For this month’s Featured Student post we will be featuring ten students that participated in Inktober 2020! Let’s start by getting to know a little bit about each of their Inktober projects:

Aleksey Nisenboym

Instagram: @artofaleksey

Website: Alekseyillustration.com

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

3 years

How often are you planning to participate?

Daily

What are you using to guide your drawings?

I’m going off the regular prompt list. I’m trying to learn how well I use ink and watercolor together. The theme I’m going for is Frog Characters.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

I’m on the Inktober email list so I get the prompts a week before it’s posted on instagram. Before I get the prompts I go out and buy a nice sketchbook (preferably Stillman and Birns Zeta series because they are pretty good for pen nibs and also washes) I use that week to plan out and do the sketches. The the month of September I did the watercolors on top of the sketches, as well as ink the first few. This leaves me with plenty of time to ink the rest without stressing.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

I’m not sure yet. My partner thinks these will make nice prints but I dont think I’m that good at watercolors yet for anyone to want to purchase them. Maybe I’ll do a test run on Etsy and see the response I get.

Kelly Moninger / K.Flagg

Instagram: @k.flagg_art

Website: kflaggart.com

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

I think this will be my 5th year participating. I look forward to it every year.

How often are you planning to participate?

Daily. I will be setting aside a fair amount of time every day in October.

What are you using to guide your drawings?.

I decided to do a project this year after seeing all of the cool books and posters others have made during Inktober. I was inspired to make a short comic that is based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland but with a dark twist (which I think really fits my art style). I planned my layout and penciled all of my pages in September to prep because I knew inking a full comic page everyday was going to be very time consuming by itself.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

I have enough time to work on them in the mornings this year. In the past I would rush home from work and try to get them done before bed so I am really enjoying being able to spend a few hours on them every morning. I am using traditional ink so there is a bit of time I have to set aside for set up and clean up also.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

I am hoping to compile all 31 pages into a short comic that I can have printed at some point. I might also see if I can add the story to a digital comic platform eventually. This has been a really big intimidating project but I am really happy with the results so far.

Melanie Daigle

Instagram: @melaniedaigleart

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

This is my 4th year.

How often are you planning to participate?

I am posting a new character illustration, along with a process video (IGTV), daily on my social media platforms.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

I am following a prompt list created by @odnatamyara and @soniastegemann over on Instagram called Monster Mania. Everyday’s prompt is a new monster to draw!

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

In previous years I have failed doing all 31 days of inktober! This year I vowed it would be different! I started sketching and planning in early September. I even went so far as to concept out all 31 days and scrap them to start over. Instead of the complex ideas I originally had, I decided to create simple and appealing characters to expand my portfolio. In late September I started inking to have some photography and video footage edited for October 1st. I find I work well in batches, it’s easier to schedule in a few FULL painting/inking days rather than have my creative energy scattered and possibly miss a day because, well, life in 2020. Now I just have a few more pieces to finish and videos to edit and I will finally have accomplished my life’s mission of finishing Inktober, mouhahah!

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

I am planning to have all my originals (ink on watercolour paper) up for sale on my new website/shop (launching end of October...I hope...cough cough) Prints eventually. And I would love to make a little zine with my 31 characters. Even if I only make a copy for myself! I’ve grown quite fond of the little ghouls :)

Chris Witherspoon

Instagram: @studio.goosegg

Website: studiogoosegg.com

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

This is my first.

How often are you planning to participate?

I'll be posting each day.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

I've decided to do each item from the official prompt as a single panel comic.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

I'll be spending between two and four hours each day drawing, inking and coloring (also with ink). Given my schedule, I'll be doing this whenever I can find the time throughout the day. Usually it's in the early afternoon, though.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

I'll be putting the best ones into a new 'comics' portfolio section on my website. I'm not exactly sure what to pursue with that addition, but I've enjoyed the project thus far and think there's potential to make something of it in some unforeseen way.

Giorgos Christopoulos/G.Chris.Artwork

Instagram: @g.chris.artwork

Deviantart: g-chris

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

2 half years and 3 full years.

How often are you planning to participate?

I plan on inking a piece daily.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

I am following Jake’s prompt list, while making individual pieces, all taking place in a world with elves. Basically I am experimenting with various stuff, such as backgrounds, perspective, action poses, storytelling within one panel, and comic making ( with word balloons).

