Inktober 2020

Another October in the rear view, another Inktober completed. I still get excited about this challenge every year and it was great to see more people join in on the fun (The usual crew of Jason, Clayton, Keaton, and Robert participated. Mackenzie did the whole month and Carson made it way longer than last year. Even Nat and Matt did it this year and they don't consider themselves to be artists!!). While all of my creations have been posted to social media already, I like to capture all of the drawings from the year into a single location. Mostly because it allows my parents (anti-social media folks) to see this year's doodles.

Going back through my drawings, there seem to be a high number of silhouetted people. Don't have to draw their faces if they are a shadow! 

I would highly recommend participating next year. Inktober is a great way to force yourself to make time for things that are creative and outside of our normal 9-to-5. If you absolutely cannot wait until October 2021, you can join me in a new promotion that debuted this year - Inktober52. One prompt for each week of the year. More info for that is here: Inktober52. I have been slowing cranking out these guys, but I'm still 20 weeks behind. FINISH THE CRAPPY YEAR STRONG!!

As always, happy drawing!! 

October 1st - Fish

I started the month with something I've loved since my days at Big Tool Box/Highlands Garden Center as a high schooler - koi fish and water lilies. 

October 2nd - Wisp

What started as an idea around a wisp of wind blowing a wisp of hair turned into wisps of wind blowing wisps of hair on the head of Mrs. Hamburgler as she rakes leaves. 

October 3rd - Bulky

This was supposed to be Dwayne Johnson. The only thing I got right was the bald head and The Rock bull logo. Otherwise - too small. Can you smelllllllllllll what The Rock is cooking?!

October 4th - Radio

A boombox or standard radio seemed too standard. I went another direction.

October 5th - Blade

"I move for no man."

October 6th - Rodent

I shared some thoughts on Speedy on the social media accounts the day I drew him: "Fun fact about Mikey that is probably only fun for one person (me) but is nevertheless a fact: for my entire childhood, I had a blanket that had Sylvester and Tweety on it (said blanket is still at my parents’ house). I loved cartoons and animation and I loved Looney Tunes. One year, I got a Looney Tunes calendar for Christmas or my birthday and those 16 months of Looney Tunes drawings were the inspirations for many of my sketches and doodles. Today, drawing Speedy took me back to those early days where I worked feverishly to mimic the lines and textures of some of my favorite characters drawn by people who had the job I wanted."

October 7th - Fancy

Here's your one chance Fancy, don't let me down.

October 8th - Teeth

This could be considered a self portrait.

October 9th - Throw

My thoughts on 2020, in three frames.

October 10th - Hope

Yes, she may be embroiled in all sorts of weird domestic abuse claims and she might be a bit on the crazy side, but Hope Solo is a freaking amazing goaltender. 

October 11th - Disgusting

Couldn't think of anything more disgusting than this.

October 12th - Slippery

Bon Jovi on the turntable. Bon Jovi on the wall. Metallica on the shelf.

October 13th - Dune

One of the greatest pilot episodes all time resulted in an underwear clad Walter White standing in the middle of the desert with a gun in hand accepting his fate as a criminal on his first venture into the underworld. It was fun to use the Breaking Bad chemistry logo concept on that day's prompt.

October 14th - Armor

An exercise in textures.

October 15th - Outpost

Few people probably got the reference - in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an early episode has a young crew of clones defending a remote outpost on the Rishi moon. There is a scene where the blaster doors open and the rookie clones open fire on the attacking droids. 

October 16th - Rocket

I am Groot.

October 17th - Storm

A barn. A silo. A corn field. A tornado.

October 18th - Trap

One of my favorite trap artists with their most recognizable album cover - Outkast's Stankonia. 

October 19th - Dizzy

The concept was inspired by the stairwell scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. The other details were freestyle additions to heighten the dizziness as the drawing developed.

October 20th - Coral

I have made it a point to improve my ability to draw faces - the smooth and blended edges of facial features are hard to capture with the abrupt lines of ink. When a prompt immediately made me think of the famous Walking Dead memes, I jumped at the chance to draw one of the most annoying characters on the series. I still cannot figure out how to ink a human mouth...

October 21st - Sleep

Count backwards from 10...

October 22nd - Chef

This commercial is still funny after all of these years. Great googly moogly. 

October 23rd - Rip

I was supposed to go golfing with Matt, Robert, and Blaine on the 16th. Due to a potential COVID exposure, we pushed it to the 23rd. The high temperature on the 23rd was 34 degrees. This was the only golfing I did that day... :-(

October 24th - Dig

I love construction equipment. Have since day one.

October 25th - Buddy

The iconic glasses, but with a different spin.

October 26th - Hide

Problems go away when you hide from them, right?

October 27th - Music

My love of Page, Jones, Bonham, and Plant started back in grade school at All Souls. To this day, Zeppelin is still one of my favorite bands of all time. 

October 28th - Float

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is always on the Flick television on Thanksgiving morning. Tom Turkey has been a part of that parade for longer than any other recurring float. 

October 29th - Shoes

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Or in this case, both. 

October 30th - Ominous

We had a few kids (and some adults) in our neighborhood dress up as the grim reaper for Halloween. Nothing more ominous than impending death... 

October 31st - Crawl

After a long hiatus due to COVID, CSU football made its flat-faced return to our televisions on October 29th by getting thumped by Fresno State. My thoughts on "crawl" were on the scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen. Adam assumed it meant "crawl under a bridge and die" and Robert assumed it was "time seemed to crawl by watching that game". Being a Ram fan is fun, y'all!!