5 Lessons from Completing My First Inktober

Here’s what I learned from a month of drawing daily

Every October, artist Jake Parker releases a list of 31 prompts for a drawing challenge called Inktober. The goal is to produce one drawing every day based on that day’s prompt. Started in 2009, it’s grown on social media to include participants from across the globe working in all kinds of media.

I don’t consider myself an artistic person. I’ve always enjoyed drawing and painting, but know it’s not a natural talent of mine. A few years ago, I took up watercolor painting, mostly using YouTube tutorials from artists like Lindsay Weirich (aka The Frugal Crafter) and Paul Clark, and made a little progress. But a series of changes in my life (health issues, moving, switching careers) pulled me away. I still watched tutorials — I find them relaxing — but wasn’t actively practicing.

Then Inktober rolled around. I’ve watched from the sidelines for a few years and delighted in the fun ways people interpret the prompts. But this year I’ve been trying to explore new hobbies and reconnect with old ones. It seemed like the perfect time to get off the bench and start playing.

Is Inktober Challenging?

I’ll be honest, I didn’t think Inktober would be especially hard. One drawing per day, no requirements on how detailed or good it has to be — what’s hard about that?

Time seemed to be the biggest obstacle for most participants. Many people in the Facebook group posted images along with messages like, “Ran out of time. Not totally happy, but here’s today’s sketch,” or “Had to work late yesterday, so here’s today’s sketch and yesterday’s.”

Fatigue was another issue. Even with a prompt, it can be hard to come with a new idea every day. Some people also reported trouble with carpal tunnel, arthritis, or other physical issues that slowed them down.

But the nice thing was that most people were very kind and encouraging to one another. As one participant put it, “Finishing is finishing regardless of the date!”

My Approach

I decided early on that I wanted this to be a chance for focused practice. I ended up spending between 1 and 3 hours on most of my drawings, during which time I consulted reference images, sketched, inked, and painted each drawing. I didn’t intend to devote that much time, yet after the first few drawings I found I really enjoyed losing myself in the project. I usually worked in the evenings while watching TV or listening to a podcast, and I did sometimes stay up late finishing.

By the 17th, I started to feel the strain. I have rheumatoid arthritis and carpal tunnel, and my hands weren’t used to typing all day then painting all night. I was forced to take off two days to rest them around the 20th, but managed to catch up and finish my last drawing on November 1st.

So what did I get out of a month of drawing more/sleeping less? Here are five things I learned along the way:

Next challenge: Learning to photograph my art

1. Drawing is putting down lots of lines until you find the right ones.

I always knew artists use erasers. I never operated under some illusion that they magically put down perfect lines the first time, every time. But it wasn’t until I started sketching daily that I realized how much erasing is involved in drawing.

What I found about sketching is you have to put down lines, even wrong lines, to get anywhere. Sometimes you can see the line you put down is wrong, but that isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes a wrong line can help you see where the right line needs to go. Other times you need a line as a guide — maybe to ensure things are even — and you erase it when finished.

The point is, you can’t let worry about wrong lines keep you from starting. Wrong lines are an integral part of the process.

2. Nothing starts out amazing.

There were many times in my Inktober journey that I was ready to trash a piece. Only once did I entirely start over on a sketch. Time constraints made it really hard to toss what might have been 30 to 60 minutes’ worth of work, so I pushed on, and generally things turned out in the end.

It can be hard to know whether or not a piece works until you’re done. Sometimes I hated my drawings until I added color. Then the magic of shading and dimension transformed it. Other times, those final details I’d ink in made all the difference.

I’m not saying I loved every drawing I completed. There are some I really wish had turned out better. But there’s not one out of the thirty-one that I knew I’d love from the start. That’s why it’s important to see your art through to the end.

3. Small amounts of practice can yield big results.

One Inktober hasn’t turned me into (insert your favorite artist). But I can say I’ve grown as an artist. I took on some challenging subjects and gained great experience wrestling them into recognizable images.

I think a big part of the reason I saw my skills improve is I made improvement my focus. If it took me three days of working to get an image right, then I took three days and worked diligently at it. While I wanted the glory of finishing, what I wanted even more was to end with paintings I was proud of. That intentional effort paid off, and it encourages me to imagine what three or ten years of intentional effort could yield.

I started this journey as a person who never thought she’d be able to draw without loads of instruction from a gifted (and patient) teacher (and possibly some kind of divine intervention). I ended it realizing all I ever needed was to put pen to paper over, and over, and over (and over).

4. You won’t make progress until you control your fear.

There were times I chose a subject for a prompt and then got cold feet. Starting can be scary. What if it doesn’t turn out? Where should I even start? It’s easy to get overwhelmed.

At a certain point, you have to acknowledge that fear and then set it aside. Choose a starting point. Put pen to paper. Remind yourself of point one (drawing is about putting down lots of lines until you find the right ones). Let go of perfection.

I sometimes paint along with YouTube tutorials, and one thing I learned long ago is that painting along with a tutorial a terrible way for me to create a great painting. It’s too hard to focus on everything at once, and experienced artists often move too fast.

But…following tutorials is still incredibly valuable if I see them as practice. I’ll push through, complete the tutorial, and then evaluate my work. Sometimes I’ll pull out a pen and mark up my painting with reminders of things I need to do differently. Then I paint it again, following my notes. Often this second painting will turn out really well because I can go at my own pace and pay more attention to the areas I’m weak in.

I did something similar with my Inktober drawings. I told myself none of these had to be great. I was working in a sketchbook, not on nice, expensive watercolor paper. I’d get the composition and colors worked out, and then later I could redo them on nicer paper and take more time making art. But for Inktober, I was making practice, and there’s no reason to be afraid of practice.

5. Giving yourself grace is important.

I was disappointed the first day that I didn’t complete an Inktober drawing. I’d been determined to finish by October 31 and now I’d have to do two drawings the next day, which seemed monumentally harder.

Skipping was also a reminder that my body isn’t what it once was. I’m no longer in my 20s, when missing a little sleep had less effect on me. With RA, I can no longer force my body to bend to my will without facing consequences.

I could have let these disappointments stop me. I could’ve said I was too old for this, that my imperfect body was one limitation too many. But I also would have given up the joy I felt completing one of my best drawings two days later when I restarted the project. And who knows? Maybe that rest was necessary for me to do some of my best work.

As I said at the beginning, I finished my drawings November 1, one day later than planned. But I’m still calling that a win. Lots of people don’t finish Inktober. Some lose interest, some get busy, some aren’t getting out of it what they had hoped. But I made it, and that’s an accomplishment for me.

What I Really Got Out of Inktober

Celebrating a seemingly trivial win may seem silly, but it isn’t. Inktober was a gift I gave myself, a chance to develop a part of myself, to engage in something I find relaxing and enjoyable. I gave myself permission to be vulnerable with others by sharing my work and lending support to strangers who were doing the same. It gave me an extra reason to feel festive throughout my favorite month of the year.

So often adult life gets tangled up in obligations, responsibilities, struggles. Our personal goals take a backseat to more necessary goals like saving enough for a new car or paying off that credit card (again). Inktober gave me a chance to take play seriously in childlike fashion. And who couldn’t use a little more of that in their life?