It’s October! My favorite month and the month of Inktober!

“Every October, artists all over the world take on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month.”

http://inktober.com

Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 to improve his inking skills, and thanks to the wonders of social media, now thousands of folks participate.

One ink drawing a day…how hard could it be? 😉

Inktober publishes a list of daily prompts, but I went off book and used prompts based on the wondrous book The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

When I read the book, I was drawn into the enchanted (and enchanting) world of the night circus. I kept a list of intriguing concepts and delightful phrases. So when Inktober rolled around, I was inspired to explore these ideas in visual form.

Here’s the final set.

---

And here’s each individual daily post.
(Click for a larger image; opens in the same window.)

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

What I learned this year is to keep going, even when it’s stressful or if an image isn’t done in just one one day. I found new creative reserves as I envisioned different ways to bring the prompt to life. I hated some of them, but ended up liking the set. The size, border and using only black & white gave the images unity. I noticed themes emerging and that fueled the inspiration even more.

This was a very fun and intense project, and when I look back at the images, I get to fall in love with the wonders of the night circus all over again.