Thinktober
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Hey guys,
As we work our way through Inktober I wanted to make a quick post and talk about process. Inktober is awesome for getting the ol' pens moving and creating art. I am all for the project AS LONG AS IT IS FULFILLING YOU AND MOVING YOUR ART FORWARD IN SOME WAY.
Sometimes the pressure to do daily drawings/paintings can overwhelm you. You may feel pressured to do any old drawing so you can check off the daily drawing box and say that you did it. But doing work that doesn't move you forward can be almost as bad as doing nothing at all.
So I like to encourage people to take a step back and think about what kind of work you want to be doing and what the steps are to doing that kind of work. Getting one good painting in a month is better than having 31 images if they don't do much for you.
Remember, everything you say yes to means saying no to other projects and things. So saying yes to a bigger, more meaningful project may yield more benefits that saying yes to lots of little projects that are basically throwaways.
Again, if you are loving daily drawings, keep at it! but if you aren't getting satisfaction out of it, maybe take a few days off. Write down some things you might want to really accomplish with your art. And take a slower approach. I call this method "Thinktober"
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Ahh thanks for this. I decided not to do Inktober this year cause I wanted to focus on a project I am working on. Full time job + 4 kids + freelance work = only a few hours of free time and instead of doing Inktober I thought to use that time for my project. But I see everyone's work and think I should be doing it.
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This makes sense to me. I really don't have any time to spare. Going to stop with the 100 superheroes as well. I've been getting some interest in my work and I want to concentrate on finishing my current dummy book. Maybe do something like this when I've been able to plan it out and have something to show for it at the end.
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I'm going to continue with daily drawings, because I am indeed enjoying it and this is the first year I've done it. It's within the last year and a half that I've come back to art after a regretful hiatus, and I had decided I wanted to get better with ink and discovered brush pens. So it really is a good project for me, I think
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@Chip-Valecek Don't feel bad for not doing Inktober...if you've only got a couple of hours a day for personal work, you can't do everything. I'm feeling conflicted about Inktober even though it's only day 6...there are lots of things I want to make progress on that Inktober is pushing out....like working on the amends for my Fall Critique piece, trying out the techniques in Lee's Loosening up in Watercolour class, October 3rd Thursday, the SCBWI contest... all of which would most likely be better for pushing my art forward. In which case I should probably follow Lee's advice and prioritise things differently....
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I decided to just do one drawing a week this year. Still participating to a limited degree, but with a four month old baby thats really all I feel I can manage this year. I've always felt thats what is important--participating only if you want to, to the degree that you feel is helpful.
