Inktober 2023 - Preliminary

[K-2]

Salutations, Inktoberists!

The Inktober 2023 prompt list dropped today, so you can start planning!

Here's what it's all about:
Inktober "rules": https://inktober.com/rules
Inktober FAQs: https://inktober.com/faq

In short....
1. Starting on 1 October, ink something (you can use your preferred calligraphic style, or a mix of whatever moves you).  I'll probably also do an ink drawing for every prompt (since Inktober started out in the drawing & graphics world)
2. Post it in this thread so we can admire (one of the most fun things about Inktober is seeing the different interpretations of the prompts)
3. Repeat until the end of the month or as often/seldom as you like.  There are no Inktober police who will come and admonish you for doing Inktober "wrong" 

The point of the list is to constrain your choices and focus your creativity.  Also to make it fun for us to compare how we interpreted the prompts.  I love using the prompts - I find that they remove the question of "WHAT should I ink??"  And turn it a question of "HOW should I ink?"  (see, it helps remove the chores of being "creative" and having "ideas"). But you know, if it's not your jam, just do your own thing.  That's okay too.  The main goal of Inktober is to try to ink more often.

I want to put it out here that I have a full time job.  And it's a super busy job with a stupid number of meetings, and an ample teaching schedule.  And I have a research agenda (I'm writing a book!).  And I have an art & calligraphy side-hustle.  I also have a family, with one busy teen still at home, and one away at university.  And I'm really active in my community.  So yeah.  I know - it's hard to "find time".... but...

I like to think of it as making time for it, because I know it's going to up my skill level (and because it's fun, and I like to make time to have fun).  Seriously though, I make some of my biggest skills gains during Inktober and Inkvent every year, because it forces me to practice in a low-stakes environment.  I mean, really practice, because just working on the things I do professionally can make me a little stagnant, perhaps even a little risk-averse.  Also, people pay me to make things that I am good at making.  But practice means I make things that I am not good at, and thereby get better, sometimes even good!  And I'm displaying the "not as good" practice work - I hope that encourages others who are practicing too.

So how do I get through the 31-Day slog?

Strategy 1: Start Early!  Seriously - they give us the list a month in advance.  Just start inking right away, and then if you miss a day or two or more, you can catch up.

Strategy 2: (if starting early feels like "cheating" even though it's not cheating)  Make the decisions early.  Draft the layout, choose the ink(s), make under-drawings (if you're doing drawings), pick the passages if you're doing text, draw the guidelines for the text.  Whatever you need to get a head start.  Then start applying the ink on 1 Oct.

Strategy 3: Pick a theme.  Further limiting your options for how you will respond to the prompt can help you too.  For example - For Inkvent 2021 I decided to show all the inks in portraits of famous people (taking the name of the ink as the prompt).  In Inktober 2022, I did drawings of animals/birds/bugs for all the prompts; and I practiced copperplate too.  I'm still mulling over what I'm going to focus on this year.

Strategy 4: Pick an ink.  Inktober 2021, I drew all the pictures in monochrome - one ink per drawing.  Not mixing colors makes drawing quicker.  I also made the pictures kind of small (postcard size).  For calligraphy, you can just stick to one ink - maybe a favorite? maybe a new one? maybe use inks you're trying to use up because you want to have a reason to buy the Inkvent 2023 set? (I pre-ordered mine already)

Take a moment to revisit Inktobers past:
Inktober 2021 - our first Flourish Forum Inktober: https://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=7256.0
Inktober 2022 - starting here: https://theflourishforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=7474.0

@Erica McPhee @AnasaziWrites @Zivio @Lucie Y @InkyFingers @Gary @Cyril Jayant @tiffany.c.a @Lyric and everyone else who followed along silently or vocally - I hope you'll join us again. It was amazing seeing everyone's interpretation, the cleverness, the improvements, the style and skill; hearing the encouragement from participants and onlookers; and developing this phenomenal camaraderie with each other over the month.

Who's going to join in making this a threepeat! a veritable tradition!

--yours truly, K

[Lucie Y]

Thank you so much for this post! I’m excited about doing Inktober again!

Last year’s Inktober really pushed me and gave me insights on how to practice. It really set the tone for the rest of my calligraphy year.

Lately I’ve been practicing the italic hand and I believe Italic capitals will be the main focus for me this year. If I am ready, I might also dabble with gothicized italics.

I might share some of my home made watercolors and some gilding, I’m taking à medieval gilding class next weekend, I’m over excited!

I want to add that I am very grateful for last year’s Inktober experience. I was amazed by the group dynamic, the kindness, humor and generosity on the thread. And of course, discovering everyone’s work day after day is awesome.

See you soon!

Lucie

[AnasaziWrites]

@K-2 
I'm in for a three-peat.
Your best advice--start early. I didn't the last two years, doing one on the day it was listed and on busy days, that caused a little pressure.
Now, to think of a theme. So many possibilities.

[DavePete]

After reading the lead post on this thread, I added the prompt list to my Bullet journal for October and jotted down a few notes on what I might draw for Inktober. Never participated before, but seriously considering it for 2023. Of course the titles will need to be in a calligraphy font style.

[tiffany.c.a]

Hello all,

Work is very busy, and next week will be extra full. But I just realized it’s almost October! Had to log on to see what’s up for this year.

I plan to participate again, jumping in more after the first week. Last year my goal was just trying to form more of a habit of sitting down and doing something calligraphic and getting over the self-defeating reluctance that sets in from feeling my skills are not good. At first, I was happy to just throw some ink down on consecutive days. I ended up using the momentum of Inktober to finish an exchange list project. I have one more to finish and a class project. Maybe that will be my focus this year.

Thanks K-2 for starting the group thread again and providing the list of strategies.

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s work!

[Erica McPhee]

... just trying to form more of a habit of sitting down and doing something calligraphic and getting over the self-defeating reluctance that sets in from feeling my skills are not good.

This! A million times over! That is what I love about exchanges - they have forced me to sit down and actually create rather than just dream about it or sit and practice letters over and over. It has helped my design skills grow and my calligraphy - win, win! And I get beautiful mail in return - win, win, win!  So happy you will be doing Inktober again and sharing with us.