Artists embrace Inktober challenge with city-inspired sketches

What began as a way for renowned American illustrator Jake Parker to improve his inking skills by taking up one sketch a day throughout the month of October turned into the global annual movement of Inktober. Ever since 2009, when Jake started the challenge, thousands of artists from around the world soon joined in, including the artist community from Chennai.

The ‘31 days 31 drawings’ mission has been resulting in several city-inspired sketches showcasing various aspects of Chennai and Tamil culture — all being shared on social media platforms. Just a search for #Inktober on Facebook or Instagram during the month of October is sure to yield millions of sketches portraying different styles of art and cultures, thereby connecting the global artists.

City-based illustrator Shree Varshini, who works on commercial design projects, decided to take up the challenge as a way of creating art for herself. She has tied her illustrations together with the theme of golu dolls. “Since I spend most of the time engulfed in commercial projects, I decided to participate in the challenge so I can create art on a daily basis. I could not celebrate Navarathri at home this year, and was missing golu dolls. So, I created a series of illustrations for Inktober wherein I imagine the dolls coming to life and connect them with daily life happenings,” says Varshini. Using a list of objects or prompts that the challenge’s creator puts out each year as a guideline for inspiration, Varshini has illustrated the dolls in different scenarios. For instance, the word ‘mindless’ has been interpreted as a golu doll busy watching ‘Netflix and chilling’ while holding her mind in her hands. “I have tried to use phrases or puns that work in English as well as in Tamil. The challenge offers a lot of creative freedom, while making me reflect on a particular word to create art,” she adds.

Many artists, however, struggle to keep up the challenge of created a sketch on a daily basis, admits artist Bhavya Desai, who has taken part in the challenge during previous years as well. “Inktober helps anyone new to drawing take it up every day and also improve his or her skills. It is also exciting to be part of it since it is a movement with artists from around the world being a part. I enjoy viewing everyone’s take on different subjects. One can also spot many people, who have never sketched before, showcasing their hidden art talents by taking part in the challenge,” notes Bhavya. His illustrations as part of the challenge include narration of personal stories. For instance, he links the object ‘pumpkin’ to his school days when he was the pumpkin in-charge during Halloween.

Another city-based illustrator, Parvathy Subramanian says she could significantly improve her sketching skills over the years, owing to Inktober. Having taken part in the challenge for the past four years, she has been able to refine her craft, she admits. For this year’s challenge, she has created a series of comic illustrations, that revolve around two dogs living in the city close to the sea. “I have tried to explore various elements of Chennai’s beaches, including fortune tellers with caged parrots, horses, merry-go-round, etc. Inktober has helped me learn a lot and in trying to be consistent. It has helped me explore my personal strengths and weaknesses as well. It is inspiring to be part of the challenge as it’s like an art festival. I have also noticed my sketches improving a lot since the first time I took part in the challenge,” she remarks.