Inktober 2020

If you’re a part of the artist community on Instagram, then I’m sure that you’ve heard of the “Inktober” event that happens every year. If you haven’t, then allow me to explain. During the month of October, every artist who’s interested in participating draws something each day based on a different prompt. The catch? You can only use a black and white color scheme. In terms of materials, pencils, pens, paint, whatever inspires you to create is on the table.

Inktober started in 2009. It was a movement created by artist Jake Parker who allegedly created the challenge to “motivate himself to improve his own inking skills.” Instagram artists flock to the Inktober site each day to get the daily prompt and then promote their drawings and accounts through the hashtags #inktober, #inktober(year), and more.

"Rodent, Day 6" - Emily Gaudet

In 2019, a controversy surrounding Inktober arose when Jake Parker decided to copyright it. Unfortunately, this move led to many artists, who used the Inktober prompts, receiving cease-and-desist notices for selling any of their work that was created during the event. This consequence was detrimental to many people in the community, especially smaller artists who used their businesses as their only source of income. Later, Parker clarified that the idea of Inktober is totally free reign, but selling anything under the Inktober label would be against the copyright. Prior to this clarification, artists partly boycotted Inktober in 2019, which lost the challenge some popularity on Instagram; however, this year’s Inktober was incredibly successful, raking in almost 4 million posts during the month.

Personally, I really enjoy Inktober. I find inspiration hard to come by sometimes, so having prompts to fall back on is a nice safety net! It’s also an interesting way to get out of my comfort zone as an artist, forcing myself to work in a limited color palette in a way that I don’t usually. I recommend the challenge to anyone who’s looking to step out of their comfort zone when it comes to art!