Learning To Think Before You Ink

This October, a coworker of mine challenged me to try Inktober. I will admit that my first instinct was mild panic at the thought of:

1. Drawing something everyday
2. Using a prompt to guide what I was drawing
3. Using ink

As with many experiences, I find it helpful to reflect on these thoughts after the experience.

1.Drawing something everyday –

Ok…I admit this was not the most terrifying part. But since returning to teaching full time, I have found my art ending up very much on the back burner. It feels like drawing once a week is a larger task than it was to draw more often just a few short months ago. I also have not found myself spending as much time outside as I did during the summer, and with that, less inspiration. It was nice in some ways to come home from work with the intention of making time for art again.

2.Using a prompt to guide what I am drawing –

One of the first things I did when my friend asked me about trying out the challenge was look up a prompt list. Some of them felt reasonable, like watch or compass, but others were much more difficult (collide???). And as someone who almost exclusively draws landscape and nature art, I immediately knew I would have to stretch myself. Though thankfully I did end up finding comfortable ways to approach some of the prompts like suit, helmet, and extinct.

3.Using ink –

Continuing the concept of being honest, this was the part that scared me the most. I’ve taken a number of art classes and own lots of fun drawing pens that I used to break out on occasion, but I’ve really found digital art to be my comfortable medium. For one thing, it is a lot less messy. I don’t like having ink all over my hands and I really don’t love cleaning up when I use lots of different colors of paint. But as I have previously admitted, I also like the ability to “undo” more of my work when working digitally.

Working in ink, I did not have that option. At first, I found myself making certain gestures that were familiar when drawing on my iPad (mostly holding my pen down to “correct) the shape), but after a few days, I found myself becoming more comfortable with making my choices ahead of time. That my hand felt more steady and confident. And I didn’t dislike the way some of the pieces turned out.

It was also fun to be able to see my art in a physical medium. Most of my pieces, I have only ever interacted with on a tablet or computer. There was something special about seeing the piece on paper. And that is also probably why I ended up buying more pens (I quickly found that I needed more than more line thickness to get the look I wanted).

I also found an unexpected additional joy along the way. This year, the art teacher at my school was doing Inktober with students. It was fun to see how they approached the prompts. To hear about which ones they found challenging and to see them trying new styles. I have since tried to bring more opportunities to draw into my classroom.

Needless to say, overall it was definitely a challenging learning experience, but a rewarding one as well. Sometimes it is good to step a little outside your comfort zone and try something new.