What Next?

One of the reasons I’m having so much fun with Inktober is because I’m not only improving my drawing skills but also stretching my creative muscles a bit. It all started when I saw a list of Inktober prompts a fellow artist posted on Facebook.

Now, I love autumn, and Halloween is my favorite holiday, so needless to say I latched on to this prompt list and thought I would use it during Inktober.

But then, when I visited the Inktober website, I found another list of prompts:

Oh, dear! Decision-making isn’t one of my strong suits, so…what to do? List #1? List #2? In my usual indecisive fashion, I said “Well, why not do both?” Meaning, both at the same time. Two prompts, one drawing.

I’d already done a landscape for the first day, but I plunged into my new prompts, and that’s how I ended up with those “swiftly-drawn pumpkins” — and that’s when I really started having fun with Inktober.

So, for the second day, I came up with “Divided Cat”. Immediately I saw visions of my daughter’s cat, Lola. Recently, at the age of 18, Lola crossed the bridge to the Great Cat Spirit in the Sky. My daughter had already asked if I would do a painting of Lola.

I will do a watercolor, but for now, Lola and her “divided” face made a perfect subject for Inktober.

Not a work of art, but a fun ink sketch, and I’m pleased that I managed to capture “that look” Lola always had in her eyes. At least that’s the look she had when I was around.

That cat hated me. The feeling was mutual.

Now, I’ve been asked to do another ink drawing of another cat. Maybe before it’s all over, I’ll learn how to draw them!

After completing my “Divided Cat” sketch, I wondered…what next? What would my set of prompts be for Day 3 of this Inktober challenge?

POISON

TEETH

Interesting words to work with for a pen-and-ink challenge! Immediately I thought of vampires. Unfortunately, I don’t really care much for vampires. I’ve read Dracula by Bram Stoker. I’ve even seen a few film versions of the story. Still, vampires just aren’t my thing.

What else could represent “poison teeth”? Aha! A snake’s fangs. Drawing a scaly snake with pen and ink actually sounded fun, but then, to make it feel a bit more like Halloween, I thought of bones, and skulls, and…well, I’d already warned my friends that Inktober might get a little weird.

So, now I’ve done pumpkins, a cat, and a rattlesnake skull. What next? Oooh, I just peeked at the prompts for tomorrow! This is going to be interesting!

ARE YOU TAKING THE INKTOBER CHALLENGE?