabriele, stupid challenges with Gabriel, pranking the engineers with Dino, and antagonizing other drivers with Sebas. It was so fun racing with Sebas in F4 since I raced him in karts. We practically grew up together and we were the best tag team. All of those memories brought a smile to my face.

And then I remembered why I couldn’t be with him anymore. The last time I was on any track was at Valleluga 2020 during my Italian F4 campaign. That race, unfortunately, led to my immediate and untimely retirement from motorsports. The rain mixed with the need to finish in the points was not a good mix, and I was paying the price.

Now, I got a position with my old racing team, Prema, as a photographer, and today was my first day back on a track since the accident. 

I had just finished up taking promotional pictures of Ollie and Fred after their qualifying session, and I was on my way to the F3 paddock to do the same with Dino, Paul, and Zak. I did not make it that far into the pitlane before someone was shouting my name.

“Y/n?” They yelled from one of the garages. I turned around to see who it was, and I was met with a Redbull race suit. He hadn’t changed a bit. “This is a dream. There’s no way you’d be back on the track.”

 “No, you’re not dreaming! I’m here in the flesh. I gotta pay for my medical bills somehow, Sebas,” I laughed, pulling him in for a hug. I immediately retracted, feeling the coldness of the suit. “Why are you still in your suit and why is it wet?”

“I’m taking pictures with Dino and Gabriele since we qualified together,” He started explaining. “It’s wet because the team dumped water on Gabriele and me.”

“Ah, I’m so happy you guys are all doing good!” I exclaimed. “I saw that Gabriel is winning the championship now too. I’m glad you guys are fulfilling your dreams.”

“And now, you’re here with us! You’re not leaving anytime soon.”

~~~~~

© BAD268 2023. DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION.

[ndostairlyrium]

✨ Self Rec Tag Game✨

I was tagged by the creator of the tag game herself, @shivunin and I'm terribly sorry if I came back to it super late ;; it was super fun looking at what others made with it tho <3 people are so talented!!

Rules: Share five of your own fanworks (fic, art, etc.). Then, tag five more people to share the things they've made.

Something you absolutely adore

Something that was challenging to create

Something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably) 

Something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

Something you want other people to see

For those I'll tag: categories aren't necessary, "they're more guidelines than rules" (cit. @shivunin)

I may have broken the rules because I'm chronically undecided << hopefully it's fine sorry in advance

Something you absolutely adore

I just... I'm into chill and comfy vibes <<' These three together bring me so much joy, like, I remember reading all their interactions on the wikia and smiling like an idiot because I wished that all of it was more blatant rather than "yea there's a 3% chance you'll get this interaction in game"

Something that was challenging to create

Probably the first batch from everything-else-but-Inktober 2020. I decided to drop the idea of messing with inks and straight up exercised on things I usually fail at / wanted to improve. The whole challenge was, well, a challenge. I remember struggling from day 1 to 30 because I'm terrible at studies, I tend to filter and filter and filter and... But I like the results!! Far from perfect, but I've learnt big deal through it ;; If you're interested, here's the links to the instagram posts: Weeks 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably) 

I can't decide! Aaaaaargh Here, have a multitude of things that make me crack a smile :'D

...I wanted to add more but I don't wanna make another monsterpost :'D

Something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

This fanart of Ophélie from Le Passe Miroir, which I'm very proud of ;; I know it doesn't seem like a huge accomplishment or an art megazord, but I was very in my head before opening Photoshop but during the process, when I realized I was doing exactly what I pictured beforehand, I just couldn't stop being proud of myself lol which is something I don't experience a lot :'''

Also this comm I did for @n7viper that made me say "oh, you can handle this" This was quite the experience ;; thanks again for letting me work on this dude <3 I started with a greyscale then added colors, which is a technique I used some times and like, I was sure it was challenging because it's super hard to balance everything out, but when things came out exactly how I wanted them to be?? Woah, alright Picasso, slay

Something you want other people to see

-My dwarven ladies 🧔✨

you can check it out here

-The things I'm doing for this artfight lol I think I leveled up in some cases 👌

These are previews, everything will be posted in this blog, my artblog, insta, twitter etc etc

-The collabs and trades I made with some of the most talented people I know and cherish ;;

Like this one amongst the many I did with @greypetrel who dragged me back into Lord of the Rings after years and I'll be forever thankful for that ;; but also for the experience <3

Or these ones I did with @underneathestars Plus our joint effort for last year's N7 Day: her post - my post That was a challenge and your girls served 💅

Also This!!! Courtesy of @demandthedoodles This was like, one of the funniest - yet astounding - outcomes from a sketch I almost forgot I made lol I need to print this out when I can!