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

I sketch next days prompt as a warm up, and then I proceed with inking current days piece. For example, on Oct 10, I sketch the Oct 12 piece, and I ink the Oct 11 prompt. I begin at 6:30 am and try to end strictly around 9, ‘cause I work for client work and then my regular job at noon (taekwondo coach)!

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

Coloring book collection and the top 5 will be made as full fledged illustrations.

Norman Morana

Instagram: @norman_morana

Website: normanmoranaillustration.com

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

2.5 years

How often are you planning to participate?

Daily! I enjoy difficult tasks and the aspect of staying in it to make 31 pieces of art is a driving force for me. I am, however, planning drawings ahead of time.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

A lot of my recent work has been coming from the monthly challenges here. I want to take this time to pull in some inspirations from my own life and really make images that I'm happy with and want to make. I'm not necessarily aiming for a deep story in these images, but I would like there to be something interesting to pull viewers in, and having good design is key. I will pull from the prompts if I find one inspiring or if something I have planned happens to line up. Outside of the narrative elements, the main thing guiding my inktober is wanting to bring something unexpected to inking. There is something to be said for traditional line focused inking, but that is not an enjoyable process for me. I want my work this month to challenge what people think of for Inktober.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

I'm fitting little pockets of work in when I can. I enjoy waking up early, so I'll get some prep or ink time in before my day job starts. I'll also work on Inktober a bit after work, as well as on the weekends.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

Social media is my main use for these, I want to focus on growing that more. In addition though, I want some of these to be added to my portfolio. It's exciting to see that my Inktober work so far fits right in with my digital work. Lastly, if any pieces garner a lot of attention I want to set them up for prints and private sales of originals (if there is interest.)

Ben Chu

Instagram: @itsbenchu

Website: benchuart.com

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

2 years

How often are you planning to participate?

About once a week.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

I follow the prompt list. Unless somethings different happens while experimenting.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

On the weekends.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

I’m thinking about turning the drawings into products such as blankets, textile pattterns...etc.

This drawing was done after experimenting with brush and ink from the HabbenInk workshop course.

Rachel Horne

Instagram: @rachel_horne_art

Website: rachel-horne.com

How often are you planning to participate?

I'm making a drawing everyday.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

After watching the SVS classes about Inktober I got the idea to work on just one character, a little girl in different situations. I thought each prompt could be a good way to work on my character development so I'm working digitally with a limited color palette so that my focus remains on the girl.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

At the moment I'm managing to stay a day or two ahead of each prompt coming out.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

I'll be creating a section on my website especially for the Inktober prompts and might make some little cards too.

Miranda Hoover

Instagram: @mirananemone

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

2 years

How often are you planning to participate?

About every 3-5 days as I finish an illustration.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

I'm attempting a condensed version of the official prompt list this year. Instead of a drawing a day for each prompt, I'll combine consecutive prompt words and create a single image for the group. This will give me a little more time to brainstorm and finish each image, but push me to come up with a creative way to interpret the prompt words. I can combine as many words as I'd like, but they must be consecutive.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

I'm a bit of a night owl, so usually work late at night (sometimes into early morning). But if I'm lucky, I can also work on them for an hour or two in the late afternoon.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

These are primarily for social media and to practice making images with a faster turn-around. But I'd also like to add my favorite ones to my illustration portfolio either as they are or after adding full color.

Andrew Johnson

Instagram: @aj.illustrates

Website: ajillustrates.com

Number of years you have participated in Inktober:

2 years (my first year was in 2018).

How often are you planning to participate?

Every day.

What are you using to guide your drawings?

Instead of doing individual pieces for each prompt, this year I'm doing one large piece with interacting characters. I've chosen the Battle of Hogwarts, the finale for the Harry Potter series. However, I am allowing the prompt list to at times direct which order I produce the drawing (for example, I drew Hagrid on Day 3 (bulky), but waited unti Day 11 (disgusting) to draw the monster spider attacking him.

When are you planning to make time to do your ink drawings?

I'm blocking out 8:30 - 10:30 every night to plan out in pencil and then ink the character to be posted the next day. Basically, when the kids go to bed, the brush pen comes out.

Are you planning to use these drawings once you’re done other then just posting to social media?

Yes. I've chosen to produce this piece on watercolor paper, so that I can then turn it around and paint it for Slowvember. The goal for that painting is to use it as a middle grade proof concept/portfolio piece, as well as offer it as prints at fan art events.

