Tag: alcohol markers

Inktober 2022

~ Ari October ~ 1 Comment


To view all 31 illustrations, click here to visit the Google Drive folder!

Well folks, I did it. 31 illustrations in 31 days. Some took several days to complete, some of them I only spent a few minutes on. Either way, I got it done. Now I am exhausted and never want to look at another micron pen for the rest of my life! (Just kidding.) I’ve already complained enough about how hard this was in the previous post, so I will focus on the positives now.

I really did learn a lot from this challenge, and even walked away with more confidence in my abilities! The prompts helped me come up with ideas I never would have thought of on my own, and I got several illustrations I love out of the deal. Noticing which illustrations I enjoyed making the most was very enlightening, and I will definitely be using that knowledge going forward.

For the record, I got most of my references from Pexels and Unsplash. Some were also referenced from my own photos, (such as the shed,) and a few were referenced from my imagination or memories! Another thing I’ve learned from this challenge is just how important building a visual library through mileage is. The more you draw from seeing, the more you’ll be able to draw from muscle memory! I’ve found that I really like drawing my own memories.

While I’m really grateful that I finally completed Inktober for the first time, I’m not sure it’s something I’m going to do every year. By the time next October rolls around I’m sure I’ll be considering trying again, but I will be more willing to drop it if I feel it is doing me more harm than good.

If you have any questions or comments about any of the illustrations, please feel welcome to leave a comment! Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Neurographic Art

~ Ari October ~ 1 Comment

I recently discovered the joy of creating neurographic art. You can learn more about it here (click me!)

Neurographic art is rooted in psychology. It is a method to use artistic action to soothe oneself and problem solve. With Neurographic art you can turn your troubles into a colorful composition!

I’ve been so afraid to create lately. And by lately I mean the last several years. If you watched the short video I shared previously you will have some insight into how I’ve been feeling. So often making art feels fruitless to me and because of that I put off doing it.

Discovering neurographica has been a game-changer. It is soothing and grounding in a similar way to mandala, but with absolutely no skill requirement. Even with my freest of mandalas I still find myself trying to make them look good, but when it comes to neurographs it doesn’t matter.

I made one the other day in which I didn’t like the colors, one was too dark and it threw off the entire composition, so I simply discarded it. It was easier to move on from my mistake with a neurograph than it is with other forms of art. I didn’t feel that my time spent creating it was wasted, because it’s all about the process itself. Happening to like the finished product is just a bonus.

If you are feeling troubled, I recommend trying this craft. It’s fun and satisfying, and a great way to dip your toes back into creating if you’ve been struggling with fears about making art like I have.

You can use this technique to work through all sorts of hard times though, not just those pertaining to art! So if you’re interested give it a go, you might be surprised by the results!

Hospital Doodles!

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment

I’m happy to report that I was able to get a few doodles in during the hospital stay before our daughter was born!

Birdie was born very healthy via a semi-emergency cesarean. I was induced but failed to progress for 24 hours after my water broke, and then she was having some heart rate dips. Turns out she had the cord triple wrapped around her neck! We are very lucky that things turned out as they did, even though the whole situation was very stressful… Not to mention uncomfortable. My spinal failed so I had to go under for the surgery but luckily I was still able to meet her not long after. C-section recovery is no joke, I have never been in so much pain in my life. Luckily now I am more or less all healed up, though I do have nerve damage on my lower tummy.

She’s almost 2 months old now and doing very well so far. She is getting progressively wigglier as she trains to start walking and crawling! I can’t wait until the day she can grasp a crayon…

I actually came here to write a different post, but I realized I hadn’t updated you all on the baby situation! So here’s that. Stay tuned for another post hopefully quite soon!

Getting back into the swing of things…

~ Ari October ~ Leave a comment
An experimental piece I did today, just playing around with color and texture. Not sure what to title this one.
[Copic marker on smooth sketchbook paper]

I practically haven’t drawn in months. I did a little bit of vent art earlier on in the year, and then a little bit of doodling here and there on my 3DS, but nothing aside from that.

Now that the weather is nicer, and since my partner and I are under quarantine due to her testing positive for COVID-19, I started thinking about picking up my markers again.

Last year I did a 90 day video game “detox” during the warm months and I used that time to do a lot of drawing while lounging outside in our backyard, so I guess it’s only natural for me to associate this time of year with creating. I like allowing myself to play as many video games as I want during the cold months when I can’t spend as long outside, and then taking extended breaks from them when it warms up again.

I don’t know if I’m ready to undertake another daily drawing challenge just yet. Since she’s had COVID for about a week now and we haven’t had any symptoms yet, I’m worried it’s going to hit like a brick in the next week. Though I haven’t tested positive yet, I know I will absolutely get it because there’s no way for my partner and I to isolate ourselves from each other effectively in our current living arrangements. Getting sick would definitely make me have to postpone any challenge I take up.

If I don’t catch COVID this entire time, that will be the craziest stroke of luck I’ve ever had. Maybe it does help that we got vaccinated, even though it was only days before the COVID exposure. If I test negative again this Friday, we will be able to end our quarantine a few days later on Tuesday. If either of us start having obvious symptoms, or if I do test positive on Friday, we will be restarting the two week countdown from that day. We will be playing things incredibly safe on the 3rd week, whenever that is, only extending our freedom to large outdoor spaces and drive-thrus.

Regardless of all that, I hope to be making more art soon and posting here more often again. Stay tuned!