I would include all of them, because I traded art and collaborated with people I really appreciate but I can't possibly include other things ;; I'll mass reblog / share them in the next days!

Also, thanks again @shivunin for this tag game ;; I discovered things I've never seen from people I follow and found out awesome new things from people I didn't follow already. So super fun <3

I'm tagging (no pressure, no commitment): @n7viper @underneathestars @qwib @skeltrr @lethalhoopla @kassarts @aukanemin @ii-then @daggerbean @vaesivlasta @sparatus

[cactuseri]

saw this and wanted to make my own post real quick bc i’ve gotten some questions abt my art before & now that i feel a bit more secure in my style i thought i’d give a few tips to anyone who wanted that :)

first i have to address how the submission is phrased: i'm sorry & i know no one wants to hear this but “keep practicing” is not a platitude that is always going to be the best advice 😭 the real question is:

how do you make practice fun?

1. challenge yourself in a way you find enjoyable/fulfilling :)

i liked doing things like art prompts from inktobers, and to draw comics of the stories i wrote, but mostly the answer for me was “set random number goal, meet random number goal, inject the validation from completed goal directly into my bloodstream, repeat.”

i worked on things kind of systematically, which just made my brain happy; i spent one summer when i was 14 doing nothing but drawing 10 full bodies a day, all with references of course. did the same throughout the fall with hands, then eyes, then expressions, then clothes, etc etc. it always had to be 10 diff angles and positions.

i did a repeat of this 10-drawings-of-10-angles rule throughout quarantine in 2020. failed all my online classes cuz i was drawing 6-10 hours every day and ignoring my homework but still passed the year in the end 💀 i got the idea from yumeii-art; it's been over 7 years since, so idk if i remember right, but she had given a similar rule of thumb as a response to someone's question about drawing without a reference, i think.

is this the Best path? probably not, idk. and it definitely lead to awkward phases where i was much better at drawing bodies than faces, for example — but it worked for me. i liked breaking things down like that, it felt more manageable.

the other number goal was. in 9th grade i saw this post:

and i was like. y’know what? yeah. i keep feeling bad abt my art, how about i put that feeling on pause until after i’ve filled 14 sketch book. i hope this user knows i owe all my achievements to the phrase “fill 14 sketch book” powering me through years of depression and art block.

so i did fill 14 sketch book!

i met that goal between ages 14 and 19. obv this doesnt include the doodles on my homework, on other random surfaces, or the ~150 digital artworks i’d done in that time, so maybe it was more like 16 sketch book? but that doesnt matter, i had 14 labeled & organized sketchbooks that were full, and i did feel better about my art by then. this was my anime training montage. this was 90% of my improvement. this was the best art advice i’d ever gotten.

so i guess what made art the most fun to me was numbers? which sounds lame but i guess since i’m competitive & love competing against myself the most, it just worked for me.

comparisons, with 2016 on the left and 2020 on the right:

(the new sketches are still rough and lack some detail ofc but i have terrible ADHD and always found it hard to sit down and keep working on a sketch once it was “done enough” — for some reason i dont rlly have the same impatience with digital art & have less of a problem completing pieces on my ipad now) (the point is. 14 sketch book level complete. 1000% worth it)

then my 2021-2024 improvement, when i had bought my own ipad and again spent most days drawing instead of doing my schoolwork (i.. did end up failing that first year of uni):

2. try out different mediums aimlessly!

