Tag: inktober

Prompt O’ Ween 2023
Prompt O’ Ween 2023 was super fun! It was also really tough and I hate having to say that I sort of didn’t finish. I only got to day 20 this year because this whole year has been kicking my butt and October was no exception. What to do??

It was October 31 and a Tuesday, so I had a select few hours outside of work and trick-or-treating to get 11 pieces done. The way I saw it, there were three options:
1. Do 11 fast sketches. Like, really fast.
2. Don’t finish.
3. Use AI.
The problem with quick sketches is that when my brain wants to finish a piece, the piece gets finished. It won’t matter if it takes a few minutes or a few hours, which is part of how I end up so behind on art challenges. Giving up on the whole thing didn’t feel like a great option either. Quitting? Ew.

AI-Flavored Prompt O’ Ween 2023

So that left only one option. I used AI! There’s an app called StarryA I (this isn’t a promo, it’s just what I used) that lets you train the AI on your own style. I hadn’t opened the app in a super long time because the whole topic using AI to make art is pretty dicey. But it took 50 credits to train it on my own art style and I just happened to have enough credits to train the AI and get my 11 Prompt O’ Ween drawings.

You can add up to 30 images so I quickly scrolled through my phone for 30 finished pieces (including the 20 I had done for Prompt O’ Ween 2023) and dumped them in. One by one, I entered the prompts for days 21 through 31, getting four images back for each one.

The results were interesting. They didn’t totally hit the prompts and weren’t what I would have done, but that’s mostly because I entered only the prompt and no additional information. What was really cool was that it sort of hit my art style. Most of it looked like stuff I would do. Some of it was better than what I might have done, which is a total mind job. It was also oddly inspiring and gave me some ideas on things I might want to try.

The Art!

Finally! The results!

Day 1 – Ominous Grave Sinking

Day 2 – Frightening Robot Killing

Day 3 – haggard troll worming

Day 4 – nauseous cerberus spellcasting

Day 5 – ghostly broom eating

Day 6 – rank haunted house wilting

Day 7 – strange skull rising

Day 8 – panicked scarecrow swimming

Day 9 – lit angel riding

Day 10 – bloody devil sweeping

Day 11 – windy spider shrinking

Day 12 – malformed lantern conjuring

Day 13 – petrified death grinning

Day 14 – dismal monster shuddering

Day 15 – afflicted creature dressing up

Day 16 – disguised potion collecting

Day 17 – undead wig vanishing

Day 18 – magical ogre hanging

Day 19 – gooey fire leering

Day 20 – dark bug stalking

The AI Images

Day 21 – evil doll crushing

Day 21 – evil doll crushing

Day 21 – evil doll crushing

Day 21 – evil doll crushing

Day 22 – black zombie blowing

Day 22 – black zombie blowing

Day 22 – black zombie blowing

Day 22 – black zombie blowing

Day 23 – squeamish jester enchanting

Day 23 – squeamish jester enchanting

Day 23 – squeamish jester enchanting

Day 23 – squeamish jester enchanting

Day 24 – sweet queen cackling

Day 24 – sweet queen cackling

Day 24 – sweet queen cackling

Day 24 – sweet queen cackling

Day 25 – cruel clown levitating

Day 25 – cruel clown levitating

Day 25 – cruel clown levitating

Day 25 – cruel clown levitating

Day 26 – shrouded wraith sneaking

Day 26 – shrouded wraith sneaking

Day 26 – shrouded wraith sneaking

Day 26 – shrouded wraith sneaking

Day 27 – sullen coffin sinking

Day 27 – sullen coffin sinking

Day 27 – sullen coffin sinking

Day 27 – sullen coffin sinking

Day 28 – filthy hay trembling

Day 28 – filthy hay trembling

Day 28 – filthy hay trembling

Day 28 – filthy hay trembling

Day 29 – grisly knife seeping

Day 29 – grisly knife seeping

Day 29 – grisly knife seeping

Day 29 – grisly knife seeping

Day 30 – bizarre treat drinking

Day 30 – bizarre treat drinking

Day 30 – bizarre treat drinking

Day 30 – bizarre treat drinking

Day 31 – horrible eyeball shocking

Day 31 – horrible eyeball shocking

Day 31 – horrible eyeball shocking

Day 31 – horrible eyeball shocking

How do you think Prompt O’ Ween 2023 turned out?

