Inktober 2022

It’s been a while, hasn’t it. I suppose that’s inevitable since I was on holiday from school when I last posted, and when you return to work, well, it can be difficult to find the time.

Yes, excuses, I know. Still, I have been taking part in #inktober 2022. If you haven’t encountered inktober before, it’s a challenge to produce (at least) one ink sketch a day throughout the month of October. There’s an official prompt list issued. This year’s is this one:-

So, as it’s the 16^th, and therefore half a day over half way, I thought I’d post the pictures I’ve sketched so far.

1)   I) Gargoyle

This is actually copied from a photograph of a figurine. There’s only one problem with it. I’m so pleased with it as a sketch that I couldn’t help thinking it would be difficult to maintain this standard of drawing for the rest of the month. Well, that was soon proven to be correct.

2)   2) Scurry

This is copied from a photograph. Yes, okay, the squirrel is leaping, not scurrying, but what the hell?

3)   3) Bat

Like the Gargoyle sketch, this was based on a photograph of a figurine. It’s a figurine of the DC supervillain Manbat, sometime adversary of Batman. Geddit?

4)   4) Scallop

This is not a subject I would have chosen to draw off my own volition. However it is what I would like to think of as a good exercise subject. Drawing is as much about the eye as the hand, and this is a really good test of observation, since you really need to look very carefully if you’re going to get anything like a accurate representation.

5)   5) Flame

I don’t know exactly what it says about me that my first thought for flame was the flaming helmet worn by Arthur Brown – of The Crazy World Of – fame – when performing his song “Fire”. But that’s what happened. After posting this one a client and friend asked to buy it. I wouldn’t charge him since it was drawn on scrap paper and is very small.

6)   6) Bouquet

Back to Alice in Wonderland and John Tenniel. The original of this, with the shrunken Alice in the garden of the talking flowers is not one of my favourite Tenniel illustrations but it seemed to fit. Using the sepia pen on this one was maybe a mistake as well, it just doesn’t work so well as the black ink does, in my opinion.

7)   7) Trip

Cheat alert. Pushed for time I dd not make an original sketch, and instead used this one I made earlier in the year. It depicts some of my favourite places in the City of Edinburgh and is currently available in my Etsy shop. 

8) 8) Match

Inspired by the retirement of the great Roger Federer. I liked it when I first sketched it, since then though I’ve gone off it a bit. Verdict – could do a bit better.

9)   9) Nest

These are ospreys, whose numbers in the UK are slowly increasing. I tried to keep the nest as simple as possible, and I tend to think that it’s one of my more effective Inktober 2022 sketches.

1 10) Crabby

What can I tell you? There’s nothing much more crabby than a crab, by definition, is there? I just google-imaged crab and used what came up to make this sketch. And this is definitely one of my favourite of this year’s sketches, because the approach I took to shading here works very nicely, I think.

11  11) Eagle

Cheat zone 2. I used the copy of the Tenniel griffin sketch I made earlier in the year. I love the original, I think I made a good copy of it – I dunno what else to tell you.

    12) Forget

Now, I had to play a little bit of word association here. My original though was to go with forget-me-not, which I might have done. Then it went – Forget – Forgetfulness – Lethe, River of Forgetfulness. I found a Gustave Dore engraving of Beatrice (probably) dunking Dante in the river in the Divine Comedy (I love the work, but there are precious few laughs in it for a comedy). I copied just the detail you see here.

1  13) Kind

I really just wanted a statement about kindness in an unexpected space. This is why I went pretty simple with this one. I didn’t overburden it with visual detail, so that the message comes through the more strongly.

1 14) Empty

The least successful sketch so far in my opinion. I came up with the idea of a smashed and empty piggy bank, google-imaged and found a photo. I copied it as well as I could, but let’s be honest, it hasn’t come off very well, has it.

1     15) Armadillo

One of the prompts that probably needs the last amount of interpretation. Again, google-imaged a photo and sketched it to the best of my ability. It hasn’t quite come off as well as I would have liked – the shading on the top of the shell should have been done better, if my skills were up to it.

1    16) Fowl

I decided to go for game fowl, in particular, a pheasant. Did you know that pheasants can run faster than any other bird in the UK? Apparently, their top speed is not much slower than Usain Bolt’s. I remember one of the buggers running into the side of my car a few years ago.

There it is - the first 16. I did try Inktober about four years ago and fell short by a couple of days. Here's hoping that I can go all the way this time.