InkTober is a month dedicated to drawing, giving artists the world over a chance to practice and improve their inking skills and get into the habit of having a drawing schedule. As the name alludes to InkTober is held in October was started by Mr Jake Parker in 2009, who created the challenge to help him improve his own ink drawing skills. InkTober has since grown year on year to see thousands of artists the world over taking part. The InkTober challenge encourages artists no matter what skill level to create thirty one ink drawings in thirty-one days, by just picking up a pen and start drawing. Participants guided by an official prompt list of topics for each day, then post each drawing online using the hashtag #inktober and unsurprisingly given its visual nature, has become a popular annual event on Instagram. CNN Africa correspondent Kevin Ajasu compiled a list of 11 of the Best African InkTober Drawings, and we at Shoko Press were delighted to see included in the line-up the work of June Nanini, one of the featured illustrators in our book Fashion Illustration Africa.
For those who took part in the challenge it was an opportunity to get back to the basics of drawing and push their skills further and have their work showcased alongside their peers from around the world. Visit CNN’s African Voices to read the full article and see more examples from talented artists. And whilst this years challenge has ended there is nothing stopping you from keeping the momentum going and drawing regularly to get you ready for participating in the next InkTober challenge. You can find out more about InkTober by visiting Mr Jake Parker. We think InkTober is a great way for artists to grow in confidence as they share their work with the world.
– Tapiwa Matsinde
[Image credits: The images shown are sourced from CNN’s African Voices. If downloaded and published elsewhere please credit accordingly.]