I am STRUGGLING with INKTOBER! | #inktober2022

There are some who finish the challenge in a few minutes, while there are others who spend hours and hours pushing the limits of their creativity. For those people (yes, like me!) it can sometimes be a struggle to find time, find good ideas, and even find the courage to simply create.

In this discussion, I talk about 10 ways of how I manage my struggle and get through each day of this exciting challenge:

1. STOP. TAKE A BREAK. CHANGE YOUR SURROUNDINGS.
When it all starts to overwhelm, take a break and go for a walk.
2. ACCEPT THE REALITY OF YOUR SITUATION.
Owning the situation and pushing through is like ripping the Band Aid off.
3. BREATHE!
There is so much healing power in just breathing!
4. TALK TO SOMEONE WHO CAN RELATE.
Talking with those who "get it" can be a great stress relief.
5. EAT, DRINK, AND REST.
Eat healthy, not junk food, and remember to hydrate and rest.
6. RE-FOCUS.
It's okay to do other creative projects and to even incorporate them.
7. MOVE YOUR BODY.
Exercise, go for a walk, or even just walk around the house.
8. TAKE A SHOWER.
Refresh and invigorate your body with good hygiene!
9. UNDERSTAND THIS IS TEMPORARY.
Remember that it's only 31 days and it will end. Try to enjoy it while it's here!
10. QUIT.
And always know that if you're not having fun or seeing a positive benefit, it's okay to stop and try again another year.

As always, I hope this video is somehow beneficial and enjoyable for you.

If you're doing the Inktober challenge, I wish you the best of success in your creative adventure. In fact, I wish myself the best of success, too, because seriously – I need it!

Cheers and thank you for watching. Please provide any feedback or comments below, as I'd love to hear your thoughts. As always, stay well, stay healthy, and God bless! ~ Mark

#inktober2022
#mdcampbellart
#strugglingartist
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[berry]

I suggest preparing weeks ahead (Ex: September). Writing or sketching down ideas, storylines, etc ahead of time it will cut down the workflow faster.

Example: I do Nanowrimo (writing 50, 000 words in November challenge) and I prep an outline/characters/etc in October (which writers call it preptober) so that I will have an idea what to write in November.

[kellywilson]

Year after year I look forward to your Inktober videos! Mainly because I love your art, but also because you always have a great take on the challenge. I hate to see you struggle, but I'm so glad to know I'm not alone! Your 10 list hit home for me because every single one applies to me; I forget to eat, I spend too much time on a single drawing that I'm never happy with, and the list goes on. Thanks for sharing your struggle with us! Your insight is so appreciated!

[robineliason]

Wishing you success finishing the challenge.
My cranky, temperamental Chromebook elected to go belly up last week. Unfortunately, it took my reference pics with it (I wasn't doing the prompts, I was working on bird flight from the Muybridge animations), My main push this year was to get back into drawing daily and this kinda threw me off stride. New Chromebook came today, so i can get back to it, but I think I am out of Inktonber at this point. It doesn't mean I am going to stop drawing, just not for Inktober. I will try again next year.
Your suggestions on overcoming difficulties sound reasonable to me, and I am going to use some of them to keep myself drawing without the impetus of the challenge. I had deliberately kept my ideas simple and was not planning to do complex pieces for the challenge. I have had success with completing the challenge in the past. And it will help me keep drawing without the challenge now.
And I 100% agree with your suggestion to breathe! It is amazing how that can help, how it can allow you to refocus.
Thank you once again for a great, and useful, video.

[Jendolll]

I take more time on prompts that inspire and I doodle the ones that don't. Forget gave me no inspiration at all so I literally drew a bubble with a question mark. Now some of the others like eagle, I took more time on. Some days I just skip it and revisit it the next day to catch up. I don't want to feel pressured to complete it. I want it to be fun and relaxing.

[shirleyj]

I think that part of the idea of the challenge is to establish a drawing habit. If that is the case, then come up with a concept drawing for the month and work on it each day. How much you work on it each day is up to you. Then if you do finish...Fantastic. If you don't finish by the 31st, you still have days in November to keep going until you do. Just keep drawing. I too struggle and succeed some days and fail others. I just keep trying. That to me is what is most important.

[VictorianStudio]

I hope you find your balance Mark. I am absolutely amazed at the pieces you turn out. I didn't attempt Inktober until I was retired in 2019 so this is my 4th year in a row participating. Because I don't have work commitments, I successfully completed the challenge each year; I can't imagine trying it while having a full time job or school. Even so, this year I also pared down my theme to more simple images and have been able to keep up even when I have "down" days. I guess the only good thing about being alone in the house is that I can stay up till any hour if I want to but I do miss the encouragement and support hubby gave me in previous years - I loved sharing every drawing with him.

[Craftaartissaurus]

My 3rd year doing Inktober. This year I’m doing the Kattober prompts, having a blast. I focus in on one thing, last year it was shading it worked I got better and my mono art improved. This year it’s cats (yep not the best at drawing them) must say I’m definitely better, I’m also using alcohol markers, not great with them, I can see improvement so again happy. I’m trying not to take it to seriously not the best at this. Yep got stressed on one prompt so far. Still I think it’s the habit of drawing for 31 days that I like, creating new pictures. Fun was had each day for me this is the key.

