I Ll Buy Whatever You Can Draw

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Inktober is a one-month-long drawing challenge in which you draw from a prompt, using markers or pens, every day of October.^[1] Generally, this drawing is posted online, but this is optional. The aim of Inktober is to improve your drawing and learn to have fun drawing. This wikiHow will show you how to participate in Inktober.

1. 1

   Collect your materials. You'll want to make sure you have enough pens, markers or paint pens, as Inktober is (usually) meant to just be in ink, although it can have a pencil underdrawing.^[2] You'll need to have 31 sheets of paper, preferably in a notebook, if you're going to draw on a new piece every day. If you can, try to see if you can get your hands on some good quality paper, as ink will go straight through some thinner, cheap paper, and ruin the whole notebook.

2. 2

   Pick which prompt list you're using. There is one prompt list, which is the main, and official Inktober prompt list, and it's on the Inktober website every year, but you can also try a prompt list which was made by another artist. Generally, they'll post their prompt lists before Inktober begins and have a separate hashtag for you to tag it with. You could also make a list yourself and share it with your friends and family, if you'd like.

3. 3

   Make a schedule. You should make a schedule for which days you'll be drawing, as the drawings may take up quite a bit of your time. It's a good idea to set aside at least 2 hours, or more, if you think you'd need it. Don't overdo it though, and make sure you'll be okay drawing for that long. If you won't draw for that long every time, that's okay, too.^[3]

   • Choose which days you'll draw. You can draw every day, every second day or every week, or whichever timings work better for you. If you can't keep up a schedule, then just draw when you do have the time.

4. 4

   Work out where you want to post your drawings. You don't need to post them online if you don't want to, but if you do, consider Instagram, Facebook groups, DeviantArt or Tumblr. Of course, anywhere you like would work, but these are the most frequently used for Inktober.

   • If you want to use Instagram, you could make an art account if you don't have one, so that your drawings can be public and separate from your private/friends account. This will mean more people will be able to see your drawings, mostly from the hashtags, and people who like them will be able to follow your account without being put off by any other pictures.
   • Join an Inktober Facebook group to post your pictures. There are always lots of people in the main and bigger groups, so you may want to join a smaller group so the group isn't too overcrowded.
   • You can add your drawings to DeviantArt so they're on an art-only platform. There is lots of Inktober art on DeviantArt around October, and lots of people will be looking for it.
   • Make a Tumblr blog to share your pics, if you'd rather have a space mostly to yourself. Since individual posts get less attention on Tumblr, you won't need to feel as pressured to keep up the drawings at a certain time or to look a certain way.

5. 5

   Decide on a palette. This isn't necessary, but it can be helpful if you want all your drawings to look like they're your Inktober drawings. You could choose colours along the lines of sepia or black, coloured markers, or just straight black ink. This may not seem like it would be too hard, but if you're an overthinker, it may take more time to think about which colours you'd rather use.

6. 6

   Choose a theme. You can choose a theme if you want all your drawings to be of a particular type of thing with the prompt as a part of it. You could draw simple one line icon drawings, or draw all of your drawings as something, such as drawing all of them as food. Whatever you typically draw can be incorporated into Inktober, so you'll be able to have something that your drawings all look like.

7. 7

   Practise drawing with your pens. Make sure that you are comfortable drawing with the pens, and see how the nib works for drawing. This is especially important if you've never used pens and markers only for a whole drawing. This will mean that the pens don't surprise you, and you'll know what you're doing, making you able to get started sooner on the first day.

1. 1

   Think about what the prompt is that day. Check what it is, and then think about the word, not just in a literal way. For example, the word 'radio' could be drawn as a literal radio, or just something else which produces music, or someone listening to music on headphones. It will make your drawing stand out if you draw something nobody else has seen.

2. 2

   Look for ideas. Look up the prompt, and browse ideas for inspiration. If you see something you like, but still want more ideas based on it, look that particular thing up. You should be able to find something you want to draw after searching through all the different images you find.

   • Look at the hashtag on Instagram and other social media platforms if you're using the official prompt list. Have a look through all the different ideas which come up when you search for it.
   • See if there is any good inspiration in an Inktober Facebook group. People will be posting almost constantly with their drawings because of the amounts in the bigger groups, so you should be able to get some fresh ideas by looking in them.

3. 3

   Sketch out your drawing with a light pencil. Have an eraser near in case things ever look off. You should generally use another image as a reference, unless you know how to draw the thing or it's very basic. You might not be able to find an image of exactly what you want to draw on the internet, but try drawing from several images if your drawing is complex.

4. 4

   Go over your sketch with ink. You can use a fine-liner, marker, pen, or whatever else you have that draws with ink. You may want to use an eraser to get rid of any pencil lines which are still there or that went astray. You don't necessarily need to outline first; some people prefer to do this as the last bit of the drawing.

5. 5

   Shade or colour in your drawing. Use a fine-liner or pen to shade the drawing if you want a sketchy ink look. If you'd rather colour it with coloured markers or fine-liners, you should try to do the shading well if you can. Most colourful markers don't come in very many colours, and even then, they may not blend very well. It may be a good idea to get some oil based markers, such as Copic markers or cheaper versions, if you want to be able to shade with them.

6. 6

   Clean up the drawing. Go over the outline again if you accidentally coloured over it at any point. Make sure if you're filling it in fully with colour that you've not left any white patches.

1. 1

   Take a picture of your drawing. Try to get good lighting; natural lighting usually works best. If you can aim a lamp towards the drawing for the picture, make sure you don't get your hands in the way when you take the picture. Generally the flash from phones doesn't look great on drawings, but you can try it to see how it looks.

   • If you want more than one image to post, try getting a picture when you've just done the pencil sketch or outlined it.

2. 2

   Go to the social media platform you'd like to post your drawing on. Open up the Post part so that you can post your image. Remember that this part is optional, and you don't need to post it online if it makes you feel uncomfortable or if you just don't want to.

3. 3

   Upload your drawing. After you've chosen the image(s) you want to use, it may ask you if you'd like to apply a filter. Only do this if it makes the paper look whiter or cleaner or makes the colours look more like they do in real life, as you don't want the picture to look fake from the filter.

4. 4

   Write the caption. It's a good idea to have something that says it's for Inktober right up the top, for example, "Inktober 2020 Day 4 "radio"". Be sure to hashtag the post with #inktober and #inktober2020 (or whatever year of Inktober it is). The more hashtags you are able to add (as a public account), the more people will find your picture from the hashtags. So add more if you'd like to get more likes; adding the prompt as a hashtag is also a good idea.

5. 5

   Press Post or Publish . This will make it visible for others to see, and on Instagram and other similar social media platforms, you'll likely start seeing a few likes straight away. If anyone compliments your drawing in the comments, consider replying to their comment and thanking them!

Add New Question

• Question

  Does it have to be Halloween themed?

  

  ChocoCat1122

  Community Answer

  No, you could do any theme. Just do whatever comes to mind! Inktober's a fun challenge, don't make it a chore for yourself!

• Question

  Can you use a cheap pen, or buy a fancy one?

  

  You can use whichever pen you'd like! Of course, having a fancier pen will make it easier to do your drawings, as it'll be higher in quality. If you only have a cheaper pen, then you don't need to get a more expensive one, unless you want to.

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I Ll Buy Whatever You Can Draw

Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Participate-in-Inktober

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