Last year I was the year of too many things. I had no concept of time and was juggling my full time job, starting as a freelance illustrator, practicing jiujitsu twice a week, taking care of my dog, trying to be a better artist and when October rolled around, I thought I could handle doing an ink drawing a day too. I was conditioned to think busy was equivalent to successful, so I busied myself with whatever I was interested in and it soon took a toll on my health. I quit my job, took an indefinite break from jiujitsu and focused all my energy on making memories with my loved ones and learning to be the best Illustrator I could be. I was disappointed with myself last year for not being about to stick with Inktober even though it was a highly unrealistic expectation to impose on myself.
This year, I was a little nervous to take it on because I still felt really rusty and slow from having had an office job for 2 years and felt the drawings I would have time to do might not always be post worthy. I decided to make a deal with myself; do Inktober for practice, and only post what you feel comfortable showing. Maybe do a post at the end with all of your mess-ups to show your process. This alleviated a lot of the stress on having to crank out good drawings every day. Instead I just had fun, exercised my creativity muscles and ended up learning a lot about myself artistically! So much so that I will definitely be giving myself small challenges each month to hone my skills and learn about what kind of art makes me happy. This week Ive already started the habit for November of doing 20 minutes of anatomy studies or Croquis Cafe gesture drawing to loosen up before I start work.
Doing Inktober allowed me to forget about what the industry wants or comparing myself to other artists. I just sat down and drew. What I uncovered was I really like keeping the lines in my drawings! Sketch, or ink. Since I graduated art school, I looked at a lot of successful modern illustrators and found they had a really polished edge and used shape and texture but no lines. I tried to emulate them but my illustrations always lost the life and energy that the sketch had. Im going to try to do more illustrations where I color right over the sketch or ink my lines because it feels like what Im meant to do. Whenever I try to go line-less I feel like I’m jamming a square peg into a round hole. I really enjoy the flow of using line, which is why I think Im also drawn to hand lettering. I just get into a groove and lose myself in the art.
Im a little afraid of the discrepancy in my portfolio of lined vs. lineless. But Inktober gave me a few pieces to add to my gallery that will start moving my portfolio in the direction of a style I would like clients to notice. A direction that feels more authentic to the style I want to be known for. Im excited to explore what this stylistic change will bring about/ Im already flooded with ideas for graphic novels and character illustrations! The possibilities are endless when you are true to yourself and make the art you want to make!
