A few weeks ago, I made a post featuring my Inktober drawings up to Day 11, and gave a brief explanation that Inktober is a month-long drawing challenge where artists draw each day and post it to share with others! (It’s a very informal event, and lots of people interpret it in different ways.) I’ve been posting all of my Inktober drawings to my Slanted Spines social media on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, but I know some of my readers exclusively visit me online or on WordPress, so I didn’t want you to miss out! (Although you should highly consider following Slanted Spines on social media. You won’t regret it!)

After the first prompt here, the Dragon prompt, I went back to using my Rocket Book to finish out Inktober. (If you don’t know about the Rocket Book, look it up! It’s essentially an reusable notebook that has a scanning app. It’s super cool and is especially handy for note-taking.) On Instagram, I always tag #rocketbook, and the official Rocket Book Instagram account has re-posted some of my drawings, giving me a shout-out!

So here is the second half of my Inktober drawings for this month. I hope everyone has enjoyed these drawings, as I have enjoyed having a more disciplined artistic schedule, which may be me “forcing myself” to sit down and draw, but as soon as I start moving my pen, I’m happy I gave myself the opportunity to doodle. So again, enjoy!

Day 12: Dragon

During this prompt, I was on a camping trip with my boyfriend and family, so I had no cell service. I drew this one in my sketch book, and I wasn’t able to search any dragon reference photos online, so Bryant had the idea to draw a hatching dragon. When I was done with the egg, I had some fun designing the frame for it. Dragon?

Day 13: Ash

This is actually one of my favorites. Have you ever watched Daria? During the end credits of each episode, there are Daria characters in cosplay as other characters; for example, Daria is drawn dressed as Cleopatra. That’s kind of what I imagined with this one—draw my character N.T. Ed as Ash Ketchum from Pokémon. (And Talia, as Pikachu, or “Talia-chu.”) This one was really fun!

Day 14: Overgrown

I had a couple ideas for this one, but at the last minute I decided to make the prompt work for a different idea I was inspired to draw. Even though I draw N.T. all the time, he has such cartoonish features compared to this more anatomically accurate depiction. This might be my favorite Inktober! I like the little bee at the bottom of this one.

Day 15: Legend

Another N.T. Ed cosplay depiction——Legend of Zelda, anyone? (Confession: I’ve never played Zelda… This is awkward.)

Day 16: Wild

Because we work at a restaurant called Wild Goats, Bryant suggested I draw something inspired by work. But I’ve drawn a lot of restaurant-themed comics (which are available to read on Slanted Spines) and I didn’t feel like going that route. Instead, I made it the buzz word of this mother-daughter conversation. (I caption this, “What’s truly wild is that her daughter hadn’t looked away from her phone during the entire 30 minutes they had been sitting there.”)

Day 17: Ornament

Cute, basic. And also, maybe inspiring. Would anyone like to see Slanted Spines ornaments this year?

Day 18: Misfit

The day of this prompt was a rough day for me, and doing this self-portrait project for “Misfit” actually helped me feel a little better about who I am. I am really proud of how this came out.

Day 19: Sling

During our camping trip earlier this month, Bryant and I had set up the hammock and we laid in it while staring at the golden yellow leaves on the trees above us, and the bright blue sky above. He read poetry to me, and nearby my father was making burgers (and veggie burgers) over the fire for lunch. It was a beautiful, blissful moment, and so this was a little romantic tribute to that memory.

Day 20: Tread

The footprint looks really cool! One thing I always have to keep in mind while drawing N.T. is that he doesn’t speak, so anything that goes through his mind has to strictly be a thought bubble or physical expression. Which makes the “Frail” prompt from my first Inktober post so funny——this old lady is lecturing him, but he can’t speak up and tell her otherwise!

Day 21: Treasure

Since moving in together, I’ve been able to bond with Bryant’s cat Karma a lot more. One morning, Karma and I actually lounged on the bed for a whole half-day, me reading my book and Karma soaking up the different comfortable positions among all our blankets, and you know, on top of me. She’s not always in this sweet, loving mood, and so the entire time I was wondering when she was going to get bored and leave, but she was with me until I finally said, “All right, I need to go make a late lunch.” By now, I view her no longer as “Bryant’s cat,” but “our cat.” Awwww.

Day 22: Ghost

Peep the little PAC-Man ghost at the bottom. I like this one.

Day 23: Ancient

I’ve recently began reading up on astrology, and so the timing of this one is kind of funny——I drew it because I was in the mood to draw an astrological design, and then the next day I realized I had done it beginning on the first day of Scorpio season. The drawing portrays a scorpion, which is my sun sign, but also the symbols of my Libra moon and Sagittarius Venus. But, yes, I am a Scorpio! Happy Scorpio season, everybody; my birthday is November 20!

Day 24: Dizzy

After the last prompt, I lost the black pen I use for my Rocket Book, so you may see the purple tint of this one, since I had to use a different color in black’s absence.

Day 25: Tasty

It was late at night and after I finished this, I was very, very much craving a piece of chocolate mousse cake. Mmmmmm…

Day 26: Dark

My interpretation of “dark” was to draw an inverted N.T. Bryant pointed out that it kind of looks like he’s wearing a skeleton jumpsuit actually, and I like that perspective as well.

Day 27: Coat

This drawing reminds me of the sewing patterns my grandma and I used to look at when we went to Jo-Ann Fabrics. She often made me dresses as a child, and we would discuss what our fashion brand would be called, “Grandma & Me,” where I designed the clothing and she would create it. The clean lines on this drawing below are really appealing to me, and I have to say this is one of my favorites!

Day 28: Ride

The wheels aren’t perfect circles, but when I tell you that I drew all of this without erasing once, then maybe you’ll give me some props——yup, those are first-try circles! This is a really cool vintage bike. I’ve always wanted a bike like a basket! Probably because I watched Wizard of Oz so much as a kid, and that mean Elvira Gulch had that handy basket on her bike.

Day 29: Injured

This was the second opportunity for these Inktober prompts where I thought, “I could draw a broken arm for this…” (the other one being “sling”), but I wasn’t in the mood to draw somebody hurt, so instead I did an “injured” stem, snapped. It’s still a little sad, but just a part of life!

Day 30: Catch

This drawing came from a few different ideas. When I drew it, I was feeling a little down, sort of like I was falling. I felt my thoughts sinking, and it was such an immediate sensation of descending. I started with a girl falling, but then I wondered, “Where is she falling?” I didn’t want to draw spikes or anything painful at the bottom, so I started drawing flower petals and leaves. The whole time, music was playing in my head, and I had been listening to a lot of music lately in an attempt to comfort myself. Ultimately, I ended up with this drawing, and I don’t know if I really like it or not, but it came together.

Day 31: Ripe

Happy Halloween! I wanted to do something festive, and I had debated carving a skull face into this pumpkin, but the classic farm image had a nice appeal to it. My favorite part of this one is how the pine trees and the barn look in the background.

Well, that’s all, folks! I loved doing Inktober this year and I’m already looking forward to next year. It’s been a great challenge for my creativity and my drawing skills and I think right now, I feel a lot less intimidated by the idea of drawing! It’s like, I feel like I’m ready to face any drawing idea head-on without fear of how it will look when it’s done. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading!

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