My Inktober 2022 Challenge + get Top Tips for your next Inktober!

A collection of my process and some findings.

Every year, the Inktober, created by artist Jake Parker that is focused on improving skill and developing positive drawing habits. I became familiar with Inktober through one of my coworkers back in 2016 who was participating on Instagram and have been wanting to finish one for years now. I had attempted the challenge back in 2019, but fell off the wagon around Day 11. This year, I’ve incorporated new habits and have a little bit of extra time on my hands to plan. Below is my Inktober Challenge and some tips on how to complete your next challenge!

 

The prompts for Inktober are generally posted about a month in advance! So the best thing I did this year was start sketching my ideas out in a notebook ahead of time! It really relieves pressure on the day because I had already thought through ideas and it helped me stitch my theme together as a whole.

Depending on your goal for the challenge, a great strategy is to “batch” some of your art and make several pieces in one sitting / day. For me this has been a game changer who can get bogged down or discouraged if I miss a day. If you really want to stay faithful to doing a drawing a day ON the day, by all means you do you 💛 but just wanted to put this strategy out there for people who get bursts of momentum, but still want to stay accountable in their day to day posting. Additionally, if you have a queue of drawings built up, another helpful “batching” thing I did was shoot a chunk of my drawings all at the same time so it had consistent lighting! Keep that in mind for consistency in your posts! 😉

When I’m posting every day, I want to make my posting as easy as possible. I have been keeping my hashtags in my Notes app on my iPhone for quick copy paste (or sometimes I even like to just text it to myself, am I the only one who does this?). Keep a template of what your post will typically say, and then you can change it on the day where you need. Keep a list of the main hashtags you plan to use for each daily post. For instance, you know that #Inktober2022 is the general hashtag, and then have a fill in the blank hashtag ready, “#Inktober2022*_”* for each prompt and fill it in once you post. Once the day to post arrives, I typically just need to insert the prompt name and tag the Inktober account, then I’m done! It makes for a little less cumbersome back end on the day of and less stress on you. Plus, if the app CRASHES on you (speaking from experience), you won’t lose all that hard hashtagging and caption work you did!

A new thing I tried this year was Reels. Recording my process has been a great way to look back at how I did things and to give a “peek behind the curtain” of my process. In a world of polished Instagram posts, I love being able to be transparent about my work and that for this challenge, it really was just pencil, pen and paper (with a little bit of white out for mistakes). Consider incorporating it in your next project, even if it’s beginning, middle, end photos you take with your phone! All of my Reels were recorded on my iPhone 7 mounted on a gooseneck mount above my desk and it worked perfect for what I needed. You don’t need a lot to share your work, and I know I appreciate seeing artists I admire share their process as well.