Inktober 2020 · 20 February 2021
(Click the picture to watch my Inktober 2020 video.)
I know October has long since passed, but I realized that I did not write about one of my latest creative endeavors – Inktober.
For those who have never heard of it, Inktober is just a month of making art with ink. If you did not guess, the month in question is October. Ink plus October equals Inktober. Naturally. As far as catchy names trying to get people to be creative, I like Inktober much better than I like NaNoWriMo. (By the way. If you have never heard of National Novel Writing Month, that is November. And quite a different story.) Inktober is catchy, has most of October in its name especially when you think of sounds (as opposed to NaNoWriMo, even though it does have all those Ns to help people remember it is in November), and is easy to participate in. All you need is ink and paper.
(By the way, I am not putting NaNoWriMo down. I have only ever participated in it once long ago, but I still like the concept. After all, NaNoWriMo is an attempt to get people to write lots every day. It is supposed to be a kick start for people who say they want to write, but are not in the habit of writing. So while I wholeheartedly endorse its purpose, I find it difficult to write a novel that quickly. Still, if you have ever said you want to write a book, participating in NaNoWriMo is a great way to get started, whether you finish during the month of November or not.)
At any rate.
As with any creative endeavor or any routine of any sort that you want to create, the first thing to do is to start. Just start. Inktober is a way to get started. Thirty-one ink drawings in thirty-one days. (By the way, I am sure that somebody out there might be thinking that Inktober should be to get thirty-one tattoos in thirty-one days, but I am not that person.) There was no pressure or rule to post online, but if you did post, you were encouraged to use the hashtag #Inktober. Which is what I did. I made my drawing, took a picture, then posted to Instagram with the hashtag. It was fun, even though my drawings were not anything that would be hung in a museum or anything like that. Which is part of the point. It does not really matter whether the drawings are good or not. The point of Inktober is to just get people to draw. At least that is the way I saw it.
(Click the picture to watch my Inktober 2020 video.)
It was quite fun to make drawings each day based on a prompt given by the Inktober website. I used a pencil to get things started and then inked the drawings to finish the product. At first, I did not erase any of my pencil marks, then toward the end, I did. I am not sure if I got any better at drawing, but I realized that making ink drawings was fun. And using a pencil first was not cheating. It was just part of the natural process of drawing.
I did not get into the habit of drawing every day as a result of Inktober, but I am drawing more than I have done for quite some time. And I also got to have a little fun with my other hobbies. I made a YouTube video of my Inktober drawings, which included a piece of Garageband music that I created.
Well to make a short story a little longer, I have decided that I like art. I like music. I like so many creative endeavors. And of course, I like to write about them.
If you have notions that you would like to draw or paint or do anything creative, just start. Nobody ever has to see what you create. Nobody cares if you are good at it or not. Especially in the beginning. Just be creative. You do not need Inktober or NaNoWriMo or any other gimmick, but if they help you to get started, great.
I know you do not need my permission to be creative (but if you want it, you have it). Nor do you need to wait for Inktober to start drawing. But if you want to have a little fun making thirty-one ink drawings in thirty-one days, participate in Inktober. It is lots of fun. (Remember, you do not need to wait until Inktober to start drawing.)
© 2021 Michael T. Miyoshi
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