Inktober 2024 (and Sundry Variations Thereof)

[Artemis Prime]

It is September 30 and that means that tomorrow kicks off Inktober! 

 

What is Inktober you ask?

 

As created, it is a challenge to do one inked drawing every day in the month of October, following a list of prompts. However, it is not meant to be a strict challenge, instead the purpose is to encourage fun creative practice.

 

Do I need to do ink drawings?

No! You can use whatever medium you want, even words! Pencils, paints, pastels - all are accepted here. I personally shall be having fun with limericks, and possibly dipping my toes into other poetic forms as inspiration strikes.

 

Do I need to post every day?

Totally up to you. The point of the challenge is to encourage a daily habit, but it's by no means required. Daily, every other day, once a week, just find what works for you.

 

Do I need to do the prompts in order?

Absolutely not! In fact, you don't even have to use the prompts at all if you don't want to. They're just there to give you a springboard if you need one.

 

Any other questions, just ask! In the meantime, here is the official prompt list for 2024:

 

As you can tell, there's a definite theme here. Feel free to combine multiple prompts into one sketch if you like. Or lean harder into spooky season with the Dawlloween prompts:

[Artemis Prime]

@Ranger Hal @Everstorm @Heidi @Sovalis - don't think I'm missing anyone who chimed in on the General Chat thread, but if I did, apologies! Jump on in and tag anyone else who you know is interested.

[obax]

I'm in, as a writer, not a drawer. 1-ish page vignettes sounds like the writerly equivalent to sketches to me

[Jarric]

Very much in for this. Will this be the year that I finally complete an Inktober? Only time will tell.

[StarRuby]

I can't believe I missed the Inktober thread! I'm totally down for this. I did Inktober for part of 2021 and I think that this is my year!

[obax]

Bit early, but I'm probably going to be pretty busy after work tomorrow, so here we go!

 

I dunno if it's better to copy/paste it, or just post the google docs link.... Opinions welcome. This one's not even a page so I'll copy/paste it for now (spoilered to avoid the big wall of text, though I suppose a link would avoid that even better...)

 

 

Spoiler

The first sign I found of her was her backpack, just leaning against the wall, the flap closed but unfastened. I knew it was hers by the little charm I’d given her, hanging from one of the straps, smeared with a bit of blood. Not that it could’ve been anyone else’s, I’d already found the bodies of the others. Perhaps their spirits had carried on, but I’ve never had the skills to see the spirits so I wouldn’t have known.

 

I wish I’d taken the time to go through it, or to remove the charm to give to her again when I found her. The first might’ve saved us both. The second wouldn’t have helped much, in the end, but I would’ve had something to remember her by. As it was, I was in a hurry, anxious, exhausted, clinging to a hope I’m not sure I really believed still existed. Finding it buoyed me, and I just grabbed the strap without stopping, slung it over my shoulder, and kept going.

 

The voices began when I stopped to sleep. I didn’t think much of it, I didn’t have the skills to see the spirits but most everyone could hear them, and in ruins like this it was nothing but spirits and fungi inhabiting the halls. The last time we delved I could hardly sleep for all the voices. These weren’t so strong, so insistent, just soft and sibilant, soothing, slithering through my mind barely noticed. It was the best sleep I’d had in some time, deeply restful, my dreams unusually pleasant. That’s probably what gave me such a sense of unease on waking, but it wasn’t enough for me to figure out what she had days earlier. She’d always been the smarter one, though. I’m not sure I really had a chance.

 

It took me three more days, at least according to my sunseer. It felt a lot longer, these halls were cold, colder than I’d anticipated, and staying warm is exhausting. To my surprise, the floors began to angle upwards not long into the next day. Nothing else changed: the inky darkness of the polished basalt walls, soaking in the meagre light of my torch; the pervasive stink of wet earth and decay; the whispers in my mind. But when the basalt turned to sandstone and air began to warm I knew this wasn’t just another ruin.

 

[Artemis Prime]

8 hours ago, obax said:

Bit early, but I'm probably going to be pretty busy after work tomorrow, so here we go!

Very nice! Sets the tone from the first line, hooks you in with a mystery right away, and leaves you wanting answers almost desperately. Everything a drabble should be!

