Artwork
Inktober 2017 – Week 5

Inktober 2017 – Week 5

I’m a little sad to see Inktober over this year.  I had a lot of fun with this challenge. I am happy to say I’ve completed it! It would be the first Inktober I’ve officially won! :) 

Slideshow – last three drawings:

There were a lot of drawings this month I’ve done for this challenge that I’m actually pretty happy with.  There were a few I really hated. There are another sizeable batch that I kind of liked, but I could see technical problems with.  Stuff like that is not a big deal with digital art.  In a digital medium, I can easily erase without destroying or changing the texture of the surface. I can cut elements out, resize shapes and alter proportions if  I had to.  That’s the beauty of digital. But knowing that it is harder to alter an ink and paper drawing is the beauty of that too. A lot more thought had gone into my paper drawings, and a lot more care had gone into every line.  I’m pretty sure I’ve learned a lot more about myself and maybe I’ve even improved.


Not only did I want to challenge myself with new techniques and an unfamiliar medium, I also wanted to challenge my personal style. I tried to push myself to draw subjects out of the norm. I had to look at a lot of reference to make sure I got things right.  I realized that I have never drawn a steampunk submarine before, or even something as “simple” as a snake.  I’ve never drawn a monster from filipino folklore, or a villain from the golden age of cinema.  Finishing each piece and looking at it again later made me smile a bit.  As much as I’m hard on myself, I’m happy when something comes together somewhat. There might have been some pieces I didn’t like, but I can find some good things I did out of those pieces at least. I think it’s okay to focus on the good stuff out of the bad too, when it comes to self-improvement.

What is next?  A few years ago, I completed and won Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month).  No, I’m not going to do that so soon after Inktober, but I want to further push myself as an artist. I’ve offered free character illustrations to this year’s participants, to help support them as well as to keep me practicing, and drawing more unfamiliar characters.  So this is a thing I’m doing this month for fun.  I’m also planning out other projects too. I’m thinking about vlogging or streaming, and creating art tutorials. I’m also thinking about my online shop, considering stuff like limited print runs and even selling original art. You know, like a real artist. :D  (Tongue and cheek on that last bit, guys, please don’t @ me). Before I do, I’d like more of a footprint on social media. I admit I’m bad at self-promotion, but this is something I’m going to have to get used to.  But I’ll be better with it when I get a product I’m happy with.

If you are reading this, thank you again for following along.

 

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