Inktober 2015 Final week

Inktober ended during all the Halloween festivities. I had accomplished my goal of creating an inked piece of work each day on the day that it needed to be completed. 

Now to reflect

This was my first time participating in Inktober, and I enjoyed the challenge of completing an inked piece every day. Some pieces were more successful than others. Some pieces I enjoyed while other pieces my audience enjoyed. It was great to explore all the ways I could approach each piece, and not having a tight focus helped me with this. 

Some troubles

Pentel Black ink brush

I've never used a brush pen like this one before so I had some trouble learning how to dispense the ink.

As you can see the lines are not bold and solid (as intended). This of course could make for interesting texture, but had annoyed me through out most of the Inktober drawings. One moment it seemed like I fixed the problem the next the problem still persisted. By the end I figured out the problem.

First you need to squeeze this pen (brush side down) and hold it for a moment. The ink will finally come out.

Then you'll need (scrap paper) to brush the ink into the bristols.  

Sorry for the blurriness holding the camera and drawing is a challenge for me haha.

Finally you can make solid lines. 

To be honest I don't know if this is the best way to use this brush pen, but hey it worked and I'll still continue to learn how to use it.

Another trouble I had was sometimes having a scanner and sometimes only having my camera on my phone. The quality of the images fluctuated because of this. There was one week where I was too sick to come into my studio so most of the images were taken with my phone's camera. Next year if I decide on selling my work as prints I'll make sure the quality is excellent. 

Despite some troubles, I managed to get all 31 ink drawings done! 

So what's next?

I have an itching to do small inkings each day and try to continue the flow I've got going here. I know some of my art friends are thinking about doing more as well. 

What I plan on doing is creating one panel comics for each day of November. The comics will feature slice of life and dream themes. I think I can manage to do this. I know it's already November 2, but I'll just make up for it. As long as life and work are still in a good balance I think these can be done each day this month.