Now that we have learned a little about each student, here is what they have to say about the Inktober challenge:

Why did you decide to participate in Inktober? 

Aleksey - I use inktober to practice and improve my skills. Kinda like a trial and error, and whatever the outcome is what I post!

Kelly - I have always loved line art and ink drawing and I saw a bunch of artists that I followed participating. I loved that my IG feed was turning into a barrage of ink illustrations. What some people are able to create with black ink on white paper blows my mind and I wanted to be part of that community. I also had a hard time drawing daily and Inktober completely changed my perspective on drawing all the time.

Melanie - I participate in Inktober to challenge myself in some way, whether it’s exploring ink techniques, to just work traditionally for a month, or coming up with a new story to tell through illustrations. Plus, the sense of community online and the outpouring of creativity is just amazing to see this time of year!

Chris - About a year and a half ago I decided to turn art from a hobby to a career. Eight or so months later, the pandemic hit, and I suddenly had lots of time to make that happen. Being still out of work due to Covid, I found myself with the time to dive into Inktober as if it were a job. The intent was to take one of my preferred mediums, ink, and really hone my skills over the course of the month.

Norman - I think this is a great challenge for artists and can be a ton of fun. That being said, I think it’s also important to make sure it’s right for you at the time. For me, I saw this as an opportunity to try to loosen up and mess with a medium I’m not super familiar with. After having worked mostly digital the past year, it was nice to get to move the ink around and get messy!

Miranda - Inktober pushes me to create finished images promptly. I tend to obsess over details, but the tight schedule has been teaching me to find what is important and prioritize.

Andrew - I wanted to challenge myself to do one large ink drawing (rather than a small drawing for each prompt), sharpen my brush pen skills, and grow my social media accounts by sharing artwork every day.

Did you do anything to prepare before Inktober began? 

Aleksey - During September I wrote out the prompts and quick ideas that came to mind. I like to pick a theme, last year was gnomes this year was froggy characters. After the list is made I get a nice sketchbook that can handle various materials. Personally i love the Stillman and Birn Zeta series because you can do washes, watercolor, and it’s pretty good with traditional nibs as well. 

I sketched out my ideas in the sketchbook in September and then did all the watercolors then I go in and ink as many as I can in a day. All the drawings are simple, not a lot of environment going on so I don’t burn out on 1 drawing. 

Because I do a few at a time, I can take a break in between if I want to because that day’s prompt is already done! And just do that until I’m finished. It does catch up to you towards the end there, which is another reason to keep things simple.

Kelly - I did this year. I wanted to use Inktober to create a short comic and have some more sequential art for my portfolio. I love seeing the projects other people make using Inktober. I penciled all my pages in September and I have been inking one page everyday in October. I also tested a bunch of different ink supplies ahead of time so I knew what tools I wanted to use for my comic.

Melanie - I’ve never made it the whole 31 days. So this year, I planned ahead! I started sketching my ideas in September which helped tremendously! I also made simpler illustrations this time so that I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.

Norman - I knew this month would be a huge undertaking. I started out in September doing a couple tests to see if Inktober was something I wanted to do and if it would move my art goals forward. I also went through my recent sketchbooks to pull ideas for little illustrations, I ended up with a pool of just over 20 images and I went forward with close to 15 of those selected images. Additionally, I researched materials! I wanted to primarily work with non-water soluble inks, no gloss, and I wanted a white ink that would cover very well.

Ben - Inktober was a last minute thing. The day before my coworker asked if I wanted to participate. So I found SVSLearn while researching inktober and thought some of the courses were fun so I signed up.

Rachel - I’d already decided to take part in Inktober towards the end of September and was just going to choose a few of the prompts that appealed to me, but then I watched the SVS class How To Plan And Complete A Big Illustration Project - this really inspired me to take it more seriously and so I prepared a few sketches and set myself some restrictions on the color palette and a theme for the month.

Andrew - A LOT of research. Since I was doing a fan art piece depicting the final battle in the Harry Potter series, I re-listened to the audiobook, made notes of all the characters and actions from the battle that I thought would be cool to draw, and then did a quick, to-scale rough sketch of the layout, numbering each character blob with the day they'd be inked.

What did you learn from doing Inktober this year?

