Challenges have become an almost daily part of our lives with a new one springing up on social media almost every few days, quite a few of which are just bizarre and leaves you wondering what the person who initiated it was even thinking. Some are even life threatening and it's best to just give them a miss. However there are many which are actually meaningful and can actually benefit you in a lot of ways. Cue, the Inktober challenge. Indeed, its highly likely that this term has become quite familiar to you are you scroll down your home feed on social media with quite a few people putting up sketches with the hashtag inktober.
But what is this challenge all about? Inktober was started way back in 2009 by illustrator and animator Jay Parker as a way to keep himself motivated to improve his inking skills on a daily basis. The challenge soon gained popularity among his friends and fans and has since gone on to become a popular annual challenge with art lovers around the world picking up their art tools every October and going on a daily sketching spree. The rules of the challenge are simple “ make a sketch every day and put it online with the hashtag inktober 2016. As a means of helping you out with ideas, a prompt word for each day has been provided. It isn't neccesary that you follow the prompt list as it is. Also, you can follow the one sketch a day rule or post two sketches every other day or even do seven a a shot at the end of every week. The only criteria is that at the end of the month you need to have 31 sketches for the 31 days.
Artists, professional and amateur in Goa have also taken up this challenge with a whole ot of excitement. They share their views on how it has been beneficial to them so far
QUOTES
I have been wanting to participate in this challenge for the past couple of years and this time around I forced myself to commit to it. It was also encouraging to see a lot more people participating this year. As it is not compulsory to follow the prompt list I come up with my own topics as I am also working on my book ' the book of spells' and I get content for the challenge while working on this book. This book is more of diary in which I draw surreal drawings in ink and watercolours based on the daily spells we are put through “ Malcolm Rebello, Aldona
This Inktober was my second attempt to keep up with the challenge. I do feel inspired everyday to do a sketch but sometimes there's so much going on that it slips off my mind. But I like the challenge as it's a great way for artists to come up with ideas really quickly and it helps you visually interprete what's going on in your mind as well. While I haven't been able to keep up to it as much as I would have liked to as I have been busy with studies, I am definitely going to try it next time and more whole-heartedly “ Wynzel Rebello, Navelim
This is my first time taking on the Inktober challenge . I haven't sketched in over two years and after a friend spoke to me about it I thought it would be a good time to start again. It's been fun so far and I really did miss the sketching all this time. Coming up with ideas based on the prompts has been easy as there's always inspiration from the sights around while travelling. Plus there have been things I've been wanting to sketch and didn't have time to do so “ Jeanine Soares, Margao
It's a great way to take a break from your routine and challenge yourself to draw a sketch and improve your drawing skills. It urges you to think out of the box and sketch. Thinking about the ideas and implementing it is tough but when you draw and complete it, it's the best feeling ever. You feel content. As I have my own work to do, it has been hard to manage to find time. But I'm trying my best to participate in it and I think it's a good habit for an artist to cultivate. We all have excuses for not sketching and Inktober keeps you feeling inspired and makes you want to create better artworks and improve your skills. Although I haven't been able to find time to sketch for the last nine days I am going to make up for it my doing 10 today! - Swapnil Behere, Mapusa
While I have done a lot of sketches in the past, I haven't put them up on the net and Inktober was a great opportunity to help me start this out. I feel these challenges are important as it helps one to get inspired from artists around the world while also being an inspiration for others “ Swetesh Naik, Curchorem
