Inktober is a month-long challenge where you are supposed to draw something every day IN INK - not an easy thing to do. But I thought I'd take a break from watercolor and give it a try. Plus the weather has been so nice, I thought I'd use it as an opportunity to head out my bike to look for interesting places to draw.
First thing I did was check out what pens I had available. I've collected quite an assortment from various workshops over the past few years. Normally I draw with a waterproof pen, since I don't want the watercolor paint smearing the ink. But for this challenge, I thought I'd try out inks that dissolved in water, so I could add a little shading. Most of my pens that had water-soluble ink were fat-tipped, so I jumped on my bike and headed off to Dick Blick. Along the way, my wheel got caught in the trolley tracks, pitching me into the road and bending my brake levers. So my 99 cent pen ended up costing me $51.99 when I added on the cost of getting my brakes fixed. But moving on...
I've been finding some really interesting places to draw and I've discovered that some pens create better shading than others. On one rainy day, I tried sketching the people at Starbucks, but I found that somewhat boring. So instead, I checked out a book from the library on pen & ink sketching. On another day, I sketched over at the hospital after getting my free flu shot. It's been an interesting month so far, but I'm going to have to brave going back down to Dick Blick's since my favorite fountain pen ran out of ink. But maybe I'll just walk this time.