[cammiluna]

I haven't done an inktober in several years, and even when I did, I always struggled with prompt lists because half of them were uninteresting. What I did was pool a bunch of different challenge prompt lists together and picked the prompts that looked fun to draw. Even if the prompts were done out of order. In 2016 and 2017, I started doing the hobonichi challenge. There's these Japanese day planners called Hobonichi that have a big graphed page for every day of the year (and the paper can handle assorted inks and light splashes of watercolor paint). The challenge was to draw something, be it a slight doodle or something more, every day of the year. I never completed a whole journal before, but any day that I DID draw on it, it would be whatever's on my mind- an idea for my comics, something funny an aquarium fish does, a thought in my head, a character I thought was cool, a cute outfit I've seen somewhere, the list goes on. In recent years, I'm even more causal about it, but I like flipping through the pages of my previous books and seeing what positive things were going on in my head that particular year. I was a little depressed in late 2021 that I stopped doing the challenge after 2018 because there's nothing to look back on, so I picked up a 2022 Hobonichi and my 2023 one just came in the mail for January! Back in the early days, I'd have about 8-10 months worth of dumb drawings done per journal year. This year, it's about 6 months due to day job burnout, but there's still lots to look back at later!

I find inktobers good if the challenge you want is to follow a prompt list, but sometimes it's challenging enough just to to put something down on paper at all.

[lucybarker]

I love your realism and your drawings are great. I have the opposite situation this year, although what you described was very much me last year. This year though, something happened at work that has made things so difficult, Inktober has been the only thing helping me get out of my head and give me some peace for a few hours each night

[moonlightgator]

I have never done this challenge. I just have to many responsibilities. I am lucky if I have few minuts to draw a day. I have time in the summer so this is when I do my challanges.

[MerKittiez]

Thank you for this video, I stopped drawing for the past 2 years and I decided to give it another go this October, I took on the #promptober challenge and have been struggling on and off, but it has been worth it because my love for drawing has been restored and it is something I needed, and watching your videos has always been inspirational, you are so right, we need balance and keep living our lives, again thank you for all your videos and I am looking forward for more.

[jimmydragonstudios]

Each time inktober comes around I always say I'm going to do it. But it comes and sometimes I can do it out the door great and I'm good for half the month. Other times like this year, I don't touch anything. I only finished inktober once with all 31 drawings on time. Burn out is real. I'm also someone who spends too much time on a drawing. You always have good ideas and love your work. Keep at it with inktober and do your best. If you need to stop, that is alright. Your outside life is important too.👍😊

[tombeirl]

Personally, I connect the prompts to a theme. This year is pizza. My first year was to set a time limit if possible. I struggle with finding the time. I'm a retired art teacher with a background in cartooning/illustration. I struggle with the prompts at times. One solution is to accept the first thing that comes to mind. I also accept my mistakes and limitations. I seek the enjoyment of the challenge and seeing others artwork. There are exceptional artists throughout the world during Inktober. I'm very grateful to share and view the artwork. Struggle equals compassion/care to do what you love.

[RinaArlingMedia]

No wonder why your paintings in InkTober are so clever, fun and well done. And yes... this is my 2nd inktober. Learned about this last year, did all 31 in 2 days, but with mostly watercolour in low quality sketchbook. So this year is 1st with proper paper, ink.. never used ink before, brush pen. I feel challenged with painting fur, I start way to easily painting each hair separately. And yes staying in tempo is hard. I had few years health issues, that make me very tired and my hand cramps. I think my paintings should not be so taxing on my energy, kind of imbarred to admit I spend plenty time on these, but I enjoy getting these done, I love learning and getting more comfortable with ink. Not perfect results, as sometime ink has its own life, but I love it. 2 x I been a day late.. yesterday got 2 done, so today I can take a bit more meditating and chill.

[KelliPaints]

I feel this so much! I actually took this year off after finally completing the challenge last year after four “failed” attempts 😂 I have to say I am so relieved not to be doing a drawing challenge rn. Love these videos, thanks for sharing!

[dianeo]

I can relate to the difficulties that go along with Inktober. I struggled with Inktober 3 years in a row and finally decided I just didn't need a month of anxiety and frustration. Maybe a better approach (for me) is to do only 4 drawings per month by combining a week's worth of prompts into one drawing and preparing it in September then inking it in Oct. Not sure if that would relieve some of the pressure, but considering that for next year. This year I'm dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian so Inktober got shelved.

I think the most important advice is to get enough sleep! I am such a big proponent being fully rested. Your body needs that time to recharge. If you don't, everything becomes more of a struggle compounding the difficulties. Put the pen down and sleep! 😄

[Benham_Design]

I love that you use a full array of tools from analog pin and paper to digital tools like Photoshop

[annmccarthy]

It's over Mark! Hope you were able to enjoy the last part of Inktober 2022! Wondering when you will make your video about how you survived the challenge and preview your always amazing drawings!

[CraBrwn]

Sometimes it's hard to decide if dealing with the struggles is worth the effort, or it's better to skip the challenge. I don't always know whether the effort was worth it until much later. Art challenges make me feel under pressure to perform, and keep me away from doing my "real" art, so I usually skip them. When I did the 30 x 30 Direct Watercolor challenge in 2018. I wanted to quit so many times. Now when I come across these challenge pieces, they delight me and make me remember how much I learned from doing them. Thanks for your practical tips on how you deal with the struggle.

[theartofeldon]

Thanks for posting this one. The struggle is real. I have really liked all of your advice in this video and all I'll say is that showers are definitely an important part of the balancing act and shouldn't be skipped. 🚿 Sleep is good too. 😴 I've enjoyed seeing your drawings so far. Half way through! At prompt 15 Armadillo now. Not sure what to post for that one yet but hopefully something will work out. Good luck with it everyone. 👍 -Eldon