With Inktober 2018 now in full swing, I thought it a good time to post some of my personal tips and tricks on how to get through a drawing challenge, especially if you are working through your first one.

Before Starting

This year I saw a lot of ‘Inktober Prep’ going on, which I thought was really good and clever. Some artists thumbnail their ideas for each day in advance, for others, prep means getting their paper and materials in order and practicing before diving into the daily prompts. Thumbnailing takes some pressure off in that you aren’t scrambling for ideas at the last minute. It also give you time to refine your ideas. Prepping your materials adds to resolve and helps make starting easier as everything is right there, and ready to go.

During the Challenge

You might feel a lot of pressure surrounding art challenges but try and keep in mind, especially as you are doing them, the fun that they are supposed to be. If you aren’t enjoying a certain set of prompts, make one of your own! Feel free to bounce around to other lists as well. For Inktober in particular, I think the overwhelming takeaway is to push your comfort zone and grow as an artist. Inking one new piece every day does that for a lot of people. A little of this falls under prep, in setting up what works and pushes you out of your zone, but isn’t detrimental. Some artists do Inktober on post-it notes with a ballpoint pen! There’s not much lower a bar of entry than that. :) So keep that in mind. Keep it fun. Keep the challenge but make it one that will keep your sanity.