Inktober (Sketches September & October)

I kind of skipped the month of September in terms of sketching, since I was preparing to participate in Inktober for the first time. I knew that working a full-time job, I would not have time to do an ink sketch every day every single day, so I prepared several sketches in advanced, and then just inked them in the day.

I tried to use a range of materials, different ink pens, dip pens, different ink colors. In some sketches I also combined ink with color, like graphitint pencils. I couldn't use watercolors since the sketchbook I decided to use for these has very thin paper. But it still handles well light washes, like diluting watercolor pencils.

As I mentioned, I tried to use an old sketchbook I had be meaning to finish for a long time - it's a Seawhite Hardback Square Sketchbook I think. Some of the days I would actually ink more than one drawing if I had a bit more time.

Some purists might say this not the way to do inktober, but to me it mattered that: I practiced inking regularly and that I actually completed the 31 inked sketches, with the chance to post them in Instagram. I have also taken the chance to practice some lettering, which I had never done before.

I did my best to pickup different subjects and try different techniques - like inking in different colors, using a dip pen versus using a normal pen, combining inking with color, etc. I have not followed the prompts fully, only occasionally, since some of the subjects were quite vague - like "Hope" and "Disgusting". Besides, some of the drawings I had already sketched and was happy with the drawing, so I tried to used those for most of the inktober project.

I am quite happy on how the drawings look all put together in the sketchbook, and I will try to incorporate this discipline in the future and try to sketch as much as I can. I was really surprised that I was able to make so many drawings in such a short time.

I really liked how some of this sketches turned out and I think I will try to adapt them into future prints - I am thinking specially for drypoints and lithography.

Thanks for stopping by!