~ Halloween Tools ~
Well, it's my first participation in Inktober... kind of! Every October, there is a drawing challenge called Inktober. To be honest, i don't know where or who started it but i have always thought it was cool. It's kind of a daily drawing challenge with a subject for each day. You are supposed to use ink to create art inspired by the day's prompt.
Wow, i just found this... Inktober.com/RULES & PROMPTS and it looks like this initiative is much older than i realized. You can see all the previous years' prompts at that site and this year's as well. The funny thing is... i'm not going to follow the prompt.
I never had any intention of following the prompts even though today's is Crabby. However, i did follow the rules about just using ink. I have noticed an increasing amount of people doing Inktober but not in ink.... not that it really matters. I'm just glad people are inspired by something enough to go make some art.
I've been meaning to get the ink out for a while anyhow... but this day i finally got my stuff out and got to work. You can see the paper tablet i'm using above. I have used plenty of sheets so it's less than 100 pages now but there are a lot of blank pages yet to go! For a cheap drawing pad meant for young kids, i was actually surprised by the quality of the paper!
Below, you will see my favorite Halloween Tool... My 'Blue Pumpkin' Brause 361 Fine Point Steno Calligraphy Pen Nib. You can check it out at that site i linked there or search it up on your own. It has excellent ratings and it's fairly inexpensive, and it works like a charm.
I bought the nib and this super cheap handle at a local hobby store a year or two ago. The handle isn't one of the fancy ones but it works just as good. I like the way the blue sheen can be seen on the nib from certain angles. I can half-way see where it gets it's name. Still not sure about the pumpkin part... but that's what made me have to have it.
Last but not least, the ink. You can tell it's old ink from the layer of dust on the bottles. I even had them in an old shoe box that has art supplies in it. I only used the black ink on this artwork. But i intend on my next Inktober artwork to be in the red and i know what i'm going to do. The red ink is much fresher and will fit the next design much better. On the other hand, this black ink was literally down to the bottom of the barrel and it did not want to cooperate.
Now, for the inspiration and artistic process.
~ The Feisty Feline ~
Garfield, the character created by Jim Davis, was a huge influence on me in my youth. I grew up with the comic strip in the Sunday morning newspapers, watched the made for TV mini movies, and watched the Garfield and Friends show on Saturday morning cartoons while it was on in the 90's.
If you click that link you can watch all the seasons and episodes of that cartoon. There is also about every possible cartoon you could ever want to watch on there... especially the really old ones that are impossible to find. For those that go seek... You're welcome.
When i was really little, before i knew about any of that, i had some tiny house slippers that had a Garfield head on each foot. I remember those orange fuzzy slippers and they were super comfy.
I also had a stuffed animal of him too. That too, was super fuzzy and extremely soft to the touch. So, besides how much i loved Gafrield because he was a fat orange cat, i really loved him because he was so fuzzy and soft. By the time i saw him talking on a cartoon about eating some Lasagna, i was completely sold.
My favorite was Garfield on the Town. Something about that movie is Extremely Nostalgic for me. In fact, everything about Garfield is extremely nostalgic. I'm not like a nut about him or anything. I haven't even seen the new movies animated or live-action etc. But when i was kid i used to get pretty passionate about my interests. If you like Garfield and/or cartoons i would say give that one a watch.
One of the other best cartoons which is perfect for now is 🕯️ Garfield’s Halloween Adventure ️🎃 and yes, if you click that link you can see it on YouTube. It's probably one of the most popular of the old specials. I know it's been with me for many of my Halloweens.
~ The Great Pumpkin ~
No, not that Great Pumpkin from It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown but the one from my idea that was more Halloweenish. Yes, if you click that link... you can watch the Charlie Brown Halloween special with The Great Pumpkin in it.
My original inspiration was from this book cover and i was actually watching Garfield's Halloween Adventure in the background while drawing this. I noticed in one of the scenes that Odie had a pumpkin on his head for a bit. Instantly, i decided to be spontaneous and add a pumpkin on his head like in the Halloween special.
Ironically, the part i thought would be the easiest part and most fun to draw ended up being the curiosity that almost killed this cat. It turned out better once i got some details on there... but the pumpkin ended up not being so great. But, that's one of the things i like about ink... it's extremely unforgiving.
Plus, this is Inktober and i plan on making more than a few characters in the next three weeks. They don't have to be perfect and i think the attitude of just completing things will drive me to be more productive.
Artistically, with Garfield i tried to apply a mix of stippled and crosshatched edges to him and kind of give a cartoony fuzzy look in honor of my old slippers! hahaha I had never drawn Garfield before and the simplicity of the character and familiarity with him made this one particularly complex.
It's really cool how Garfield is using Odies ears as handles. It reminded me of my own artwork in Flying Squirrel.
As much as i feel the pumpkin head could have been better i do enjoy the way the ears coming out of the top ended up looking. You should see how many test pumpkin heads i ended up not doing.
Maybe i should color this.... decisions, decisions...
~ Some Final Thoughts ~
The nostalgia for me in this artwork is straight from my childhood and i mentioned that earlier. I can still hear the voiceover actors in my head, and see the cartoons in my memories, and even remember the way some of the merchandise felt on my tiny kid feet. I had many of the special holiday Garfield books that had a bit more of an illustrative art to them than the regular comic strip books, though i had many of those too.
I mentioned the nostalgia because i am planning an artwork based around that theme. It will be very personal to my experience growing up and i know many of you will have overlapping memories as well. I'm hoping to use Inktober as a dry run to prepare for the epic-level artwork.
I am thinking about minting NFTs of the art that will go into making the final piece. It's all still just one giant idea so i will probably explain more about it later as we get more into Inktober. I chose Garfield for my first character. I would be curious to get your guesses in the comments as to who you think the next character/characters will be in the next Inktober post!
So, until next time, y'all take care and i do want to thank you all for stopping by to check out my art and read my post. I look forward to getting started on the next one! Have a great week my friends! Happy Hardfork!
If you are a glutton for punishment and want to watch yet another awesome Garfield movie then i will leave you with this one from my childhood. Enjoy!
