“No need to remind us, it’s not news that we’re mindless.”
Inktober Day 2: Mindless
Category: Illustration (Prompts)
Inktober Day 1 : Ring
It’s that time again! I had so much fun doing the Inktober and Drawloween prompts last year, so I am very excited to get started on this year’s challenge. Last year I did a mixture of the two prompt lists and used all sorts of different media, but this year I am going to try and stick to the one list and do mainly ink drawings. Of course that is subject to change. I really like coming up with creative solutions within the limiting structure of the prompts, but I do not want to get too legalistic about it. If I feel moved to draw something different, or to paint or sculpt instead, then I will.
Day 1: Ring
“How her foolish heart sings,
at the mention of rings.”
Day 2: Mindless
“No need to remind us, it’s not news that we’re mindless.”
Day 3: Bait
The old man on the promenade
Wanted to catch a mermaid.
He found a ship’s mate
And used him as bait,
Then cast out his line and prayed.
Day 4: Freeze
“If memories of that summer breeze
could be enough to melt this freeze…”
Day 5: Build
“Even if you are basically unskilled
it is simple to destroy what you build.”
Day 6: Husky
After a day that went so long,
nothing like a drink and a song.
Let me buy you another round.
We’ll listen to her husky sound.
Day 7: Enchanted
I am so enchanted by Erik Satie;
His music touches a place deep inside me.
Day 8: Frail
Fen on Bluff Mountain
Nature’s balance seems so frail
Yet in drought… a bloom.
Day 9: Swing
Okay, so here’s the thing, not sure why she must swing…
Day 10: Pattern
The pattern is there, just follow with care.
Day 11: Snow
Tonight no sighs or tales of woe, it’s quiet in the falling snow.
Illustration Friday: Folklore
“Sisyphus has nothing on me,”
the woman bragged with misplaced glee.
“His futile climb was ordained by Zeus,
while mine is purely self induced.”
Illustration Friday: Mysterious
Sir Crow was beyond curious from his perch so precarious.
Drowning in swirls is serious and the cause quite mysterious.
Original Drawing $200
8×10″ Matted Print $20
Illustration Friday: Mountains
“Everyone assured her the mountains would still be there when the nest was empty.”
MerMay
I guess mermaids have no choice but to ride sidesaddle.
I am not sure how I got almost to the middle of the month of May before I realized that it is another drawing prompt month. I am late starting but of course I want to play. Like Inktober there are several different prompt lists available but I especially like how Jane Davenport’s list plays with words. Just reading her list made me smile. Since I am starting on the 13th of the month (and it is a very busy month) it is unlikely I will be able to do all of them, but it will be fun to try and draw as many as I can.
Februscary?
Februscary is finished. I really enjoyed (and found it therapeutic) to participate in this challenge. Creating something within time and subject matter constraints pushes me to be more creative and come up with solutions that are different from what I might normally draw or paint. The process itself is so rewarding, but the extra recognition from the hosts of the challenge feels nice too. Who doesn’t want to be someone’s favorite?
Horror based art may not be my thing, but I can certainly create some anti-valentines…
Yes, I know I skipped #4, but #5 just couldn’t wait to leap out of my pen. It is funny both the zombie and the willing victim think they are so unique, but turns out there are tons of folks like both. Who knew it was a well-documented thing?
TMI, Mixed Media on Board, 19×12.5″
I worry that this one might be construed as disrespectful, but I do not mean it that way. I tried to think of something that would match the theme better, but this image just seemed to stick in my mind, so here it is.
Prompt #1: Roses are Red…My response to this prompt might not be considered scary by some, but I think it depends on your perspective… It might be rather terrifying for one to realize how much they gave up before they finally took off those rose colored (shaped?) glasses and saw things for what they really were.
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So, I loved the whole Inktober/Drawloween thing I did in October. It was fun and I was productive and… two people liked images enough to ask me to tattoo them onto their bodies forever! So when I heard about Februscary I was pretty excited for the chance to try it again. The prompts were posted yesterday and I admit they do not immediately inspire me. But of course I like a challenge and trying to create an engaging image based on something I find uninspiring is certainly that. There are only five so I am going to try and do a drawing/painting and a more tattoo inspired design for each. I will do like I did in October and just add them to this post, so stay tuned… February is just a week and a half away.
Inktober and Drawlloween
October is over, but apparently I still have some halloweenish drawings left in me…
Drawlloween Day 31: Frankenstein
Dr. Victor Frankenstein is a rather sad subject for my final October drawing prompt, but he seemed more interesting to try and capture than his monster. I am going to miss the challenge of trying to complete a drawing every day.
Drawlloween Day 30: Bride
Drawlloween Day 29: Mary Shelley
Drawlloween Day 28: Raven
This one could actually use a bit more tweaking, but I am tired. As the month of October wanes overall I am pleased with the drawings I have created, but there are few I feel like I will revisit and try to improve. This is one of them.
Drawlloween Day 27: Swamp Thing
The little toad from yesterday makes a great hat for my swamp thing.
