Or Drawtober, if you prefer.
If you're an artist, a writer, or someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, you might know about Inktober. If you don't, it's a pretty simple concept: you follow a list of thirty one prompts (sometimes Fall or Halloween related) and do a drawing or a piece of writing every day in October. Some people make their own prompt lists with their friends, while some choose to follow those put out by known figures such as Thomas Sanders.
However, even if you know about or have participated in Inktober, you might not know when and how it started. The challenge began back in 2009, when illustrator Jake Parker decided he wanted to improve his art skills. From there, it blossomed into a popular yearly tradition, and it even has its own website and Instagram.
The idea behind Inktober was to get people to develop "positive drawing habits" that would help them improve. While it initially had somewhat narrow parameters (being focused specifically on traditional ink drawings, hence the name), it has now been expanded to include all kinds of art.
Recently, Jake Parker has been accused of plagiarism in his upcoming book Inktober All Year Long. Parker claims that the accusations are false, and that he hasn't plagiarized anyone. You can draw your own conclusions about the allegations from this video by Alphonso Dunn, and Parker's response on the official Inktober Instragm account.
Alleged plagiarism aside, Inktober has grown beyond Jake Parker – and even if you no longer wish to support him, you might still want to participate in the challenge by using a prompt list from another artist, or creating your own.
Are you planning to do Inktober this year? What prompt list are you going from? Let me know in the comments below.