I’m not the best at social media and talking about my art without feeling weird about it, so I’ve decided I’m going to start each post by treating you, this blog, and social media like I’m talking to my mom who is my biggest, and perhaps only, fan.
Hey, Ma! It’s Inktober again. There are 31 prompts in 31 days so the idea is HOPEFULLY an artist will have 31 mini drawings by the time they hit November. You’re supposed to do one prompt a day and some claim you have to do an “INKING” (or line drawing) since it’s INKtober, but I say it’s my life. (There’s also #sketchober and #drawtober) Instead, I’m doing a new prompt once a week and finishing a full render (rather than an ink sketch) for my portfolio.
Anyway, I’m not always the best candidate for Inktober because I HATE line work. I hate drawing clean lines over my sketch or composition (known as “inking”) since my style is mainly created by drawing the light. (I usually even start with a dark canvas. ) One of the first things your teachers drill into you in art school is that lines don’t really exist in nature. Lines are just the edge of a subject or object ending or meeting another surface, like air or whatever the object is resting on.
I slapped together a little video to explain this concept here. I also had someone on Instagram (shoutout to Collin) ask me how I smooth my shading so if you want to know about that, skip to the end below at 3:10
Note: If you enjoy this little how-to video or the speed draw below, please let me know! I just kinda slapped them together in iMovie for the sake of this blog, but if I thought people would actually like to watch, I’d love to make some better quality ones and put my film production degree and editing experience to use. I’m currently developing an art curriculum for Kijana’s Global Innovation School, so I could easily use these concepts to create a video script for anyone interested)
I had always hated drawing lines (I am NOT a precise artist) So as soon as I learned this simple concept, I was glad to never draw another outline and my work shows for it to this day. SO! That’s, I think, why I’ve always been so attracted to Inktober. One, I so admire artists that are good at it. And two, I know that if I participate and do it more, I might get better at it. It’s my fatal flaw as an artist. I CAN do lines. But I CAN’T bang them out like I do with light.
So here I am, trying to get better at these stupid, dumb lines. The issue is…Look at this process video for my first Inktober project. I totally dodged the inking part.
Above is Oct. 2nd’s prompt “crystal”. I, thanks to my undying love for dinosaurs, drew a ”crystegosaurus .“ His name is Crevin (Craig+Kevin) and is so named by an Instagram vote. He’s glow-y and stupid and I love him.
I ended up spending a lot of time on these crystals which made me really married to them. This is totally normal, and is called being precious with your art, but is also why you need critiques! So I posted it to social media and asked everyone to vote on these three: simple, fireflies, and crystals. Can you guess which won? Final tallies below.
Simple: 3 Votes
Fireflies: 19 Votes
Crystals: 7 Votes
What’s funny is that the most popular one wasn’t originally my favorite. I’ve been convinced though. What’s also funny is that art is subjective. The takeaway is (as you can see above) not everyone is going to think your final is the best version of what you did. (The crystals and simple version voters are gonna be like “WRONG”) But ultimately, the final is your decision to make. Anyway check out the polished higher res version of the firefly boi on Instagram! He has glow-y tippy tappy toes and rainbow-fish-like skin/scales. I upped the contrast and tried to marry everyone’s critiques into one piece.
Maybe by November, I’ll have done, y’know, like a single line drawing.
P.S. If you want to see a higher res of the Crystal Version, there’s one here. If you want to see more, please follow my instagram here. And let me know any burning art questions you’ve ever had. I’d love to make other “how-to" videos for people looking to get started in the art universe. Or even if you’re just curious!