Oh color, how I’ve missed you!

Okay I know, I could have used more color inks and generally Copic markers qualify as ink too. It just seems the perfect season for a grungy black and white style. But as much as I love painting with ink now, I miss my colorful acrylics! Excited to be back to sharing them ❤

So I said I wanted to do a spooky theme throughout October, but I totally burned out about halfway through. I ran out of ideas, so the whole spooky thing ended up being a flop. I changed angles and just tried jumping straight into painting with ink, instead of sketching each painting out first.

Here where some of the initial ‘spooky’ ones:

What did I learn this year?

This was a great exercise about mark-making, though it was really nerve-wracking at first to not be able to erase at all. It really showed me how much my composition and confidence in my skill has improved since last year. I was able to make decent paintings despite having no second chances to correct them. It really forced me to pay attention to what kinds of marks different brushes make, and how I can use minimal strokes to my advantage. I definitely recommend trying this out when you get new brushes/materials or just as a good warm up!

Another good tip is to not be afraid of ‘wasting’ your materials by using them. Use them. That’s the only way you can get better with them and not waste them!

I do wish I had made or chosen a prompt list before beginning. I had about 5 ideas to start, but once I had exhausted those, I was scrambling for ideas and made the experience a little less enjoyable. Live and learn though!

Here are a few later ones I painted with no initial sketch to start them out:

Aside from that, it was really fun to see the sense of community around this event. Everyone has been making awesome work and it’s cool to see how they took on different prompts and different approaches. Also, this was definitely a great time to learn about new techniques and materials.

Bonus: Inktober Speedpaint Video

I even recorded the process of this ink portrait I made in my sketchbook. I’ve been so busy the last few days I haven’t had time to finish editing yet. I’ll link the video here when it’s done 🙂