Inktober 2020 Recap

I didn’t make it to the end – there were a total of five days I missed, including the last two. That said, there were some drawings that came out really cool this year that I’m very proud of, and I’d like to do an Inktober 2020 recap and comparison to last year.

This was my 2nd year participating in Inktober. Last year, I drew a variety of vehicle types in a variety of styles. This year, I wanted to narrow the focus and increase the challenge by drawing only in black and white “chicken scratch” hatch shading-style on white paper using side profile views. This meant no markers, no color, no front or 3/4 views, and no block shading. Perhaps this seems simple at first, but to represent a vast variety of prompt words with this tight of focus was occasionally very hard.

As expected, some of these drawings weren’t great, and I could usually tell when one was going to be more mediocre as soon as the pen hit the paper. There’s just something about the quality that comes out when your heart isn’t in it. Unlike last year, however, I was proud of and excited about the majority of the drawings this year.

Lessons Learned & Improvements

I felt that I was able to hone my skill using this style of drawing, which was my goal for Inktober this year. I learned that intricate detail is achieved with precise hatch work using the thinnest line weight (big surprise!). I also learned that contrast suffers from timidity with thicker line weights. What I mean by that is that it’s ok to go dark where you want the contrast to go. Rather than using 005 for detail work and 01 or 02 for darker lines, it makes for good contrast and atmospheric perspective to go all the way to 05 or 08. This is especially true when there is no color or block shading.

I think the precision of these drawings is noticeably better than last year’s drawings of similar style:

An interruption

I deviated from my self-imposed criteria to honor the passing of Eddie Van Halen mid-month. I’m a huge rock n’ roll fan and have had the pleasure of seeing EVH play in 2008. I was devastated to hear of his passing and drew his famous Frankenstrat guitar in his memory.

That’s about all for my Inktober 2020 recap. I was excited to demonstrate some improvement from last year, and even though I didn’t get all 31 days, I think the ones I did make were pretty good. Now it’s time to switch gears and prepare for the Christmas Season and creating personalized gifts.

If you’re interested in a unique and personalized Christmas gift for the car-lover in your family or among your friends, contact me here or email me at kuyk7981@gmail.com.

I currently have a coupon available for $30 off any $100 original drawing already created and listed in the shop, here. I’ll also be adding new drawings to the shop every day for the next couple weeks.

Coupon Code: Fall2020