My, October already! I can hardly believe it.
These last few months have been focused on buying/selling my house and preparation for a move into Norwich, punctuated with regular illustration deadlines for clients in Japan this summer – virtually all of my commissioned work this year has been outside the world of children’s publishing. Because of that, I leapt at the chance to have a go at the House of Illustration’s 1-inch drawing a day challenge last month, it was exactly the tonic I needed! I’m immensely honoured and grateful to the House of Illustration and John Vernon Lord to hear that my work was chosen as one of the winning three entries.
Inktober 2018 Day 1, prompt word: “Poisonous”. Such a sweet, rosy apple, won’t you just try it? #SnowWhite
Well, that was September, and now here we are in October, and another daily drawing challenge – #Inktober! I wasn’t sure I’d participate in this year, after last months’ exercise I have a lot of stuff I need to concentrate on, not least my own story ideas, as well as those regular overseas deadlines… I love Inktober, but there is a fine line to tread between these commitments being an inspiration and focus, or a burden, a procrastination or distraction from stuff you need to get on with.
Inktober 2018 Day 2, for the prompt word: “Tranquil”. I often feel this way, but it’s not a self-portrait, honest!
Last year, Inktober gave me a tremendous boost, it really helped to revitalise my pen work, giving me fresh stimulation, determination to focus on the type of work I really want to undertake. By the end of the month I was spending more time on Inktober drawings than I was on my other work – it really took over! I wasn’t sure I’d be able to contribute this year, straight after the September challenge, but it was of such value to me last year, if John Vernon Lord can draw 1-inch images for an entire year, I can at the very least manage 2 months! So yes, I am doing it again this year, and here are the first week’s images!
Inktober Day 3, prompt word: “Roasted”. Trying not to lose my head over Inktober this year.
I’m so far keeping closely with the official 2018 prompt list. Some of those prompt words may be an awkward fit for my genre of work, but half of the challenge of Inktober is in exploring ways to interpret the suggestions in a manner that inspires you to create interesting images. Illustration is not just about drawing a literal rendering of a prompt, it’s only partly about drawing, with these kind of exercises half of the challenge is the way you expand, or commentate on proposals to portray wider feelings or concepts.
Inktober Day 4, prompt word: “Spell”. Double, double, toil and trouble! I tried a different, softer paper, and a 0.05 finepoint pen for this, hence the somewhat scratchy finish.
Scattered through this post then, are my first week’s worth of Inktober drawings for 2018. Each was drawn on the day I posted, I’ve made no preparation at all for Inktober this year, and am trying to narrow the time spent on each image… for the moment anyway! You can follow my daily postings on Instagram and Twitter @StudioNIB, or on my Linked-In profile. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to finish the month!
Inktober Day 5, prompt word: “Chicken”. Or in this case, the house with chicken’s feet…. a modern day Baba Yaga. I didn’t get much sleep the night before I drew this, which might explain the interpretation!
Inktober Day 6, prompt word: “Drooling”. I tried a different pen for this, (Kuretake Gokochi), which gives a somewhat heavier line, closer to a dip pen…. my love of classic illustrators coming out a bit here perhaps!
Inktober Day 7, prompt word: “Exhausted”. The refugee crisis has weighed heavily with me, the awful plight of those fleeing conflict has been somewhat overshadowed by other news lately, but I can’t think of anything more exhausting or distressing. Back to a Hi-Tec-C 0.5 for this, small scale drawing.
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