what i mean is just go ham with some charcoal or whatever you have on hand, without the determination to Make It Good. i can’t say if this helped my actual art get better but what it did do was keep the joy of it alive & i had fun which lead to more practice & therefore improvement. color pencils weirdly were my favorite. hell, my school had us do a project with linoleum printing (is that how u spell it idk) and it gave me months’ worth of art inspo.

i also recently got a gift card for a stationery store and got some nice markers and those also gave me a ton of motivation. markers r good

3. if u do digital art, find ur fave brush; it will be ur familiar ur trusted companion ur lover in a past life

for lineart i mostly use the IGB office pack, favorite ballpoint. you’ll have to buy & download it online tho i think it was like $7? but yea it was worth it. (i did a lot of work with the gesinski ink brush in past years but i think it’s a bit too “sharp” now)

but also go crazy try them all it’s fun!

4. in my opinion it’s fine to do redraws of ur fave artist’s work now and then — as long as u keep it to urself and dont take credit for it

i’ve had ppl ask to use my art as a ref and my answer is always Not Sure Why You’d Want To Bc It’s Not All That, But Yes Of Course. as u can see most of my 2021 work was redrawing panels of the “gangsta.” manga; it didn’t even end up influencing my style much, my style was already based on all the manga shit i drew at 13, but it was the only thing i was motivated enough to draw at the time, and it was valuable practice.

art teachers still stress that the best reference is to draw from life & yeah thats true maybe but idc sometimes ur just not feeling that! so mix it up, whatever works. obviously respect it if an artist says not to reference their work and don’t only reference ur art from one artist but generally i think it’s harmless.

especially when there’s a specific thing an artist does very well that’s hard to find other examples of; personally i was fighting for my life trying to find how to best translate references of dynamic movement into art of dynamic movement. and i think the bnha mangaka does this wonderfully so i often referenced thise action panels as practice. and i think it helped loosen up my art style. (and… i was extremely ridiculously mentally ill about hawks so that…. contributed…. my fave ask to date is still the person who clocked hawks as my old fave character based purely on how i draw eyes 😭😭)

tracing is a diff conversation and my advice there is it is not actually helpful and it's. idk it feels very Against Artist Code. sometimes, and i havent done it in a couple years, but if a piece REALLY isnt working i've done the thing where u trace the general movement of a pose then go from there but i've never posted completed works where i used that method bc it felt wrong. but yeah that's a separate thing that i don't wanna go too deep into

5. another fun thing that motivated me to practice was doing speedpaints!

if you draw on procreate, it's probably set up automatically already. i don't have the storage to record everything, but when i do have it on, the knowledge that i'll have a speedpaint of the finished piece pushes me to put the last necessary touches on it. (if you'd like to see some of my speedpaints i have a few on my instagram)

some more technical advice:

1. flip your canvas flip your canvas flip your goddamn canvas i KNOW it hurts i KNOW it’s like ripping off a bandaid that’s superglued to ur skin i know but YOU HAVE TO FLIP YOUR CANVAS

(when i didn’t have an ipad i’d do this by taking a picture of the drawing on my phone and flipping the image in the photo app)

IT IS THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD AND IM NOT ASHAMED TO ADMIT I’VE RAGE QUIT SOME PIECES OVER SEEING THE CANVAS FLIPPED BUT LOOK AT THIS ART BEFORE AND AFTER I’D FLIPPED IT AND FIXED HOW WONKY IT WAS: desaturated so tht the colors dont distract so much

like it's the BEST and honestly often the ONLY way you're going to catch things that were off/out of proportion/etc. flipping your canvas gives your brain a "new eye" and it's invaluable.

