Labels

Inktober 2016

I decided to participate in Inktober this year (and made it about three-quarters through before I totally fell off the wagon). Some of the prompts were quite challenging, but the practice was lovely—and working in pen and a variety of office supplies was itself an interesting game. So here's a roundup of my favorites!

A black pen drawing of a monkey ascetic with a long dark beard and a collection of haloes around his head.
Day 1: Fast. Obviously not the "speedy" interpretation of the prompt.

A black and red pen drawing of a goat-creature with fangs and human hands and feet, lifting its bloody muzzle from the deer carcass it's been gnawing.
Day 4: Hungry. The god of goats is a monstrous reflection of the adage that they will eat anything.

A black and red pen drawing of a small dead bird with a few folded bits of paper around it and a bloody stain on its breast. Thorny rose vines spring from its beak, bearing a single red rose in full bloom.
Day 5: Sad. Based rather loosely on the story of the nightingale who sang herself to death to inspire the poet she loved, as he wrote and discarded poetry for the woman he loved and who did not care for him.

A black and blue pen drawing of the outlines of a girl and a unicorn, perfectly matched at the eyes and diverging from there.
Day 6: Hidden. I absolutely adore The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle, and if you haven't read it yet, go buy a used copy), and the opportunity to draw her in both her forms was just too tempting.

A black pen drawing of a knobbly round pumpkin.
Day 11: Transport. Also based on a fairy tale, and because pumpkins are remarkably satisfying things to draw.

A black pen drawing of an Indian woman in Mughal armour, with a sword in one hand and her helmet in the crook of the other arm. A small tiger sits by her feet with its back to the viewer, and presses its head into her free hand.
Day 13: Scared. Though to be honest, if I had armour like that and a tiger, I would not be too terribly worried.

A black pen and yellow and blue highlighter drawing of a cascading bonsai tree in a floating dish.
Day 14: Tree. What it says on the tin.

A black pen and blue, pink, and yellow highlighter drawing of a naga woman reclining on the edge of a tiled pool, with her thick braided hair trailing in the water and a halo of out-turned swords around her head. Her tail makes a single loop before descending into the pool, and shimmers with scribbly highlighter colors.
Day 16: Wet. In a technical sense, she's dry...ish...but there's water in the scene and nagas are associated with rain anyway. (P.S.—That's ancient office highlighter to color her tail. I'm still exceedingly pleased with how well it turned out.)

A black and red pen drawing of a huge dragon head resting against the ground. A small woman and her white horse stand on the swirled sand, just larger than the red, patterned eye of the dragon.
Day 17: Battle. Heavily inspired by Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown, which took up residence under my ribs the instant I read it as a kid, and has never stopped living there, purring away.

A black pen drawing of a performer in the Disney Belle ball gown meeting a small girl in a kids' costume version, with sneakers.
Days 21 and 22: Big and Little (respectively). I was being lazy inventive and combined these prompts. Also, Beauty and the Beast has been a seriously formative fairy tale, and while I have deeper-loved retellings than the Disney version, I do love that movie.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment