As a reminder, I'm using the 2016 drawing prompts list so that I can finish what I started last year. Day 6's theme was HIDDEN. The general shape of the blank space between the two major bleed-throughs on this page reminded me of someone hiding in a huge fluffy blanket, so that's what I drew! I gave the face a suspicious look just because it fits the Halloweeny mood of October. Even though the subject looks on edge, what I really wanted to convey was the comforting, tactile sensation of a huge, heavy, warm, fluffy blanket. Maybe they're on edge because someone is trying to steal their cuddly blankie? Maybe that's why they're hidden!
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| Anytime I focus on any kind of book for too long... |
In the middle of working on this, one of my cats, Kiki, very adorably got right in the middle of my work XD She kept purring and fluffing herself up and rubbing on my face until she finally stepped exactly on my sketchbook, lol. Typical cat behavior but absolutely adorable no matter how often it happens~ So I took a million pictures of her naughtiness (I picked just one to share here, lest my blog be taken over by her as well!) until she finally got bored and jumped down.
After adding the first round of hatching, I thought of calling it good and stopping there but I decided to add a bit more presence with big inked shadows. I ended up taking it farther than I first thought but happily didn't take it too far. Sometimes when I shade without a plan, I end up going so far that I have to add more to the entire piece, changing the whole mood or message. That can be fun, but for a daily drawing like this, I really don't want to do that much work.
Challenging myself to complete the full month of Inktober has been teaching me a lot. Not about drawing and inking, but about myself, the way my mind works, and what I have to change in order to get something like this done. I have to force myself to forget about perfectionism, remind myself that these are just daily drawings, not masterpieces. I have to get started immediately and remember that if I don't get it done today, there's no make-up time later. Stuff like that may seem simple, but my mind doesn't naturally think along those lines (it's more like "If it's not done perfectly and to the best of your ability from start to finish, there's just no point"). I think this month is going to help me become more flexible and productive as an artist.