[Artemis Prime]

Inktober #1

 

Dissatisfaction - I must change my tack

It isn't material goods that I lack

I can only find peace

When I roam 'neath the trees

All I need is a well-stocked backpack.

[Heidi]

The First Seed:

Spoiler

“Ow!”
Kore stuck the tip of her middle finger in her mouth, running her tongue across the ridge where the paper had sliced, feeling the blood come to the surface. Copper scent filled her breath and she wobbled a little, lightheaded. The drawing in her other hand slipped to the grass as she knelt, still nursing the papercut, not wanting to use the injured hand to dig, but knowing that time was running short before her mother showed up. She curled her toes into the soil to steady herself,  warm sharp grass blades pushing back against the arches of her bare feet in the late spring afternoon. She took the finger out and blew on the shallow cut that ran the length of the finger from middle knuckle to tip. Nothing much, then, she thought, hoping perhaps her mother wouldn’t notice at all, that perhaps it might even heal before she was done burying her latest sketch.

 

[obax]

2 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Inktober #1

 

Dissatisfaction - I must change my tack

It isn't material goods that I lack

I can only find peace

When I roam 'neath the trees

All I need is a well-stocked backpack.

 

Back to work today after a long weekend, and I am resonating hard with this today...

[Everstorm]

 

[obax]

11 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Very nice! Sets the tone from the first line, hooks you in with a mystery right away, and leaves you wanting answers almost desperately. Everything a drabble should be!

 

I may need to keep it for future development, I had no idea where it was going when I started but was rather intrigued by the end.

[StarRuby]

So, I decided that for the little stuff I would be putting it all on my grey sketchpad and 2 per page. Unfortunately, that means you guys are getting pictures of my sketchbook instead of scans - which is NBD.  The picture is actually much smaller than this but I have no sense of scale, LOL!

 

DAY 01: Backpack

Ink, white gel pen, silver gel pen

Grey sketch paper

[Artemis Prime]

23 hours ago, Heidi said:

The First Seed:
 

I love all the questions drabbles raise - what is the drawing? Why is she rushing before her mother shows up? Why is she burying her drawing? What is happening?!?!?

 

16 hours ago, Everstorm said:

 

A seasoned traveler, heading out on his next trip, compactly making the journey with just a backpack to avoid the luggage lines. Does not appear either excited or trepidatious. Is he that even-keeled about his destination, or just the process of getting there?

 

13 hours ago, obax said:

 

I may need to keep it for future development, I had no idea where it was going when I started but was rather intrigued by the end.

I think in some ways drabbles are easier because you just have to ask the questions, not answer them. But it's always nice when one grabs you and grows into something bigger.

 

1 hour ago, StarRuby said:

So, I decided that for the little stuff I would be putting it all on my grey sketchpad and 2 per page. Unfortunately, that means you guys are getting pictures of my sketchbook instead of scans - which is NBD.  The picture is actually much smaller than this but I have no sense of scale, LOL!

 

DAY 01: Backpack

Ink, white gel pen, silver gel pen

Grey sketch paper

I love the way the silver pops off the page, almost like it's glowing.

[Artemis Prime]

Inktober #2 Discover

 

I sailed cross oceans, left sister and brother.

Experienced the world in all of its color

from Pole to Pole, and when

at last, was home again -

Realized it was myself I had discovered.

[Ranger Hal]

I did Day 1, but the photo is going to have to wait until tonight.

[obax]

On 10/1/2024 at 10:39 AM, Heidi said:

The First Seed:

  Hide contents

“Ow!”
Kore stuck the tip of her middle finger in her mouth, running her tongue across the ridge where the paper had sliced, feeling the blood come to the surface. Copper scent filled her breath and she wobbled a little, lightheaded. The drawing in her other hand slipped to the grass as she knelt, still nursing the papercut, not wanting to use the injured hand to dig, but knowing that time was running short before her mother showed up. She curled her toes into the soil to steady herself,  warm sharp grass blades pushing back against the arches of her bare feet in the late spring afternoon. She took the finger out and blew on the shallow cut that ran the length of the finger from middle knuckle to tip. Nothing much, then, she thought, hoping perhaps her mother wouldn’t notice at all, that perhaps it might even heal before she was done burying her latest sketch.