You can check out previous years here!
November 3, 2023
It’s Your Inktober Alternative!

What’s the Inktober alternative? Prompt O’Ween! I originally was calling it Promptobe r, but accidentally put Prompt O’ Ween on the first prompt list and here we are… still randomly generated with *slight* editing to make sure there are no duplicates. The 2023 list is here to smash all of your spookiest creative blocks. So let’s ar t!

Ohh and one more thing… my list needs updating! What are some of the Halloweeniest words you can think of? Let me know in the comments!

September 27, 2023
Prompt O’ Ween 2022

Day 19. That’s as far as I made it through Prompt O’ Ween 2022. Booooooo!

Normally I would just power through and finish up that last little but late, but this year was just too dang busy. Honestly overall it’s been hard to keep up with regular stuff. Throwing a daily challenge on top of it all *might* not have been the best idea…

These were the Prompt O’ Ween 2022 prompts:

Out of the 19 I got done (plus one that my son did <3), I think most of them turned out pretty good! There were a couple of clunkers, but definitely a few that pretty much *have* to be prints.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 (by createb0y)

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Want to see prompts in action? All the time lapses are here!

November 3, 2022
Promptober was a Success!
Success! We did it! Every drawing done on the day! Not one missed! Considering past years where I’ve ended up several days behind (or the one year where I dumped over a week of drawings at once), let’s just call this year a big win.

I also took the opportunity to try some different techniques for lining, coloring, and adding effects. The colorize feature in Clip Studio Paint was a quick and dirty way to get a drawing done when time was short. When used in grayscale it contrasted really nicely with a pop of color.

There was also the a-ha moment where I finally accepted that I can’t draw digitally the same way I draw traditionally. The first few drawings I tried to “stay true” to the traditional versions of the Inktober challenge – sketch it, use the ink brush, don’t erase because you can’t erase ink. Well that was dumb, because all it did was make the art take longer! By the end of the month I circled back to some sketchy, inky drawings and they went much quicker and still had the same style. Again, success! I’m better at what I do now! 🙂

I’m debating whether to make the prompts a little simpler next year. The challenge of making things that don’t go together work is fun, but maybe not 31 days in a row. There’s a whole year to think about it though, so let’s have a look at all 31 drawings together! (If you want to see the time lapse videos of them, they’re all on TikTok!)
November 1, 2021
Prompt, Draw, Ink!

Inktober. Drawlloween. ~~Promptober,~~ Prompt O’Ween! (Wait, what??)

The season is upon us! It’s time for the best drawing challenges of the entire year and I’m 100% on the bandwagon. Not only am I putting a full list out ahead of time this year (last year I posted the prompt each day), but I made it all kinds of FANCY!

So why is it Prompt O’Ween and not Promptober this year? WELL… when I was making the graphic that’s just what I put on there. Seriously. I completely forgot it was Promptober last year. Anyhoo, I like them both, so I’ll post it with all the tags!

The one thing I haven’t decided yet is if I want to do these traditional or digital. Last year I think I said I was going full digital this year, but I truly love scribbling away at these in black ink. This is the time of year to finish off those old microns and bring on the fresh ones! Sling. That. Ink.

We’re less than two weeks away – What are you gonna draw??

September 21, 2021
Inktober is Almost Here!

The lists are out!! That’s right kids, Inktober (and Drawlloween) are less than a week away! Last year I combined the *official* Inktober list with Mab Grave’s Drawlloween list to make a double-whammy drawing each day. Some combos worked out better than others (and you can pretty much tell which days were “catch up” days), but all in all I was looking forward to doing it again this year.

Was.

The thing is, I was diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome years ago. I had some handy dandy steroid injections and things were good for a few years – until those pesky symptoms started coming back. The past six months have been *really* bad and the pain in numbness has been getting rapidly worse. It took a very short appointment for Doc to recommend surgery and guess when it is… Right smack in the middle of Inktober!