2. until you have color theory figured out…. i honestly depend on adding layers and setting them to color dodge, divide, multiply, overlay, etc…. i am cheating, perhaps, but it works

3. this is how i draw front-facing noses because it's what a czech woman in an extremely bad mood taught me in a cramped overheated stuffy classroom in germany when i was 12

it was our only meeting but she changed my life. i do not know how common this method is but it's possibly the only thing i can concretely give you a tutorial for. after a few times you won't need to do step 1 anymore

anddd i think that's all the advice i have that wouldn't be a repeat of every other art advice thing you've seen. i do know it boils down to "keep practicing" but again you won't get around that, and i just hope that concretely showing what's motivated me might help motivate someone else.

as an ending note, please take this sentence that motivated me just as much as the 14 sketch book rule: (via graveweaver, author of the webtoon "i'm the grim reaper")

[bryan360]

Here’s my note before I’ll get started….

(NO COPYING OR PLAGIARIZING FROM ME AND ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIEND’S WORK! THAT INCLUDES OUR CHARACTERS, DESIGNS, STUFF, ETC. IMPOSTERS AND SEXBOTS ARE NOT WELCOME TO FOLLOW MY BLOG WHATSOEVER! 😡 That will be all….I mean it.)

“Day 6: Love 🐰❤️🐲”

I’m staying at home instead of went off to the program for Friday this week. My mother already off to work after talking things out, but also she won’t take me there with our car.

At least I’m staying with my older sister and grandma for awhile. I had plenty of time when going through other tasks without any hassle; hopefully.

Now for my latest Inktober artwork, a love between a wish dragon and a demonic rabbit like its nothing weird here. I’d normally if I do something creative, but having a classic Disney-style cosplay was the way I’m going for. At least nothing scary except having these two “lovebirds” together.

Iscream (as the White Rabbit) & (as Snow White) Fwench Fwy - “Chikn Nuggit” (2020) created by Kyra Kupetsky

Tagged: @murumokirby360 @carmenramcat @alexander1301 @rafacaz4lisam2k4 @paektu

Previous: ⬇️

“Day 1: Looney 🐰🔨” - Link Here #1

“Day 2: Imposters 🕷️👉👈🕷️” - Link Here #2

“Day 3: Wild 🌲🐶” - Link Here #3

“Day 4: Thief 🐰💰” - Link Here #4

“Day 5: Moon 🌙🎣” - Link Here #5

[metaphorthejesterdraws]

INKTOBER 2023 BEGINS OH BOY

Oct 1 | Dream

(UNDERTALE SPOILER WARNING)

so!! this is actually my sixth year doing Inktober (my first was 2018), and...not once have i done it the way i think it's intended. well i mean in 2019 and 2020 i did do digital "ink" drawings but i got veeeeeery tired of my lineart very fast.

as such! since then i've just done basically whatever for each day! some days its a doodle some days its a comic and some days its whatever i want it to be. i get a lot less burnt-out that way and i enjoy it more so e h

with that in mind though since i'm technically not following the actual rules of inktober (just the prompts) i wont be tagging any of these as inktober. guess you all get random scribbles for 31 days lol

anyhow if you've seen my rampaging undertale obsession i don't think i need to explain how i came up with this art lol

theres also a short process video! (flash warning - it flashes at the end)

[starredanise]

approaching my tumblr 10 year anniversary next month?! so for fun i browsed through my art tag to categorize what kind of art i’ve posted 🫣 and out of 186 #my art posts:

most of them (41) were original - self portraits, drawing from life, ocs, school stuff, et cetera.

the month with the most posts was january 2016 (11) after watching fullmetal alchemist brotherhood and star wars: the force awakens that winter break. close behind was october 2014 (10), when i attempted inktober for the first time.

i’ve made the most art for percy jackson + heroes of olympus (22) which is fitting given that’s how i got into drawing! by sketching the characters from the books for my friends in middle school.

besides “other fanart” (anything i only ever made 1-2 posts for, 18) the next highest category is avatar the last airbender + legend of korra (sensing a pattern with the formative media here LOL). before 2020, i made only 3 art posts for it and all of it in 2014. after 2020, that number is now 16! #renaissance

next is aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe, with 15 posts (!!) clearly i loved that book and wanted to contribute to the small art scene for it.

