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| Day 31: Fire |
Some final thoughts:
These were my favorite prompts, and they were not the best things I drew:
Day 8: toad
Day 11: wander. I drew a Neil Young
looking dude with a bindle
Day 24: shallow and
Day 29: massive
I feel like this was a challenging endeavor and I'm glad I did it. Often, I worked on these drawing in the evenings after my family went to bed. If nothing else, I'm grateful to have spent my quiet hours doing this and not staring into a screen.
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| Day 14: Castle |
I've been trying out new things. No doubt. I find it funny that since August, I've been doing creative challenges that do no need a computer. Sure, the photography challenge and subsequent photobook in August needed a little tinkering with InDesign, but it wasn't necessary. And the poetry book I did in September, much like Inktober, didn't even require electricity.
I find the time I spend on these lofi activities makes me feel a certain way. It's like I can spend a couple of hours watching a movie on Netflix or endless YouTube videos and when I'm done, I feel tired, but I can't sleep. I feel wound up and exhausted. But, if I spend the same amount of time drawing or writing in my notebook or reading, I feel relaxed and sleepy. It probably has something to do with being wired a certain way, I have no scientific proof. By the anecdotal evidence is profound.
Going into the final days of Inktober, I don't know if I'm ready for it to en
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| Not really a drawing. Day 5: Map |
What I could have had, this whole time was something drawing related. I mean, I wouldn't have considered the paper I'm using as I'm still using the same sketchbook I've been using all year. I have not really considered the pens either. I am still using Micron pens, but I've decided to make a move to the Staedtler pens as the Micron wear out. This is for no real reason, except maybe I like the way the nibs are shaped a little better.
No, what I've been musing over is time. My mind wanders when I draw. I have ample time to think, which I like. Since Inktober has fallen between the poetry project I did in September and the Novel writing project for NaNoWriMo that I plan for November, being able to clear my mind of all verbal noise has been a blessing. I find I've been thinking about the deep past, my deep past. Things that happened very long ago, and how they have impacted me now. I've also been thinking about dead friends. I don't care for the autumn very much, and I've lost friends and family members during this time of year. But that has nothing to do with drawing.
As the weather has been cooling down, I know it's time to get serious. I'm in the middle of the third week of the Inktober challenge, I don't feel like I'm slowing down anytime soon. There's just under two weeks left. Maybe I will have a revelation between now and then.
Sometimes, I'll Google the word and look at images. Sometimes, this is not a good thing. For instance the prompt for October 9th was “bounce” and drawing a blank, I looked it up. I wouldn't say I was horrified, horror isn't the right word. But looking up bounce, I just didn't think I was going to get what I got. Rather than drawing big body parts, I chose to draw a pogo stick.
Interestingly, the pogo stick
brought up many miseries of childhood. I was never mistreated by a
pogo stick, but thanks for asking. I was a troubled child, and I was
often shuffled around to different babysitters. I have a spotty
memory of one babysitter in particular. Their was a rusty pogo stick
in the alley. There was also a little girl there too, and when my
mother came to get me, I remember this little girl specifically
asking my mom if I could stay a little longer. I don't remember
anything else, and I may have been there only once.
It was a funny memory to have, for sure. I was enjoying it, the memory, as I was drawing the pogo stick. I think if it weren't for that act of drawing, I would not have had the memory, not at least until the years of senility get here.
Pogo sticks aside, I've been scribbling away
When I started the graphic design program at Front Range, I was terrified of the two art classes that I had to take to earn the degree. It only made sense that I would have to take some art classes, after all, because not everything can be generated with software. Of course, the trends as they continue will make this thought obsolete. Enter AI generated art, I just don't know how I feel about it. On one hand, it's great because you can make a mockup very quickly, and go. On the other hand, it is AI. I suppose you can train AI to do things a certain way, but babysitting a computer was nothing that I had in mind. There is still something great about human generated art. If not the art itself, then the fact that someone took the time to learn to do it, practiced it.
When I took the intro to drawing class, I was nervous about it because I never felt like I had much in the way of artistic inclinations. I also know that art is subjective, and I know that there is a great deal of discipline in art. I was delighted by the class, and I have been drawing nearly daily since.
What I find when I draw is a peace of mind that is different from other practices that I have. When I draw, I don't care about the outcome as much as I care about how I feel. It's strange. I don't generally share my drawings, not even with my family. The exception to this, of course, is when I do a creative challenge with my friend Kimberly.
Kimberly has become somewhat of a character in these blog posts, poor thing. But, we have done a few of these challenges together, and it's fun to see what the other is doing or how to entertain each other. We did Inktober last year, the first year either one of us has done it. We did a second drawing challenge last January. This year, Inktober is our third drawing challenge.
My intent, is to draw with my micro pens and sharpies in my sketchbook.
