Inktober 2018 - Week One

In an effort to get myself back on track - DRAWING COMICS EVERYDAY - I joined Inktober - 31 drawings in 31 days. Started by Jake Parker, cartoonist, to get himself and others to perfect their inking skills - Inktober has become a "thing". Basically, there is a list of word prompts, one for each day of October. You draw a picture inspired by that word, ink it, post it on social media and tag it - #inktober.

This also got me to revisit my Instagram account (it had two pics and 5 followers) which now has 15+ posts and 170+ followers. Cool!

I've completed one week - WOO HOO! It feels really good - and the accountability also feels good. Although I do spend a lot more time on these than I had intended ("anything worth doing is worth over-doing").

I set up a few extra rules for myself.
Because.
1. work within a 6"x8" area
2. include my comic character somehow
3. include the word somehow (work on my lettering)
4. Only black and white and gray ink
5. It's October... a little bit creepy.

Day 1 - POISONOUS

I also played around with the image in Procreate to make it look more like an old poison bottle label:

Day 2 - TRANQUIL

Day 3 - ROASTED

I get to a point where I'm not sure if I should push it... or let it be...

I'm leaning towards "push it". I added more text and the black background. I'm glad I did because it makes the fire glow more.

Day 4 - SPELL

Each of these comics starts with a blue pencil sketch. Another thing I am torn about - I really love the way the sketches look - the line quality and variation - but I also like the cleaner lines, contrast and grays of the inked art.

blue pencil sketch

inked

adding grays

finished art (photo. still needs to be scanned) 

Day 5 - CHICKEN

My kids says this one is not "realistic" - seriously? It's a comic! I'm trying to get across an idea, not paint like Norman Rockwell.
Kids - they think they're art directors.

Day 6 - DROOLING

 How do I get the drool to really stand out?

Still needs to look slimier...

Day 7 - EXHAUSTED

I was really tempted to give this one a black or gray background too. But then I thought... a bat would be sleeping during the day, right? I know I want to. Up all night working -- sleep all day. White background.

Besides, I'm too tired to do a dark background!