Drawlloween Day 26: Toad
Today’s prompt was Toad, so I drew one, but I have been wanting to draw a Poisonous Dart Frog since Scott and I talked about them last week, so I drew several of them as well.
Drawlloween Day 25: Dark Forest
Drawlloween Day 24: Hunter’s Moon
This drawing is based on a concept I had in mind for a half tattoo sleeve. I got a little more complicated than I would want to do for a tattoo, but I believe the idea is still a good one. I think it would wrap around an upper arm well and could easily be added on to if a full sleeve was desired later. If the original person I imagined as the canvas for it never comes back around I wonder if I could find someone else who would be interested.
Drawlloween Day 23: Monster
Drawlloween Day 22: Pumpkin
Why do we so often act like we have pumpkins for brains?
Drawlloween Day 21: Alien
I must confess I did not draw this alien today. A couple of weeks ago I had a tattoo client who said he liked aliens, Aztecs and Polynesian designs. So I combined them all into a sketch of this guy. He ended up only wanting a small filler piece, but when I got my light box I redrew him with nice clean lines, and then tonight in honor of the Drawlloween prompt I took him into Photoshop for some quick coloring.
Drawlloween Day 20: Serpent
Inktober Day 19: Scorched
I went ahead and took the whole day off to drive to Tennessee, even though I made the kids go to school for half the day, so I was able to get my drawing for today done early. I had no interest in drawing a seance, especially not while on my way to a Memorial Service. I had some neat ideas about drawing scorched trees, but ended up deciding on a ghost pepper, which I hear will leave one’s mouth quite scorched.
Drawlloween Day 18: Rat
Inktober Day 18: Bottle
Drawlloween Day 17: Werewolf
Drawlloween Day 16: Goblin
(Inktober Day 16: Angular)
This little Goblin just leapt out of my pen this morning. He did not take enough time to be a very good distraction so I decided that he needed an angular environment so I could meet both challenges at once. I googled ‘crystal caves’ to see what kind of source material I might find and I am now pretty fascinated by the extremely hot and humid (like over 130° F) crystal caves below Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico as well as the very different but still interesting Crystal Shrine Grotto at a cemetery in Memphis.
Drawlloween Day 15: Owl
I drew like half a dozen owls today. These three are my favorites.
Inktober Day 14: Clock
Drawlloween Day 14: Skeleton
This one does not make sense, but I do not want to skip a day. I will redo it when I am not so very very tired.The view should be of the other side, with the thumb bones on top.
Drawlloween Day 13: Grave(yard)
This intriguing little statue is in the small graveyard in my neighborhood. I wanted to draw it from life but by the time I was home it was getting too dark, so I worked from a photograph I had taken back in March. I would like to try again sitting there in front of it. I think there are more interesting angles to be found.
Inktober Day 12: Whale
I wanted this to look like the swimmer was inside the whale, a Jonah using vast amounts of energy swimming in one direction while the whale took him the opposite way, but it didn’t really work.
Drawlloween Day 11: Bat
Before this drawing I don’t think I had ever spent much time considering bats or their anatomy. I am now rather fascinated with the way their wings have an uncanny resemblance to umbrellas.
Inktober Day 10: Flowing
Amicalola Falls – Detail
I have visited and drawn many waterfalls this summer and fall. In most of my drawings the water is really just represented by white space, defined by the rocks or foliage around it. I thought that by doing this drawing from a still photo rather than onsite I would be able to capture the water itself more clearly, but I found myself doing the same thing. On my next visit waterfall visit I think I may try to chose a small section and see if I can figure out a way to actually draw the flow of water.
Inktober Day 9: Precious
Drawloween Day 9: Spider Baby
This one totally freaks me out. I am so glad the old baby-delivery stories are about storks, not spiders.
Drawloween Day 8: Yōkai
I did not know what Yokai were before this prompt. Turns out they are a class of supernatural monsters, spirits, and demons in Japanese folklore, but many of them are part animal.
Inktober Day 7: Exhausted
Drawlloween Day 7: Haunted Object
Drawlloween Day 6: Ghost
Drawlloween Day 5: Labratory
Inktober Day 5: Chicken
Inktober Day 4: Spell
Drawllowen Day 4: Mushroom
Drawloween Day 3: Cryptid Three Yeti Moon
Drawlloween Day 2: Black Cat
Inktober Day 1: Poisonous
Drawlloween Day 1: Witch
Instead of doing Illustration Friday for the month of October I am going to try and do an ink drawing everyday using the prompts from Inktober and/or Drawlloween. Celtic Crow has asked all the artists that work there to also come up with lots of Halloween themed flash for the month, so I will be trying to do drawings that will work for that as well. Rather than create a new post every day for each drawing I will just add them to this post.
Illustration Friday: Food
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life… – 1 John 4:18
Illustration Friday: Fear
“Did it really make a difference if the fear was of opening the door or shutting it?”
“Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.” – Naguib Mahfouz