But I am pretty proud. I've done 29 faces quite a few times at this point where you make 29 faces in a month (I haven't even shared my last completion where I painted faces on 29 rocks!), but I never accomplished it via 1/face a day (I've also started it a few times and didn't get to 29....)
I wanted to only use supplies I had on hand, so I went with a little Canson Mix Media book I won at Blick Art Materials years ago. The paper didn't like the watered down inks as much as would be ideal, but it was ok. The form factor of the book was great as it was easy to carry around and the pages weren't so huge (3.5x5.5 inches) that a drawing a day sucked up all the time in the day. I could easily sketch while I sat at my table with things playing on youtube in the background and carry everything I needed to other locations (this is something I've grown to love about watercolors as well.)
I've had a little bit of art drawing lessons in my life, but not much - a 2 week summer program in the afternoons one summer and some drawing in my photography class in high school (so the class could qualify as an "art" class as per some organization.) I've stumbled into some youtubers that draw and it's made me want to integrate watercolors more with drawing vs. all the abstract stuff I do or to add more structure to the abstract. While I do enjoy the "play" aspect of paints and mixing colors or the relaxation of just doodling at times, it is nice to be able to convey something more concrete. This past summer while at Yosemite, I spent time doing pen drawings of random nature I found as I sat next to a stream and enjoyed it immensely. So I set out to only use black ink to draw for a month and draw more realistic stuff.
It was incredibly hard for me NOT to use color this month. That's first where adding in the black India ink became extremely appealing. For all the years I've been developing my black and white film, I don't draw things in just black and white normally. I loved the inks, but about halfway through Inktober, I pulled out my colored Microns for "overgrown" on day 14, using a limited palette, and then decided I should just stick the black and white. The thinking and way I was building the drawings was much different without the focus on color and I knew I was doing this partially to challenge myself to draw and art differently and pratice. But I also really wanted color. So I decided to let myself buy a set of the color India Inks if I completed the month!
Some days were more difficult than others. I just didn't feel like drawing some days and others I really didn't feel inspired by the prompt. Some days I started drawing and erased the whole thing a few times. Some days I messed up lines and fixed them and others I just had to live with it. Some drawings I keep going back to look at and others makes me want to redraw them, but also not really, so I try to learn from it and move on.
I am glad I did it, but I am glad it's over! I still want to keep drawing and I still need to keep doing daily art! Yay for Inktober!
#31 - Ripe. COLOR!!!
#Inktober #Inktobeer2019
