Etymology
Inktober = Ink + October
History
An American artist & illustrator named Jake Parker introduced Inktober in October 2009. The challenge is very straightforward. All you have to do is to draw any artwork in ink per day during the month of October. He made that challenge to help artists practice & improve their drawing skills.
Seven years later, he introduced the prompt list where most artists & illustrators draw the artworks in ink based on the prompts made by Jake Parker. For example, the prompt list for Inktober 2024 is shown below. The tag is #inktober.
- Backpack
- Discover
- Boot
- Exotic
- Binoculars
- Trek
- Passport
- Hike
- Sun
- Nomadic
- Snack
- Remote
- Horizon
- Roam
- Guidebook
- Grungy
- Journal
- Drive
- Ridge
- Uncharted
- Rhinoceros
- Camp
- Rust
- Expedition
- Scarecrow
- Camera
- Road
- Jumbo
- Navigator
- Violin
- Landmark
In 2020, Parker introduced Inktober 52, where artists can draw & color in ink every day in one year, not just in October. Each prompt is released every Friday via email & Instagram. The tag is #inktober52.
Rules & Prompts
Since 2016, Parker introduced the prompt list on what to draw during Inktober. The prompts are released every September 1, as early preparations, via the official Inktober account on e-mail, Facebook, X, & Instagram.
Here is the first list on Inktober 2016:
- Fast
- Noisy
- Collect
- Hungry
- Sad
- Hidden
- Lost
- Rocket
- Broken
- Jump
- Transport
- Worried
- Scared
- Tree
- Relax
- Wet
- Battle
- Escape
- Flight
- Squeeze
- Big
- Little
- Slow
- One Dozen
- Tired
- Box
- Creepy
- Burn
- Surprise
- Wreck
- Friend
Four years later, Parker introduced Inktober 52, where artists can draw & color in ink every day in one year, not just in October. Each prompt is released every Friday via official Inktober pages on email & Instagram. The tag is #inktober52.
Instructions
Inktober is pretty straightforward.
- Imagine something. It can be based on the prompt list or not.
- Draw what you have imagined. It is best to start with a pencil sketch.
- Draw the sketch lines with ink. It can be fineliner, marker, or brush pen.
- Color with ink. It can be painted, stippled, hatched, etc.
- If finished, post the artwork on social media and tag #inktober & #inktober202x. The usual social media sites on posting Inktober is DeviantArt, Pixiv, ArtStation, Instagram, Cara, etc.
- Repeat until you reach the 31st set, which is final.
Here is the video made by Jake Parker himself.
Inktober is not compulsory. Not even by law. It can be in a completed collection or not.
Tools
Here are the following tools for Inktober 2024. Every artists has different choices of materials they use.
- Sketch Pad (i.e. Ohuhu, Canson)
- Fineliner pens (i.e. Sakura Pigma, Uni Pin, Copic MultiLiner)
- Pencils (i.e. Steadtler, Faber-Castell)
- Permanent Marker (i.e. Pentel, Pilot)
- Alcohol Marker (i.e. Copic Sketch, Zig Kuretake Kurecolor)
Here is a video about drawing instruments recommended by Jake Parker himself:
Social Media
Inktober is usually uploaded on:
- DeviantArt
- Pixiv
- ArtStation
- Cara
- X (formerly Twitter)
