Cernunnos on the Wild Hunt (for the “wild” prompt) feels appropriate for Halloween.
Well, I've done it. It required making a decision to go for quantity over quality many days, but I have done an entire Inktober. All in all, even though I can still definitively say that I'm not a 2D artist, I feel like I've met all of my goals. That's not nothing.
Goal #1 was to improve my 2D art skills, especially inking. I still have a whole lot to learn, but the near-daily practice and the experience with felt and brush pens really ticked this box neatly. I didn't need for each work to be better than the last in order to feel like I have improved overall. (That's a good thing, as my favorite piece was the one that I did for day 7.)
Corn Husk Doll
The Oneida legend of why the corn husk doll has no face inspired my favorite of my Inktober pieces. I'm confident that it is better than any of my attempts in past years.
Goal #2 was to use the prompts to create designs to sculpt small pieces for pendants and such. I have several contenders. These aren't among my best pieces (as 2D art), but they don't need to be. They're more an intermediary step than finished pieces on their own. Inktober gave me the excuse to try new ideas and to put them down on paper.
I've only sculpted one of these so far, but I'll be tackling others very soon.
Goal #3 was simply to finish. This was my third year attempting it, and I needed to find this combination of confidence and humility in order to keep going through both the good and the bad. I know that the quality lagged significantly at the end, but I was determined to finish. That meant posting every single one, regardless of quality. My sketch book has a lot of abandoned pieces in it, but I did complete at least one piece for every prompt — and I finished them by the end of the month. I did at least a little art every day. I completed most of them on their day.
I'm sure that I'll do things differently next year. I'm not sure that it's worth the time that I put into it… but it's worth something. I think that I might do prep work next year and try to create a cohesive project next year. That way, I won't struggle with feeling like I'm “wasting” time on Inktober. Maybe I'll spend a couple of Inktobers making a deck of tarot cards… Maybe I'll make a small book of goddesses… I haven't decided yet, but I think that a concrete goal will make me feel better about it. The goal itself is almost incidental.
I've decided to go ahead and post all of this year's Inktober finished pieces here so that I can encourage other novices to try it. It'll have the added benefit of reminding me of my progress when I do this again next year and build on my skills.
