05/10/2022
Day 5: Flame
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I set out a few years ago to learn how to digitally draw. Or, well, draw at all. I had worked in photoshop and illustrator, but I had never learned anything about drawing. I started this Instagram account, and bought Procreate, and set off with Inktober to give myself something to stick to. Over the past few years I saw myself gradually improve, and I even started drawing outside of Inktober. I wasn’t great at drawing, but I was enjoying the practice. I am never short of art mediums I want to try, or ideas to bring to live. So drawing often takes the very last priority for me, since it’s my lowest skill and I find it incredibly difficult.
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But, even though I wasn’t winning any awards with my digital drawings, I WAS getting comfortable with a style I found easier than others I’d played around with. Without much thought, I followed a gut instinct to push myself this year. I would pick a style I loved from others’ art and use Inktober 2022 as a way to teach myself and practice.
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Without much confidence in my drawing abilities, I relied on flat colour and simple lines. This year, I wanted to learn shading. I loved crosshatching, especially the work of . So I picked this as my style to learn. I underestimated just how HARD it would be. Frustrated one night, I tried something else: pointillism. Something clicked. It was hard, and time consuming, but I was enjoying the process so. much. more. This October also happened to fall during a busier season in my life. So for the sake of still learning without fully losing my motivation, I switched styles after just two crosshatching drawings (Days 1&4)
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I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish this year’s Inktober with the time it takes to draw these, but I’m sure as hell enjoying the ride. 🖊️
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