i’m surprised that h*milton has the same number of posts as m*rvel (catch-all for comics, mcu, agents of shield, and spiderverse) with 10 posts each… sometimes you have to acknowledge your past to move forward 🫡 tbh i think drawing for both at least strengthened my skill in capturing real faces (vs from a book description or an already stylized animated face). that also reminds me, irls came too close to coming to this blog because the musical’s official accounts reposted my art because that was the year i started trying to crosspost to twitter SKSDJSKDK

longest time between posts is 508 days (between jan 14 2022 and jun 6 2023) whoops...

post with the most notes is still my s&seasian atla piece (~46k) and i hope it stays that way <3 i recently rearranged my shelf so I could put up the prints i made of it on display.

i think that’s it, interesting numbers wise. other observations:

overall, i started off posting more traditional stuff by way of sketches in the margins of my school notes or on the blank backsides of worksheets, and also i was in art class at the time. i did post digital art drawn on my tablet, but not as frequently as I now draw/post with my ipad since 2018 (and notably the app procreate since 2020, actually a gamechanger) and a lot more art in full color since too. i wouldn’t mind making more traditional but it’s more time consuming and now i want to post art that’s more finished-looking (quality vs quantity).

did i expect myself to still be posting art on tumblr 10 years later? probably not? i did try posting on twitter and instagram but got cold feet sooo now i’m still here. glad i’m still here! i’m glad i can look at old art with a fondness (though i would prefer no one else scroll or reblog that far back please 😭 just take my word for it that i posted all that PLEASE).

thank you for reading if you made it all the way here!! thank you to everyone who liked or reblogged or followed or commented something nice in the last 10 years! and thanks to the artists and writers and gifmakers and other creators who inspired me too! even if i stop posting on tumblr, i hope to draw for the rest of my life!!!!!

[jaycrow77]

They'll all know that the body's mine

Inktober with my own list

Day 1: double

The vibes:

[tenebrare]

Deus Ex- Sarif's attack dog (revisited) + Post about how and why this revisit came to be aka some self-reflect (warning: long, ... OMG too long)

During Inktober2022, when I was forced to (as its part of the challenge) post daily, in some point I took a look of my 2022 postings in general. I found that I have taken my blogs title "Sketchbook and doodles" too literal. Almost all my works posted were... are... 1-2 day quick scribbles and clearly unfinished. Except 3. 2 of which were done in 2021 and still fit the 1-2 day filling and one work which I had done while recovering serious health related issue and was forced to focus only on recovery and I kept working on a singular piece the time without thinking about completing the piece itself (as my goal was just to fill the time I was awake and give my brain something else than health to think about) nor being stressed by war, bills, work. And out of those 3 remaining works that last is only one I wouldn’t know how to change, when I open its original file now. Also the other remotely almost passable as closer to complete works were done before war and illness. Why I have rushed like this – where was I hurrying to? Did I believe I improve better if I do more? Yet my best fan-work of 2022 is one I did, when I was physically so weak I was barely able to hold any objects like my pen (even eating and holding a spoon exhausted me to the point I slept hours afterwards), but just invested more time on doing something. Inktober was like a sum of the same – out of the 31 works I did, the best one in my opinion is the one I failed at original day and did bit by bit on other remaining days. Where am I running to? I should sit the f*** down. 2022 is trying to tell me something and I should listen. It 1st broke my graphics card few days in. Started a war close enough month after. Got me ill and almost killed me next month after that and then heatwaved me to heat-sickness soon as I started to do some recovery few months down. Canceled all my long planned events and activities for august and changed what-and-how in September. Only thing it did not cancel was me seeing my favorite band in July (in fact ‘universe’ in particular delayed the gig to be in 2022 from 2020). Maybe by November I should take the darn hint? … I finally sat down after Inktober. Meditated a few days, sitting back against almost ice cold-radiator in a 12C room (the machinery in basement shut itself off again and it was 12C outside as well). So I went back and took one the