 

 

This is very intriguing. What's the picture? Why is she burying it? Why might she heal so quickly? Why does her mother give such a sense of dread? So many questions...

 

Also, that's one heck of a paper cut, holy!

[obax]

Day 2 - Discover

 

Gonna continue with the spoilers for now, seems most straightforward.

 

Spoiler

Ciar nearly jumped out of her skin when the door banged open and the whirlwind that was Orrin came rushing in. In true Orrin fashion, he caught his toe on the edge of the carpet and spilled his unruly armful of books and parchment onto the table, arms flailing in an unsuccessful attempt to catch himself on the back of a chair.

 

Ciar stared, half out of her chair, hands raised defensively. “Orrin?” She straightened, peering around the edge of the table as Orrin popped up, spectacles askew. “Are you all right?”

 

Orrin grinned, pushing the spectacles back up his nose with one stubby finger. “Another bruise, I imagine, but it doesn’t matter.” He pulled a sheet of parchment out of the mess on the table, eyes sparkling through his thick lenses. “I’ve finally found it!”

 

Ciar blinked. “Um.” There was an incredibly long list of things Orrin might have found, he flitted from project to project like a hungry bumble bee in a field of wildflowers, none of which had ever made even a lick of sense to her. “Congratulations?”

 

Orrin waved the parchment, then began rummaging, pulling out a thick tome from the bottom of the pile. “Ciar! This is a discovery for the ages! I’ve already sent a bird to Mithraz, he’s going to want me to present this to the Board almost certainly!” He dropped the tome with a thud and turned it around, flipping to a page somewhere around the middle. The diagram there was a series of intricately woven lines surrounding what could only be Anthellian Runes, though not in a style Ciar had ever seen. Orrin pointed to the rune in the centre of the weave. “It’s the Keystone Rune. We’re finally going to be able to translate the tablets. Do you know what this means for the arcanic sciences? Do you know what this means for my career?”

 

She didn’t, not really, but she did know enough to know that if he was right, his name would be in every history book written for the next hundred years, at least. Assuming Mithraz didn’t find a way to take the credit, but that was a problem for another day.

 

[Artemis Prime]

11 minutes ago, obax said:

he flitted from project to project like a hungry bumble bee in a field of wildflowers

Such a great description

[Artemis Prime]

7 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

I did Day 1, but the photo is going to have to wait until tonight.

[obax]

10 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

Inktober #2 Discover

 

I sailed cross oceans, left sister and brother.

Experienced the world in all of its color

from Pole to Pole, and when

at last, was home again -

Realized it was myself I had discovered.

 

I like this a lot. A whole story in 5 lines.

[Everstorm]

Discover

 

I'm kind of enjoying doing these fast one-offs rather than the labor-intensive art I've been doing lately.  They are rife with mistakes, but it's fine.  It's about getting a vision on paper, even if it isn't perfect.

[obax]

5 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

Discover

 

I'm kind of enjoying doing these fast one-offs rather than the labor-intensive art I've been doing lately.  They are rife with mistakes, but it's fine.  It's about getting a vision on paper, even if it isn't perfect.

 

Very nice. I particularly like the lamppost, I don't know why but my eye keeps getting drawn back to it

[Ranger Hal]

 

[Artemis Prime]

12 hours ago, obax said:

 

I like this a lot. A whole story in 5 lines.

Limericks are usually kind of jokey, but my inspiration is leaning a different direction this week, and I'm sort of enjoying using them a bit more seriously.

 

12 hours ago, Everstorm said:

I'm kind of enjoying doing these fast one-offs rather than the labor-intensive art I've been doing lately.  They are rife with mistakes, but it's fine.  It's about getting a vision on paper, even if it isn't perfect.

I think this is exactly the purpose of Inktober, so way to nail it on day 2. Also, Narnia is always a win in my book.

 

6 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

I've gotta be honest, if I discovered an island that was 90% volcano, I might just keep right on sailing. Seems like that's just asking for trouble.