Hello all - greetings from a train somewhere between Fribourg and Frankfurt! It’s a long train ride and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to write a little something here. Today marks the halfway point of Inktober, an annual drawing challenge that asks participants to create a single drawing, in ink, for each day of the month of October. The originators offer an “official” prompt list, should you find yourself unsure of what to draw.
Numerous other prompt lists have popped up over the years, including “Scottish Mythology,” “Creepy Cute,” doodles, mermaids, lettering and more. I love seeing all the different ways in which people answer these challenges! As for me, I’ve participated several times in the past and typically enjoyed it though it can get overwhelming pretty quickly. I’ve worked with prompt lists, made my own list (a-phobia-a-day was a blast), and drawn a single panel of a longer comic (still unfinished but mostly done!) and each variation on this challenge has brought different rewards with it.
This year I have a number of deadlines and projects on my schedule this month (as well as travel) and I was really feeling like Inktober was going to be out of my reach. I was also keenly aware that I haven’t been doing as much drawing as I would like to be doing and I’ve found in the past that these kinds of challenges tend to help me get out of ruts and revitalize my previous good habits. So the question, then, was how could I participate in Inktober in a way that felt enjoyable and not overwhelming…
I decided to aim for a single square inch of ink drawing a day. No planned story, no overarching project. Just a single sheet of paper with a 6x6 grid of one inch squares. As this gave me 36 squares and I only needed 31, I blacked out a single square at the end of each “week” and I left a final single square to wrap things up. I limited myself to a couple pens, no pencil, no paint, and decided to use the official prompt list.
Here we are, just under halfway through! By day five, something like a story felt like it was starting to come together. I briefly considered looking ahead to upcoming prompts to see what kind of story I could plan but then reminded myself that this is supposed to be low stress, so I ought not complicate it. And so I haven’t! Each evening I check the day’s prompt and then start drawing. The “one square inch” has been a great challenge for me as I don’t generally work so small. It makes me think about how much story I can comfortably fit in such a tiny space and with minimal supplies and how I can use this small space to move my tiny story forward. Rather than dreading it, as I have some years in the past, I’m generally excited to sit down and draw and see where my story goes next.
This exercise has been particularly helpful in reminding me that projects can always be broken down into smaller steps and that small steps, made regularly, still add up! Are you participating in Inktober this year and feeling overwhelmed? If so, what could you do to simplify your challenge and make it more enjoyable?