unfinished works and gave myself no time limits - „It is done, when it is done.” I told myself - “I am not running anywhere, no one gave me deadline. I do this because I love doing stuff like this. Do it like you just hired yourself and want your moneys worth. And above all – have fun. I must have fun again, like when I was 2 and scribbled believing I am greatest painter in the world and for my family I was.” Uh, and the widget in the basement started working after I had found calm in self as well worked on this piece a few days and is stable 21C now. If I’d believe in paranormal, I’d say this house is alive and is catching up my moods. But thanks, house, for the widget being back online. The gas company found no fault in the widget and its systems. Not in spring, when it stopped working 1st time after being just installed, nor this falls … Well… in this region we believe that old houses have their own spirits and personalities after all. Here’s “Sarif’s Attack Dog” as I wanted it to be 8 months ago. Just spent 5 times more time on it. Viewer, who wants, does find flaws in it and could argue about ‘its done, when its done’ part, but it is not about if someone else can do it better, likes it or does not like it or any other 100 problems, but its about how I wanted it to look-like in given moment and gave myself time to do it. Maybe it should be my 2023 years resolution? “Sit the f-down and take my sweet time on all things I do – including fan-art?” Provided 2023 doesn’t try to kill me again, like 2022 did… tehehe? PS! That lone fully completed 2022 fan-art of mine was Francis Pritchard hacking Adams computer in Prague

[kyanako5972]

Inktober Day 8 / Whumptober Day 1

Before you wonder why the right image isn't loading, that's because it's a screenshot of an unloaded image.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Said to the woman who is practically blind in her only eye.

Elsie Harmony, age ~41 at the time of this drawing.

I don't know if I'll complete Whumptober, but it sure is fascinating. I won't be posting everything here.

Under the cut is a picture of Elsie not on the floor (drawn in 2020, but I don't think I put it on Tumblr)

[doorbloggr]

Inktober Part 2

Motivation and Stress

Sunday 20/11/22

(All art in this post are my own creations)

Linktober 2022 Day 25: Zelda

As an artist, a constant struggle is finding the time and effort to sit down and just do the thing. Be it motivation or inspiration, it is difficult for creatives to start (or finish) pieces of art. This applies to writers, visual artists, musicians, and any other type of creative.

This year in particular, I had multiple months where I produced maybe one or two pieces of art if I was lucky. This is because art is a hobby for me, and there is no revenue in it. Maybe it is because of my motivation that there isn't? But from experience is past years, I know that nothing gets me in the mood for creativity like a deadline.

But that mood isn't always a good one...

Linktober

I first participated in Linktober in 2018, where I just did the regular challenge. And as someone who doodled sporadically in my spare time, it was a refreshing change to have structure to my art. The first issue I usually have when I want to sit down and commit to illustrating is... what do I draw?

Linktober, as discussed in my previous post, is a variation on the Inktober format. For every day in October, artists will post a drawing. Each year the folks at Linktober will cook up one or more Calenders of prompts to follow, so that I have a direction to follow for each drawing. Each prompt is still up to interpretation for what specifically you draw, but it's something.

Linktober prompt listsfor 2018, 2020, and 2022

So there's two aspects of a month long challenge that help my artistic drive. 1) The direction, and 2) the quota. Now for a while, in particular last October, I have thought of Point 2 being more "Deadline", but I think it is better to think of it as a Quota, and we'll get into that soon.

Direction

So a lot of the struggle to start doing art is to do with inspiration. In 2020 I had a fairly consistent inspiration for art since that was the year my D&D group played the most regularly. But this year, adult scheduling has meant that we haven't played as much, and as a result, less D&D art happened.

And it wasn't just that I could call on D&D as a loose concept to do the art, since these "session arts" were pieces based on highlights from our sessions. Before I did Linktober, I did a month long Pokémon drawing challenge, where each day gave me a Pokemon Type, or category of Pokémon (e.g. starter, eevee, legendary). Now sometimes when I was in the mood, I would draw Pokémon anyway, but with this challenge, I was given instructions for 31 drawings.

