Right now my entire social media is flooded with creative and unique posts all bearing the hashtag #inktober.
Somehow, it has made my newsfeed a beautiful museum filled with amazing interpretations of art and culture.
Now, although many of you would have also liked and re-posted some of these artworks simply because of how stunning they are, you would still be confused as to what exactly is ‘Inktober’.
Inktober was started in 2009 by Jake Parker as a simple challenge to himself and few artists he knew. This was meant as a way to improve their ‘inking skills’ and also develop ‘positive drawing habits’.
But somehow it managed to impact more and more artists around the world, to the point that now, almost 10 years later it is a global phenomenon.
What Exactly Is Inktober?
To a novice who has difficulty understanding what ‘Inktober’ is, it would be easier to compare it to Movember, when men don’t shave off their facial hair for the entirety of the month of November.
Just like that is a challenge, so is Inktober, where artists from around the world come together during the month of October and create art every single day till the last day of the month.
There is no criteria for who can or cannot participate in it, amateur, professional, and even people who’ve never drawn anything in their life can take part in this challenge.
Parker, the creator of the challenge, lists out 31 prompts/topics, one for each day on which the artists have to make their piece.
This is the official list of prompts for Inktober 2019:
Although it was initially just limited to ink drawings made on a canvas, however, it has now started to include digital drawings too.
So the whole process goes like:
- The artists takes the prompt of the day
- They create an ink/pencil drawing based on their interpretation of it
- They post it online with #Inktober and #Inktober2019
- The artist then does this for 31 days of October
I’ve seen how helpful this challenge has been to many artists who are going through an art block or have just not been finding the time to do it.
This creates an urgency and a deadline by which they have to submit their piece along with also bringing the art community out to interact with each other.
Here are some of the most eye-catching art pieces from Indian artists who have participated in Inktober 2019:
Donnamation_95 on Instagram created this beautiful interpretation for the prompt ‘Mindless’.
Sharath Kumar created this very interesting piece for the prompt ‘Legend’.
This piece for the prompt ‘wild’ is by @amabirdman on Twitter.
Read More: Teenagers From Nigeria Are Making Science-Fiction Movies Using Only A Smartphone And Everyday Objects
This interpretation for the prompt ‘Sling’ is by Sanika Kulkarni.
This one by Instagram user hemantdhamot for prompt ‘Ghost’.
This haunting piece for the prompt ‘Misfit’ is by Ramzatrondraws.
One reason why I love this concept is how it brings together the art community in an online festival.
Where sometimes artists are freaking out and wondering on what to do, with their prompt of the day, the next day they bring out this totally amazing, mind-blowing art piece.
Often times it is a little difficult for me to believe that these pieces were made in a single day.
It also speaks of individual personalities and how each one of them takes the exact same prompt and manages to produce something totally unique and different.
Image Credits: Instagram & Twitter
Find the blogger @chirali_08
