A Drawing Every Day
At Quango, imagination can’t be contained within an 8-hour day.
It’s no surprise that Quango employees are creative people. In fact, some are bursting with so much inspiration that they can’t ever turn the creativity off. Just one example is designer Steven Barker, who recently took part in an annual drawing challenge called “Inktober.”
The 31-day challenge tasks artists with completing a drawing a day for the entire month of October, posting each one online with the hashtag #Inktober. While the official site calls for ink drawings on paper, many artists — Steven included — choose to work with a tablet.
Steven says he started participating in Inktober for fun—and to stay on top of his practice. It helped that he decided to pull subjects from his favorite video games: Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and more. And he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed these beloved characters — halfway through the month, one of his followers ordered a print! In addition to the daily challenge, Steven was inspired to make some fan art for a video game reviewer. The reviewer noticed, reposted the work, and encouraged his followers to check Steven out. It was a busy month for this Quango designer.
According to Steven, the hardest part of drawing purposefully every day was simply finding the time for it. He drew whenever he had a moment to spare: at home, during lunch, and on the bus. He even chose longer transit routes so he would have more time to draw. And he needed it — in all, each drawing took an hour or more.
But it was well worth it. “This daily practice helped me better understand different artistic methods. And it’s helped with the creative side of coming up with my own concepts,” says Steven.
While Inktober is one of the most popular social drawing challenges, there are numerous drawing exercises to be found on social media channels year-round. However, for anyone who might participate in the future, Steven has a word of advice: An hour for every drawing is a bit much — it might be worthwhile to institute a time limit!
Want to work with our amazing team of creatives? Let’s talk.
*Featured characters are the property of their respective owners.
