Inktober 2021 – Done and Dusted!

Hi and welcome back to the Chrissie Murphy Designs Blog. Well, after 31 glorious days of drawing, Inktober 2021 is done and dusted! It has been all consuming and it has been a joy! So let’s get into it and wrap this baby up.

What did Inktober 2021 look like?

Above is a video of the full 31 days of Inktober. It shows where I began with a single gem and pattern, to the final day of it being a fully fledged piece. I used Stephane Jennifer’s Inktober Tangles 2021 prompts for what to draw each day.

I just to want take a quick moment to honour and thank Stephanie for the work she has done to create this tangle prompt list for us. It was professionally crafted, thoughtfully assembled and inspiringly created. Thank you so much Stephanie, you have inspired some absolute masterpieces! I will be looking for your prompts next year!

Another artist inspired me to photograph myself with the finished piece. I really like this photo, because not only did it capture what my Inktober 2021 looked like, it also captured what it looked like on me…. And that was sheer joy!

How would I describe the journey?

I never expected to love the process as much as what I did. This was my first time working on one piece for Inktober, and I loved it. I intend to work more like this in the future.

The other component I have loved has been the community. Oh what an amazing community you Expressive’s are! It has been wonderful to hop on to Instagram each day and admire everyone’s Inktober journey. I have loved it.

It has encouraged me so much. There’s a verse in Ecclesiastes which says:

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Ecclesiastes 4:12

The Expressive’s community is like that cord that’s not quickly broken.

• One of us out there tacking Inktober alone can become easily discouraged.
• Two of us can encourage each other against the voices that seek to derail our Inktober.
• But Three of us can bond and spur each other on for the entire Inktober journey.

That’s how I would describe the Inktober 2021 journey. Like being part of a cord of Expressive’s that are not quickly broken and have spurned each other on to create masterpieces for the month of October.

I am grateful for every comment, every like, every share and every word of encouragement I received. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Reaching the end of Inktober 2021, how do I feel?

Ooooh great question…. I have mixed emotions.

I am so happy and ecstatic to have completed Inktober 2021. The results are greater than what I dreamt. Personally, I believe the Lord has gifted me as an artist to create places where His glory can be seen. This is one piece where I feel I have achieved that.

And on the other hand I’m also feeling a little saddened that it’s come to an end. It has been such a joyous time! I’ve loved the community, the conversation, the reveals, the amazements, the beauty and the focus that Inktober brings to the Expressive community.

Yes, those things are with us all year round, but in October, they are magnified 10 fold and I love it! The level of intensity that Inktober brings would be difficult to sustain indefinitely. So it’s best that it does end, I’m just a touch saddened that it does.

What worked well for me?

I’m so pleased I stuck with a colour scheme I knew well. Blues and browns are staples for me, and I don’t have to think much about colouring or shading or highlighting when I use them. Making a decision to stick with what I knew was a worthwhile decision.

I’m also glad I began with a gem as a central focus. It had been ages since I shaded a gem, so I went back to Eni Oken’s Shading Gems ebook as a guide. It’s such a great guide. I’d encourage you to purchase it.

Having the gem front and centre made photography so easy! I just kept lining the camera up with the gem each day. This is something else that worked well.

What didn’t work well for me?

Because of the nature of the Inktober Tangles prompts, I couldn’t work in sections that were neatly defined. I wanted to be able to do this, because it helps when trying to shade the entire piece.

Instead I tried to define my own. It made shading the piece at the end difficult. Ideally, I needed to know these areas as we were working, but I couldn’t see them, so I had to define them (somehow) at the end.

I also ran out of space at the end, and ended up squeezing Eke (by Zentangle) in where I could. As a result, it wasn’t given the justice it deserved.

Someone suggested I could have applied a narrow frame of Eke around the whole piece…. And I could have…. But I needed the white space border for framing and I just couldn’t fit it in using this method.

If I had my time over, I would try to do these things differently, maybe use a slightly larger tile and define sections by a string.

The Factual Bits

What materials did I use

• Canson watercolour paper
• Signo Uniball Gel Pens
• Derwent Inktense
• Prismacolor Premier Coloured Pencils in varying colours
• Grey Copic Markers in W4, W5 and W7

What technique did I use?

I used a grid, where I began in the centre and then worked my way outwards, tangle by tangle.

What will I be doing with it?

So many people have asked me what I will be doing with my Inktober 2021 piece now that it’s finished. I do have some plans, so I thought I’d share them here.

Firstly I intend to scan my drawing so that when I am able to afford it, I will be having it enlarged and printed on canvas. I have a wall as you walk in to the front of our home that is begging for some art to display.

I also would like to create some jigsaws. There are a few people in my life who are jigsaw lovers, and I think this drawing is the perfect piece for a “difficult” jigsaw!

I have had requests for prints, so I intend to see what I can do in that area for you all as well. Canvas prints with some giclee prints is what I am initially thinking.

And lastly, yes, I will be framing it.

How big is my Inktober 2021 piece?

It is 30cm x 30cm square (three times my normal size)

Want to be more Expressive?

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Until next time, listen to your heart and sharpen your coloured pencils. A masterpiece awaits!

Bless you my friend

Chrissie xx