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:
Do 11 fast sketches. Like, really fast.
Don’t finish.
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 StarryAI (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.
What’s the Inktober alternative? Prompt O’Ween! I originally was calling it Promptober, 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 art!
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!
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.
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!)
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??
