Last year, my friend Cathy told me about Inktober – the ink fest that is held every year in the month of October. The month long ink fest sees artists from around the world participating in the challenge by drawing  ink sketches for every day of October. Intrigued, I went over to have a look at the ink sketches, and I was highly impressed! This ink fest is a brain child of Jake Parker, who created it in 2009 “as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits.”

I was hooked from the word go! I had never tried my hand at ink drawing and always stuck to pencil drawing and pencil shading. So, I took up the challenge last year, bought myself an ink pen and followed the prompts for every day. Suffice to say, I was not impressed by my work, but came away highly motivated. And, so this year, I bought for myself an entire set of ink pens to help me in my work and present sketches that do me proud.

I will be sharing my weekly ink drawings every Sunday of this month. I do see a marginal improvement in my work compared to my last year’s performance, so I intend to keep doing my best. I believe that the changes that we as humans undergo, reflect in the work we do, like writing or drawing for me. And, I feel good to notice the changes I observe in my work. And, this is just the beginning!

Sharing here a quote a friend shared on Facebook some days ago. A quote I can so relate to…a  quote that’s so close to my heart!

And, now the ink drawings.

Day 1.

Day 2.

Day 3.

Day 4.

Day 5.

Day 6.

Day 7.

So, these are the drawings for the week. I followed the prompts for some and the others I just drew from memory. I am using a little sketch book that was a gift from an old pen pal, from almost 25 years ago. I had treasured the book she sent for me all the way from Indianapolis all these years and I am glad I did – I now have an entire book to fill up with my drawings. I am using 0.05. 0.1. 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.8 tipped ink pens. Some of the drawings have been drawn within a 9cm X 9cm square, and some within a 10cm X 10cm square.

I enjoy  making these sketches. They transport me to another world and make me oblivious to the one I live in! Therapeutic, isn’t it?

See you all next Sunday at The Art Nook!

Until then, bye and take care!

Love,

SHILPA…