Why You Should Join Inktober This Year

October’s arrival is exciting for a lot of artists. Autumn is a very beautiful season, the colours outside are really inspiring and, admit it, you can’t wait for Halloween too.

But there’s something more important expected by many artists all over the world.. INKTOBER IS HERE!!

Every year I promise to myself that I’m gonna join #inktober and be consistent… but I never did. This year is the year! And I’m gonna explain why you should join too!

First of all, what is this #Inktober?

Inktober was invented in 2009 by Jake Parker, a YouTuber and illustrator. The idea under this one-month challenge is to improve in inking and drawing. In fact, this challenge consist in making one drawing a day during the whole month of October, following a list of random words, that anyone has to interpretate and draw.

The official “prompt list” is published right before October in the original website every year. You can find this year’s prompt list at the end of this article!

What do i need to partecipate?

Mhh.. as an artist I think you already got everything you need to join this challenge:

Your creativity;
Your tools;
Ideas;
Will to improve and be consistent.

What you DON’T necessarily need:

To be a professional artist;
Your works to be perfect;
Years of experience;
A lot of followers.

Nothing of this matters! You need to take it chill: have fun, create something new, be inspired and experiment with your tools. That’s what matters. Fun and improvement.

Are there any rules?

Yes. As you can see of the official website of Inktober, the rules are a few and very simple.

Make a drawing in ink;
Post it;
Add the hashtag #inktober and #inktober2021;
Repeat every day of October.

You can make whatever type of drawing and post it on every social media you use/prefer.

It’s preferable to use ink only and do black and white drawings; this is the “original and true” version of this challenge. But, times are changed and now it’s more opened to different type of tools and techniques: watercolours, crayons and pastels are accepted as well.

You can decide to follow the words in order, or to change it. (Even if it’s better to follow them in order for everyone, so you can see all different artworks using the same word every day!)

The words, by the way, are just there to guide you; you can decide to use them, or not. (For the same reason as before, it would be better to use them to be part of the challenge!)

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Is digital art also valid for Inktober?

Inktober was initially focused on traditional artworks only. But, as they expressly say in their website, digital inking nowadays is as valid as traditional inking. So, if you want to improve your digital inking, you are welcome to join Inktober too!

Why should I join #Inktober?

Well, we all know that drawing skills are achieved only with practice. And we also know that art block is often behind the corner. So, what a better way to practice and improve your drawing skills, with a ready list full of words to use as a guide? That’s why every year thousands of artists on every social media join this challenge.

Because it’s fun, inspiring and also you can feel part of a big world-wide community of artists. You can see other artworks, totally different one from another but everyone inspired by the same prompt list. And other artists can see your work, share comments and ideas, critiques; get inspired and inspire others.

That’s why we really like this challenge; it’s not a competition. Instead it unifies a large and worldwide community of artist doing what they love, but in total different ways.

Is it a problem if I miss the first days?

Not at all! You can jump in whenever you are ready! A little tip that a lot of artists use for optimising times (me too) is to prepare the drawing one day before you have to post it. For example, today is the 30 September, and I already did the first drawing for the first of October! Like this you will be always in advance in creating and in perfect time to post!

Watch this video made by the creator of Inktober to clarify what’s it and how it works!