Tag Archives: inktober

Inktober 2024 – An Inspired Garden-Themed Challenge

November 4, 2024

Searching for a theme to follow during Inktober 2024, I was delighted to learn one of my favorite podcasters and nature journal educators, Bethan Burton, shared her original list of 31 prompts. Named “Inktober in the Garden,” she cleverly chose each word to represent a different phase or activity encountered while gardening. To quote Bethan, the prompts are “aimed to get us thinking in different ways about the beauty of our cultivated space.” 

Living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where it’s now Spring, Bethan’s garden theme was very timely for her.  However, October in central New Mexico where I live, is smack dab in the middle of Fall, so I relied on past gardening experience to create my daily ink drawings.

I hope you enjoy my 31 Inktober2024 tiles, inspired by Bethan Burton’s “Inktober in the Garden” prompts. I decided to only complete one tile/day; in the morning while sipping a cup of tea, I’d sketch a drawing with only ink (using a Pilot Varsity nib pen). Then later in the evening I added the color coaxing pigment from my limited number of Venus Spectracolor colored pencils (the remains of a 40+ year old set which constantly break and refuse to blend). 

A big thanks to Bethan for sharing her Inktober2024 prompt list, and for being a constant inspiration through her podcast Journaling with Nature, and for bringing the world-wide nature journaling community together for her annual International Nature Journaling Week, where we can explore, share and celebrate a passion for nature. To learn more about Bethan and nature journaling through her podcast, participating in future International Nature Journaling Week, sign up for her Blog and Newsletter, follow her  YouTube Channel and Instagram account, visit her website at: https://www.journalingwithnature.com


Here’s a bit more about this thing called Inktober

Inktober was originally created by Jake Parker in 2009, and since then has been deemed an annual event that takes place throughout the month of October. The rules devised for participants were, and still are, pretty simple …… Every day 1) make a drawing in ink; 2) post or share it; 3) hashtag it with #inktober; and 4) repeat.

Since 2009, there’s been an official prompt list shared every year by Jake and his Inktober group (https://inktober.com). But there are also many alternate lists generated, which participants can follow if they wish, or they can choose to work from their own prompts.  Also since 2009, participants have not only worked in only ink, but have created colored drawings. Actually any media is fair game (wonder if anyone uses collage?), as bending the simple rules seems to be the norm.  As Jake notes on the Inktober webpage, “you can do it [Inktober] daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. What ever you decide, just” remember “Inktober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better.”

And if you’re interested in participating in future Inktober events, just do it! Find a prompt list or create your own, and join the month-long party beginning each year in October! 

This concludes my 9th year of Inktober!
As always, thanks for stopping by! 

Inktober 2023 Part 2: The Finale!

My 8th year participating in the October’s “Inktober” is complete, and I’m excited to share all 31 days of official prompts, as interpreted by moi (that’s Flambé speak for “me”). Every year, as I near day 31, keeping up with the daily prompts becomes a challenge. This year was no exception! But I was determined to finish close to the deadline.
And Ta! Da!
Each 9×6” page of my accordion book are chock full of inked and painted illustrations with touches of humor, drama, realism, mystery, whimsy and a touch of fantasy. It was great fun stretching my imagination, but I’m happy to be finished (at least until Inktober 2024).

If you missed my October 16th post displaying the first 15 days of illustrations, have no fear! I’ve included them in this post. However, if you’re aching to learn more about Inktober and want to play along next year, all the background info can be found in my Inktober2023 post on the 16th.

So here they all are, beginning with images of each long side of my accordion book. Enjoy!

First half
First half, continued
First half, continued some more
Second half
Second half, continued
Second half to the end

Hope you enjoyed the tour through my accordion book. Let me know if you also played along, and if you’ll be taking on the challenge during Inktober 2024.

Inktober 2023 Part 1: It Begins!

This is my 8th year participating in the annual October “Inktober” challenge, and yesterday I finished up the first 15 days of prompts. Right on schedule! Like last year, I’m following the official daily word prompts (the full list is at the end of this post), creating ink images representing each word. I made an 9”x6” 33 page accordion book that will eventually display each illustrated prompt, giving myself much more space for sketching. Each of the first 15 sketches was done in ink, and I’ve decided to permit myself the use of watercolor pencil to add liveliness.

Flambé wanted to play too, and we both had fun! Here’s what I came up with for days 1-15.


So what exactly is Inktober?

Inktober is an annual art challenge lasting for all 31 days of October. It was created by artist Jake Parker, with the purpose of improving art skills and developing daily drawing habits. Inktober.com posts an official list of word prompts to help guide this journey, from which participants create a daily ink drawing.

Even though there’s an official list of words to follow, “Inktober is just a framework to get yourself to draw better, flex a little, and/or have some fun with your art. Inktober is a challenge NOT a contest to see who the best artist is. It’s a challenge to see how much you can improve your art in a month, and to be inspired or to help inspire other artists to do the same.⁣”

Here’s the official Inktober list for 2023

Anyone can participate, in any way imaginable. You can come up with your own list or search for the numerous lists created by many others, like the one of patterns posted annually by Zentangle. And you can use ink, pencil, paint or crayon. There’s really no rules, no wrong approach. Just make art every day in October!

Even though Inktober 2023 is well underway, you can still take on the challenge beginning now and into the the following months. Or anticipate and participate in the event in October 2024.

For more information, search the web for Inktober.com. I’d love to know if you go for it!

Inktober 2022

For the last 7 years, I’ve jumped onto the the month-long (October) Inktober challenge, using prompts developed by the Zentangle community. This year I switched it up, deciding to follow the official daily word prompts, one word a day, creating images representing each word, solely in ink. The only rules I held myself to were: 1) only ink; no pencil sketching, and 2) create a drawing daily in 10 minutes or less. When I was all finished, it seemed some shading with Tombow brush pens was needed, and then Flambé wanted to play ….. but in color! Definitely a fun challenge! Here’s what I came up with.

Can you find all 31 of my ink drawings? What’s your favorite?


So what exactly is Inktober?

Inktober is an annual art challenge lasting for all 31 days of October. It was created by artist Jake Parker, with the purpose of improving art skills and developing daily drawing habits. Participants create an ink drawing daily, and Inktober.com posts an official list of word prompts to help guide you on this journey.

Even though there’s an official list of words to follow, “Inktober is just a framework to get yourself to draw better, flex a little, and/or have some fun with your art. Inktober is a challenge NOT a contest to see who the best artist is. It’s a challenge to see how much you can improve your art in a month, and to be inspired or to help inspire other artists to do the same.⁣”

Here’s the official Inktober list for 2022

Anyone can participate, in any way imaginable. You can come up with your own list or search for the numerous lists created by many others, like the one of patterns posted annually by Zentangle. And you can use ink, pencil, paint or crayon. There’s really no rules, no wrong approach. Just make art every day in October!

Even though Inktober 2022 is officially over, you can still take on the challenge in the the following months, or anticipate and participate in the event in October 2023.

For more information, search the web for Inktober.com. I’d love to know if you go for it!