In 2009 artist Jake Parker created the first Inktober. It was a challenge he set for himself to do one ink drawing every day in October as a way to improve his skills and build good habits. Since then it's developed into a global phenomenon that thousands of artists participate in each year, inspired to create work and share it using the #inktober hashtag on all variety of social media. You can find out more about this annual event at inktober.com.
I've decided that I want to participate in Inktober 2017, and do more beyond that! As a means of motivating and entertaining myself, I decided to block out the rest of the year into 4 focus months. Thus I am looking ahead to...
Penciltember, Inktober, Colorvember, and Sequentialcember!
Although I was thinking of these on my own, a couple quick Google searches did reveal that movements already exist for Penciltember and Colorvember. Not at all surprising as they are a natural and formulaic outgrowth from the success of Inktober. I never was much of an original thinker! However, no matching results were returned for "Sequentialcember"... so perhaps I can lay claim to that as my creation!
In a nutshell, each of the remaining months of the year I'll focus on one discipline. Pencil, ink, color, and sequential storytelling. I'll be aiming to make a post a day sharing some work, but I won't beat myself up if I fall short of that. The Inktober community has always been very welcoming and encourages that doing even one drawing that month is better than doing none.
I will personally be centering all of my activities around my comic book in development, "I Thought It Would Be Zombies..." If I am successful, by the end of the year I'll have grown awareness of the comic to be, grown my Steem presence, developed a stack of concept art that can form the core of a preview or art book companion to the comic, and be ready to really launch into producing pages come 2018.
I invite all artists of the Steem universe to join me by sharing their own work using the appropriate hashtags during the given months.
September = Penciltember - pencil artwork
October = Inktober - ink artwork
November = Colorvember - color artwork
December = Sequentialcember - comics & sequential art
Successive months can build on work done in prior months, such as inking and coloring some favorite sketches from Penciltember. Whether you're an accomplished artist or just like to doodle, feel free to join in the fun and expand your skills!
As I write this, Penciltember begins in 16 minutes! If you're like me and feel that two thirds of the year has slipped through your fingers... then get ready to kick the ass of the remaining third and join me in creating and celebrating some great illustrations!
Bring on 2018...
-Bryan "the Imp" Imhoff
(the accompanying artwork in this post was all done by me in years past and pulled from some of my old file folders & sketchbooks to "illustrate" the pencil, ink, and color aspects... because a post of all text is boring and would be rather strange when trying to incite an art frenzy! And I love wombats... who doesn't love wombats... We can make Wombatuary if this all goes well... or even if it doesn't. And Wombarch, Wombpril, Wombay, Wombune, Wombuly, Wombgust, Wombtember, Wombtober, Wombvember, and Wombcember. Am I rambling? You can tell me if I'm rambling, I won't take offense...)