POKEDEXY, a Pokémon drawing challenge I did in 2017

All this to say, although good art can happen spontaneously, I personally found that I have the best artistic drive if I already know what I'm drawing.

The Quota

Again to use the D&D session arts as an example, part of the reason I was so consistent with my posting of those arts was because I wanted to get last week's art out before we had our next session.

Session Arts for Chapters 9-18 for our D&D "Everift" campaign.

Part of the artist's motivation problem is... why finish? Sure if you have the direction for a piece, you know what you're making. But when will it be complete? Unless you have a client, most artists are not working to a strict deadline, so it is up to the artist when (or if) a piece is completed, and when/if it's shared to the world.

The pro of a month-long challenge like Inktober is that you are given the when. For Inktober, it's October. You'll be aiming to finish and post your artwork during October, and if you're on schedule, that'll mean you release your first drawing Octover 1st, your 10th drawing by October 10th etc.

The Struggle

I've highlighted the benefits of a monthly challenge to an artist's drive, by they can also be detrimental if approached in a suboptimal way. I wanna discuss how my relationship with Linktober has changed.

When I started Linktober in 2018, Breath of the Wild had come out the year before, and a combination of DLC and challenge runs meant I was still playing the game regularly. The Legend of Zelda has long been one of my favourite fandoms, so of course the next year, I did it again.

In 2020, Age of Calamity came out, and I was playing competitive Smash Bros all the time, with Link as my main, so Zelda was still regularly a part of my downtime entertainment. So 2020, I doubled down on Linktober, and actually made 31 days of art for two separate challenges (occasionally crossing over). I was able to keep up that year because that time of year, I wasn't working a lot, and always prepared ahead of time.

My Linktober 2020 (left) and Linktober Shadow 2020 (right)

When it came to October 2021, I had stopped playing Smash Bros, and had been waiting for new Zelda content for a while. I told myself I would restrict myself to a simpler art and colouring style, so that I would be able to complete the challenge with less prep time. As a result, I was almost always preparing art on the day it was due. And the most unfortunate part was that I didnt enjoy Zelda as much as i used to. It was the most stressed I'd ever been about art. Linktober had become a job, and nothing kills creativity more than making it work.

I usually post updates during Linktober on my Instagram story. For Day 27 in 2021, I did not finish in time, and posted it a couple days later. It made me very upset.

So the point I made earlier about a schedule being good had it in fact killed the fun of art in 2021. I was creatively drained and didn't enjoy it.

Linktober 2022

This year, I made Linktober more enjoyable by removing any restrictions I had on myself. No uniting artstyle, no expectation that I finish the 31st piece by October 31st, and since the last week of September fell during School Break, I had a solid week of preparation time. And once I hit my stride, I actually got way ahead of schedule. Finishing 30 pieces before October 1st. That final piece stumped me for the same reason I had been stumped for art the rest of the year. The final prompt for Linktober is always Free For All; artist's choice.

Usually this is my Smash Bros Day, but I had left the Smash competitive scene on a bitter note. And the bigger problem I had the previous year was still present. The lack of new Zelda content meant that I didn't enjoy Zelda as much as I used to. My new main "fandom" was D&D. So although I am happy with my art for October this year, it may be my last Linktober.

Free For All this year I ended up making it about Mario Kart, since I play MK8 regularly with family.

Even if I fixed the Deadline issue, the original draw of Linktober, that it's all Zelda, became a restriction. Why all Zelda if I don't enjoy Zelda as much as I used to?

What to learn from this?

Direction and Quota can be great for art motivation. Having that push to tell you what art to do and when to finish it is great. But don't let that become the only time you do art. If you don't have the time to do art every day, weekly challenges are just as valid. And if the subject matter of a prompt list doesn't appeal to you anymore, feel free to change it up every once in a while. For October 2023, I think I might do a different iteration of Inktober that better reflects my current interests.

Have fun and do art.