Inktober or Printinktober- A Creative Challenge

Have you ever heard of Inktober? It’s a wonderful movement that was started by an illustrator named Jake Parker. He wanted to challenge himself to improve his inking skills, shared it with others and it’s taken off. Find out more HERE.

Developing a daily habit of doing something creative each day can have amazing benefits at home, work and play. It can improve self-discipline, self-discovery, organizational skills, personal success, time management, help develop your own style, spark new ideas and lower stress.

This coming month of October, I plan on participating in a spin off of Inktober, called Printinktober. Julie Fei Fan Balzer encourages others to create daily using ink of all kinds, but the most importantly, just create daily (or as often as you can) during the month. MORE HERE. You don’t need to purchase expensive supplies. Use whatever you have.

Here’s a small list of supplies I plan on using:

Canson sketchbook approximately 3″ x 5″ which I had on hand. Easy portability.
Pencils, black ink pen, Gel Press plate, ink, paint, Stabilo pencil, stencils, stamps (handcarved and store bought), ink and tools for texture.
I will keep it simple on some days and other days I’ll get a little more creative as time allows.
Use the Inktober prompts provided for this year but not limit myself to them.

An important thing, don’t compare yourself to others. Some entering the challenge have a lot o f time to devote while others may be squeezing in the time. As well, we are all at different levels on our creative journey and each have unique talents. For me, some days may be fuller than others with work, family and activities. I plan to keep it simple some days and others I might have more time and energy.

My challenge will be to resist making my page chunky and keeping it flat. I’m jumping in though and think the focus on ‘printing’, drawing, inking, will be wonderful. You? I’d love to know if you plan to join the challenge so comment below to let me know. Remember to use the #inktober or #printinktober depending on which challenge you choose.

Here’s a warm up exercise I started in my book. Like with any challenge, you need to prepare right?