So I’m left with a choice. Cheat, and get it all done with ahead of time (with a wonky hand), or try to do the second half left-handed. After perusing the lists, I really want to do it justice and take the opportunity to get it all done ahead of time.

There’s another little hang up I have with this year, too. The Inktober and Drawlloween lists match up in a really sucky way. Like I don’t even want to combine them! I know I should see it as a challenge and blah, blah, blah, but we all know that if we force it that much the art is just going to be bad.

So what do??

Did you know there’s ANOTHER Drawlloween list? Camilla d’Errico also does a list (I wish I knew sooner!) and it is THE ONE! Not that the other two aren’t good, but the Camilla list just speaks to me. It has more prompts that I haven’t done and fewer duplicates from last year.

Soooooo, I’ve decided to just do this list:

I might pick and choose a few days from Mab Graves’ list… maybe… if there’s enough time in the day, which there rarely is. But given all that’s going on, it’s probably best to keep things simple this year.

UNFORTUNATELY I’m really bad at keeping things simple… Wanna hear the rest of the plan/decision/ramble?? The Inktober list is still in play, just not in combination with the Drawlloween list. You see, I’m going to be out of commission for at least two weeks post-surgery, and there’s no way I’m not making some kind of art!

Why not do the Inktober list left-handed? The prompts are more open to interpretation (and gorked-out terribleness), so it’s the perfect opportunity to push myself in a different direction… or something… right? It’s more abstract and it will be funny, right? RIGHT?!?

Ultimately it’s going to depend on how much of my other stuff I get done, the planetary alignment, and my list of potential excuses on any given day. But for super serials, I’m getting that Drawlloween list done and it’s going to be amazing! (No pressure)

Thanks for reading! Please check back to see the drawings if you have sec or catch them on Insta. <3. Until next time!

September 24, 2019
Inktober and Drawlloween Are Here!!!

If you don’t know them, you’re gonna know them! Starting today, it’s a drawing per day – two if you’re in it for both events. Every day there is a prompt and you draw it. Simple, right? For Inktober it’s an ink drawing and for Drawlloween it’s a drawing in whatever medium you want.

Of the two prompt lists I prefer Mab Graves’ Drawlloween because it’s more October-related. It’s lots of spooky fun and it’s super interesting to see other artists’ interpretations of even the most familiar monsters.

Spooooooky Drawlloween prompts from Mab Graves!

On the other hand, I think the Inktober list is more challenging because it’s more abstract. The prompt of the day could spark instant inspiration or leave you absolutely stuck, which is really the point of prompts, isn’t it?

OFFICIAL Inktober 2018 prompts!

Last year I did both for the first time, something I don’t recommend if you’re short on time! I started the month off strong, then ended up a couple of days behind and would play catch up. Then I would do well for a while and end up behind again. I think I did most of the last week on the last day! So I wasn’t super great about getting the drawings done every day, but I was determined to get them all done and I did.

Some pages are alright…

That being said, there are definitely some stinkers in there. It’s even more obvious because I dedicated a sketchbook to October. I don’t have to think back to which prompts I had issues with or which ones I relied to much (or not enough) on a reference for. I bet you could pick out which ones I had issues with, too. 🙂

Some pages I’m not proud of. AT. ALL.

I’m hoping this year is an improvement over last year. I don’t want to be too obvious or cliche and I’m thinking a ban on references might be in order! The sketchbook also needs to include the “junk” drawings and not just the final ideas. All that white space is uuuuuugly! ~~Oh, did I forget to mention that I put all the drawings up on the site? Yep, they’re there – every single one~~. ~~Give me another day and the “junk” will be up too. 🙂~~ (**UPDATE: The sketchbook page is temporarily down. Back soon!***)

Inktober and Drawlloween are two more reasons that October is my favorite month! If you follow the hashtags you can check out all the cool drawings that come out this time of year. Come November 1st, I’ll be posting the next section of my October sketchbook – for better or worse!

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

October 1, 2018