Inktober, Dralloween, Comdtober, Inkwood, there are DOZENS (at least) of these October drawing challenges. Though it can be stressful to keep up with completing one inked drawing daily for 31 days, I enjoy participating in the challenge. I LOVE to see the improvement in my work from day 1 to day 31. I generally follow the Inktober prompts, even though some of the others are more fun. The sometimes “boring” nature of the “Official” Inktober prompts creates a creative problem solving opportunity just to figure out the subject of the drawing!
Not only do I love the October Ink Challenge because it’s a “hack” to level up my skills, I’ve also found that the pieces I make are great to display and sell at conventions. I’m also embarking on an experiment to see if a collection of my October Ink drawings will create any interest as a comic book! The crowdfunding campaign for Hellbound Slant 6 #4 (live NOW – http://kck.st/3CwqliI) has an add-on reward called “Ken’s October Ink,” and collects all of my ink drawings from October 2021. I’ll also have copies of this book for sale at the Grit City Comic Show Saturday October 22nd.
Another thing that the October Ink Challenge brings to my attention is just how far my fingers are from the pulse of what people actually want! The pieces I think are my favorites and should be popular don’t get much attention, while the ones I write off as filler seem to captivate people and get more love than I would have expected. I don’t know what to make of it. Should I care less about EVERY piece? I have a difficult time wrapping my head around it. For 2022 the most popular days so far are Day 6 – Bouquet, and Day 7 – Trip. I thought Day 5 – Flame would be a hit, I love it, but the reaction to my rendition of the Flame Princess from Adventure Time has been “meh,” at best. I dont’ get it. Oh well. That’s life. Hopefully at some point I’ll stop trying to figure it out, because here on the cusp of 45 I’m still as clueless as I was at 19. Here’s 2022’s October Ink days 1 through 8 – day 1: Gargoyle, day 2: Scurry, day 3: Bat, day 4: Scallop, day 5: Flame, day 6: Bouquet, day 7: Trip, day 8: Match.
I’m delighted with how day 8 came out, and excited that I’m just now getting warmed up. Looking forward to what the next 23 days bring.
HELLBOUND SLANT 6 #4 is LIVE on KICKSTARTER!!!
Hell yes! Halfway funded in only three days, will you help Danielle cross the finish line?
Well I think that’s about all I’ve got for now. I’m sitting down with the Grit City Podcast boys tomorrow to record a hype-cast for our Grit City Comic Show booth, so I’ll make a post about that and our booth slash after-party situation some time this week. Thanks for reading!
KenzoFKC 