After attending the International Sketchnote Camp in Leiden at the beginning of September, I was extremely motivated and inspired and wanted to keep as much of this creative, happy and open “drawing world” as possible in my everyday life. Before the summer, I had created an Instagram account so that I could stay in touch with many of the people I had met and we could share our ideas and work. Unfortunately, after a wonderfully creative summer, everyday life soon caught up with me again and the time for drawing became scarcer and more and more “gray” spread in my life. To counteract this, I decided to take part in the Inktober Challenge and see if I could really manage to draw every day and make time for something that was so important to me.
I opted for digital drawings in a frame that had already been designed in advance and really wanted to draw from day to day without stressing myself out. Apart from three days that I had to skip due to illness, I always managed to do this. The exchange within the community was particularly helpful and nice for me. The fact that so many people draw the same concept and implement it so differently is simply fascinating. It was a bit like an Advent calendar, where you can open a new door every day, except that there were countless new pictures to discover and enjoy every day.
I deliberately wanted to keep my drawings simple and in black and white – and to train myself in the process not to lose myself in perfectionism and to be able to let go of imperfections more easily. The drawings always focused on my drawn self and after a rabbit and a squirrel appeared in a forest scene for the first time on day 6, from day 8 I was always accompanied by the squirrel “Pauli”, the big rabbit “Kerbel” (Waldi alias “schneelotti” came up with the names 🙂 ) and sometimes also the little rabbit “Hiphoppel”. I thought it was really funny that these characters suddenly appeared completely unplanned and accompanied me throughout the whole adventure and beyond.
I shared all my drawings on Instagram, WhatsApp and also on VerbalToVisual and felt for the first time how nice it is to share something with others so regularly and also to get feedback on it. I can learn a lot from drawing every day – serenity, enjoying the moment and trusting my ideas, which emerge even when I don’t feel particularly inspired by a concept at first.
At the end of Inktober, I was really proud to have accomplished everything without having to force myself to do anything. And since I already had all the drawings in digital format, I had them printed in small booklets so that I could give them away as gifts—in a form that also allows the drawings to be colored in, added to, etc.
My animal friends reappeared at New Year and Easter—and I’ve been meaning to make myself an Inktober T-shirt for ages, but I haven’t found the time yet. Maybe I’ll manage it before Inktober 2024 begins. 🙂