Aleksey - I played around with different watercolor brands and different brushes. I also looked at some of my favorite artists and made a reference folder of their art on how they solve different textures using just ink (like metal, wood, glass, etc). I learned I really enjoy working with watercolor and it was silly to be scared of it.

Kelly - I have a better idea from the start which size pen I should be using depending on line width. I am starting to get faster at inking the pages because I am not going over the same lines more than once with thicker lines. I am also getting more used to inking with a paintbrush and traditional liquid ink. I normally just use pens.

Melanie - This year my goal was to simplify my style and design 31 appealing characters to add to my portfolio. I explored the use of more “flowy” shapes and gestures for my characters instead of making them super anatomically correct, which can be difficult for me. I’m still developing my children’s book illustration style. I also created a process video for each illustration and had to learn how to edit videos for the first time!

Giorgos - This year I have participated in inktober using digital inking. I chose this medium simply for the fact that, even though all my clientele who are ordering commissioned work, approach me for my digital style and I draw digitally all the time, I haven t actually seen any serious upgrade in my inking (and colour flat) speed. Inktober is an awesome challenge to check what is going on with that speed without losing the quality of the artwork.

Ben - I learned new ways of drawing and being reminded to go back to my roots of exploration and play. Allowing myself to intuitively react to what is happening on paper with no plan in mind.

Did you use this year's official prompt list? Was it beneficial?

Aleksey - I did use this year’s only because it gets the most engagement on social media but it really doesn’t matter. I might consider doing a different list next year if I decide to do Inktober again.

Chris - I decided to use the official prompt list this year, and it was incredibly beneficial. I entered into the conceptualization process completely out of my element. I looked at past years to see how others handled them, but I couldn't quite find my own approach. It was maybe too loose for me. I noticed, however, that I kept just coming up with gags as concepts, and it occurred to me to fold the prompt list into the task of doing 31 single-panel comics. This is not something I've attempted before, but it's something that I've come to enjoy quite a bit. Had I just come up with random things to ink, I definitely would not have forced myself to think outside my normal modes, and I would not have made this unforeseen discovery.

Giorgos - Yup.Official prompts for me. It always is beneficial. I think I’d choose "easier to spark ideas" words for myself, and that wouldn't actually test my speed skills.

Ben - I did follow the prompt at first since I had no idea what I wanted to do. But I eventually began drawing what I was feeling at the time.

Rachel - I decided to go with the official prompt list. I always seem to get a lot of inspiration from one-word prompts and although they didn’t all immediately appeal to me I found it helpful in that it forced me out of my comfort zone.

Miranda - I used the official prompt list, and the constraints are great for giving me a direction. But instead of creating one image for each prompt each day, I combined 3-6 consecutive prompts into each image. Doing so gave me more time for each image; but also pushed me to find creative ways to interpret and combine the prompt words.

What aspects of the challenge do you think you handled well? What aspects needed work?

Aleksey - I think being experimental with my approach rather than reserved allowed me to learn a lot more.

Norman - I think what I handled well was sticking to my goal of having this be an experimental month. I wanted to keep the pieces loose and also have a little something to hold the viewer's attention. I did run into struggles with this after the two week point. It felt like some of the images I was making were starting to fall into a routine and I felt that some images I made were only to make a social media post. I think I caught this pretty quickly and was able to ask myself the important questions. Why am I making this image? What am I gaining from making this image? Is this image exploring something?

What I handled poorly? I did put out a few images where I wasn’t as happy with the small narrative. As I mentioned before, I felt my images were getting a little too formulaic. However, I think I can correct this later with better planning.

Ben - I think the challenge really allowed me to get back into drawing/making art for fun.

Miranda - I especially enjoyed combining the prompts into stories. But next time, I’ll focus a bit more on time management.

Would you do anything differently next time?

Aleksey - Use a larger sketchbook and nicer brand of watercolor (if I have the money, they so expensive!).

Chris - My initial intent was to only use ink with my pieces, including colored India ink, but I quickly found out that it was a bit too much to take on for a daily challenge. Since I was new to painting with ink, I kept making errors that required starting the whole piece over. While this was great for learning, the lessons were a little too hard-won, as I wound up putting in some long days tediously redoing pieces from scratch. This might not have been such an issue if I had thought to tailor the concepts of the pieces to the constrictions of time and ability. I found myself only able to render the necessary components of some of the pieces, which meant that I was failing to explore yet another goal of rendering backgrounds. My central aim was to get better with line work, and so I decided to switch to digital coloring, as it was much faster. Unfortunately, it's all still pretty time consuming, and so with all these lessons put together what I'd do differently next time is simplify my concepts and clarify my central aim. I've given myself a bit too much to do this time around, and as a result my line work isn't progressing at the rate I would have liked.

