Woohoo. Made it. 31 #inktober inks and one yellow frog as a bonus in response to another twitterer (see previous post).
Juicy Lucy the cat was quite forced. I’d just finished a Scottish Words illustration and it was getting near midnight and I was shattered. But I did it anyway with minutes to spare. The rule I’d made was that I would never be self judgemental and so I just had to get on with it – whether ended up good, poor or indifferent.
Inktober was started in 2009 by Jake Parker as a prompt to improve his inking skills and develop better drawing habits. Practise.
The rules he made are simple. An inked drawing each day, or whatever interval you set throughout October. That’s it. Creating a prompt for mindful repetition so as to get better at something.
This year I decided to have a go. I wanted to escape from my usual digital ways of working and the ever ready wonderful escape of the Command and Z keys. If only that undo was available in real life.
As an extra challenge I used hand made unsized paper with bits of plant in it. In comparison to digital (and even to watercolour board) this is like running over mountains in a rain-storm versus a running machine in a cosy gym – I now know.
It’s practise. And in any practise making it difficult can make it more rewarding – if you’re overcoming the difficulties.
One interesting outcome I found is that I get two images. One when the paper is soaking wet (it acts like a sponge – and the washes spread over time – what fun :\’) And another, lighter image, when the paper dries.
Peeling wet paper off the scanner is another story.
I also decided not to be self judgemental. Otherwise the ever judging ‘fear of failure’ would sneakily undermine my resolve and at the end of a month I’d be wondering why I’d done so few.
So if you think some of the drawings are crap. Too bad.
I think the idea of a monster mother plant peering in through the greenhouse windows arrived because I’d just finished watching BBC Scotland’s The Beechgrove Garden before I begun doodling.
From the mad doodles I create I try to make a more considered version starting with a light coloured pencil and move to progressively darker colours giving me several attempts on the same page to sort out and refine composition and detail.
I ran out of paper developing this one. Continue reading Fyke the Mummy illustration development.
I’ve made drawings all my life from as far back as I can remember. Even just holding a pen for me is like Linus and his blanket. I cannot remember a day when I didn’t doodle or draw. When it stopped it was a shock, and that was when I realised I was ill.
That was in September 2012 when I also stopped updating this site. One day I was making drawings, the next day I wasn’t. No decision, no drama, no emotion. Continue reading Scottish Words Illustrated stalled in 2012.