After some deliberation I’ve decided I’m going to
participate in Inktober 2019. Essentially all you have to do to participate is
draw something using ink on a daily basis for the 31 days of October.
Officially they want you to tag your art with #inktober and #inktober2019 and
post it on social media. If you go over to inktober.com, you can find out more
info and resources.
There is an official prompt list of a single word
for each day to help inspire you to draw something related to the word (this is
much like rpgaday). There are also other lists floating around that I suppose
you can use if you want. As far as I’m concerned, the biggest thing is to draw
something daily for 31 days using ink.
Some people like to draw their sketch with pencil
and ink over the top of that. I may try that but probably not. While I want to
use this to improve my art, I think part of the challenge for me is making
mistakes and learning how to fix them using ink. This will no doubt be a big
challenge for me to draw daily.
Another aspect to it is that posting your art online
can be very intimidating. Art is subjective and I for one haven’t made a piece
that I was completely satisfied with. Every artist sees where they screwed up
and their eye goes directly to that blemish every single time they look at the
piece.
I encourage everyone to attempt this challenge even
if they don’t announce that they’re doing it or don’t want to post their work
on social media. Just pick up a pen and doodle something on a Post-it note. I
may not get something drawn every day but I will make the attempt. More than
likely it will be more of the case that I feel my art isn’t good enough to post
on that day. My daily posts will be on Twitter @mstark78 and I will make a
weekly MeWe post. I’m undecided if I will blog my drawings weekly to be honest.
Every new project calls for new gear. Amirite? As
you can see in the picture, I got a new sketchbook, a black Copic marker, and
some cheap ball point pens. The next picture shows all of my old gear. Some of
it will be used, then again, maybe not. Of all the ink utensils, I think my
primary tools will be the black Copic, a sharpie, a ball point pen, a white
gelly roll pen, and my Pentel brush pen. My fountain pens and dip pens probably wont get used at all.
The sketchbook will be interesting to use as I’ve
never heard of this brand before and it’s specifically marketed towards
markers. The little paper on the front cover also says that its ultra smooth
surface is excellent for pen and ink, technical pens, and markers.
The Copic multiliners are great technical pens but I
think I’ll reserve those for my dungeon map drawings. The first Copic
multiliner I ever bought was the more expensive refillable one. I don’t recommend
you buy those. At first glance they seem like a good idea. You can refill the
pen and replace the nibs. Fuhgedaboudit. Just get the disposable multiliners. You’ll
thank me later.
Interesting side note on the brush pen. It needs to
be stored in the upright position (as if it were clipped into a pocket). I had
about half of a refill cartridge leak into the cap that came pouring out when I
took the cap off. It was slightly leaking out of the cap inside my pencil case
but I had no idea what I was in for when I took the cap off.
Well, I think that’s all I’ve got this time. You folks
have a wonderful day and don’t forget to head on over to the Nerds-InternationalMeWe page to check out all the great podcasts and bloggers over there. The
pinned post at the top of the page has all the contact info.
P.S. If you’re
curious about narrative dice or you’re just looking for a podcast on the
Genesys RPG then look no further. Finding The Narrative: A Genesys RPG Podcast
is a member of Nerds-International and their hosts Tony, Chris, and Stephen are
very knowledgeable on all of FFG’s narrative GM crutches.