Giorgos - I’d definitely plan a series of continuous pieces ahead of time. Did not have that time luxury this year.

Norman - Plan plan plan! I did get more of a head-start than previous years, but coming up with 31 images that had something interesting to them was daunting with my schedule. The big thing I would want to do next time is have a larger pool of resource sketches to pull ideas from.

Ben - I would allow this challenge to be an opportunity to remind myself to just make art for myself.

Andrew - I would finish the entire sketch before the beginning of Inktober. Because I didn't this year, I had to draw around characters that I knew were there, but had to wait days or weeks to sketch and ink them in.

Any final thoughts about Inktober you would like to share?

Aleksey - Inktober is a great time to have fun and experiment with ideas and materials. If you skip a day, no one cares, there’s so many people doing it. But planning it ahead of time does help get through all of them, especially if you have other projects and responsibilities. 

Kelly - I look forward to Inktober every year. I will probably do Inktober every year for the rest of my life. It is truly an amazing personal challenge. I used to go weeks sometimes without drawing something and I draw all of the time now. Some of my favorite pieces that I have made came from Inktober and I wouldn't have created them if I hadn't participated.

Melanie - Inktober is such a fun time of year. Everyone should give it a try! It’s like the whole internet is cheering each other on and we’re all just having a blast! Inktober reminds us how fun drawing, just for the sake of drawing, can be. And who knows, maybe you’ll learn something along the way!

Chris - Being at the start of my career, there are a lot of potential avenues to take. While exciting, it's also daunting, as to choose one path is to deny countless others. By funneling my focus onto a preferred medium, and setting me the task of daily, intentional production, Inktober has helped me find within this preferred medium an avenue to explore that I would not have thought of otherwise. On top of this, it helped me understand how a style can be discovered as a sort of emergence from process and product, defined as much if not more by the work itself than by the sort of conscious deliberation that had up to then given me only dead ends and confusion. Additionally, the tedium of execution has morphed into a love of work, and I'm excited to move forward with my career. In short, Inktober has served somewhat as an illustration boot-camp for me, and it's one of the few experiences I've encountered where you can get out of it way more than you put in, or at least way more than you expected.

Giorgos - It is an awesome challenge and it is really the time of the year that drawing from 7 am takes priority. If you complete it, leveling up does occur and it is noticeable.

Ben - I would like to thank SVS for creating fun courses, which allowed me to learn so much. Prior to Inktober I rarely made art for myself, only for work. Seeing these courses got me excited to try something new and get back into making work. Beginning of October I began doing a gratitude practice. It allowed me to see my "bad" Inktober drawings as wins. I also struggled with self defeating thoughts of "nothing I draw is good". But with my gratitude practice helping me think more positively, I began feeling a lot happier with myself and my drawings. Inktober was the catalyst that motivated me to draw more. Although I did not do much ink drawings, I transitioned to drawing on my iPad and began making work I did not know I could make. I would like to encourage others to not feel ashamed with your bad drawings and be kind to yourself and to find something you are grateful for in your art practice. One thing that I kept telling myself was "Even though I did not like my drawing, I'm just grateful I gave myself the opportunity to just do some drawing and practice".

Rachel - I honestly didn’t expect to make it to the end of Inktober - it was harder than I thought it would be but I’ve really enjoyed spending time with my character and seeing her personality develop over the course of the month. I’m so glad I decided to commit to it even if I wasn’t always 100% happy with the pieces I posted, I’m pleased that I managed to work to such a tight deadline. It’s been a great exercise on many levels and I feel like I really learnt a lot from taking part.

Miranda - Inktober is a community challenge, but the benefits are up to the individual. Feel free to customize the challenge to fit your needs! Even if you have to miss some days, you can always pick the pen up and start again. You got this!

Andrew - For me, the best thing about Inktober is how it improves your drawing practice. I was excited every night, after the kids had gone to bed, to sit down with my paper and brush pen, and just draw for fun of it. That even spilled over beyond Inktober, as it filled my creative tank to draw in my sketchbook more and plan more projects and paintings.

Thanks for sharing y’all!