To Ink or not to Ink(tober)? That is the Question.

     So, Inktober. 

     Normally, I am big into Inktober and I like pledging to draw something every day. Generally, I do not make every day. I average about half and never regret it. This year, however, I'm questioning whether to take part again. I do have to specify here. I will be still be trying to draw every day in October. That isn't in question, even if I know I'm going to be too busy to draw every day. Its whether I will be working in only ink and whether I will be using the hashtag. 

     Part of my hesitation is due to the creator of Inktober himself. I won't go heavy into the allegations and legal issues... I'm not a lawyer and I've done minimal research on it. If you're in for the long haul, here's a good Reddit post going over in much better detail what I touch on ever so briefly below. 

     In 2019, the creator started claiming Copywrite on personal art books released with Inktober in the title. This means that a lot of artists who take part and then release their art as an Inktober book for their fans couldn't release it without a lot of hassle and legal work on a book that he has nothing to do with, but that he created the event. This year the controversy is that the creator has been accused of plagiarism by an indie artist/author who released a very similar book 2-3 years ago on inking.   

     As I said, I am not going to get into my personal feelings on him claiming Copywrite on artists' work that he had nothing to do with except that they originally posted them all under the Inktober hashtag, nor will I be talking about the lawsuit. I don't know enough about Copywrite law, I haven't read either of the books involved and while I've done a handful of research, I am in no way qualified to say yeah or nay on any of it. 

     What I can say is that all of the hubbubs is making me unsure if I want to be attached to the name this year. Also, while normally I work with only ink and love it, I would really love to get more sketching time in on my Surface. Drawing digitally is a completely different set of skills than painting in any sort of traditional medium, even if mine is a bit closer since I'm missing some of the cooler tools that the paid programs give you. 

     All that said, I'm just not sure yet. There are other options out there. Artober, Midnightober, OCtober, Witchtober... There's one for digital-only, as well, though I can't remember the exact name for that one. The question is which of these options is a fit for me. 

    Honestly, I don't really have an answer yet. I'll probably look into what my friends are choosing to do and see how open the options are. What do you think? Are you still interested in seeing any drawings I do during the month? Let me know below or on FB.

Lord's Curse is Out of my Hands & a new Stylus is in!

First, I am sorry that this post is coming your way late. I was so eager to begin writing last night that I worked straight until midnight and then started writing. I only realized that it was Friday morning when I crawled into bed. On the other hand, I actually have updates for you! 

On Monday, I finally finished my draft of Lord's Curse. I sent it that morning to my editor, but I don't have an expected date back from her yet. As soon as I know more there you'll get an update as well. Either way, as soon as I have it back I will be working on it. At that point, Nano will become me working on Nanowrimo during the day and the edit of that book during my evenings. 

Still, I am amazingly excited to have finished it finally. 

The other bit of amazingness for me is that my husband picked up the stylus that I have been wanting for a year. Why is this cool, I can practically hear you asking. Styluses are a dime a dozen, essentially. And in most cases, you're entirely right. But this is the Windows Stylus, specifically geared towards use with their Surface Pro systems. Which is what I have. The stylus essentially makes it so that your Surface Pro can be used as a drawing tablet, with all the layers of sensitivity, pen tilt and functionality built right into most programs, you can now use your pen to, as they put it on their site, 'Think with Ink'. For me, it turns my Surface Pro5, which I've been using for my mobile needs into an actual drawing tablet for me. The last time I tried to draw on a tablet like this, it was with less than optimal tools and I got a much less than optimal result. 

This picture was my first attempt with subpar tools.
While it wasn't horrible, it was also very bad.
There was a lot that I couldn't figure out how to do,
and in the end I gave up entirely on shading since
everything was wrong with it and I just wanted to try
it again from the beginning.

This was my second with the subpar tools. And while it was a marked improvement, it still wasn't quite what I would have been able to accomplish on paper with more traditional tools.
Actually, I have an urge to redraw it using my new tools as an example of improvement to myself. Perhaps I'll add that to my list of tasks in December. 

I could have made it work obviously, but it wasn't anything like working on paper and I found it irritating. However, working with the new pen and the Concepts app, I have not only really enjoyed the results, but I have also enjoyed the process of making them. Also, I've never really liked the way most programs deal with their colours, and so to have the colours in it listed and matching the Copic colours, which I already use is great. It makes it easy for me to choose colours and decide exactly what I need to add. 

This was my first drawing attempt with the new stylus. Trying to figure out blending was killing me, but I loved the feel of drawing with it. Also, I clearly need to work on drawing hair more often. Those buns are hilariously bad. Still, as a first digital try, I really loved the potential.

This was my second drawing. While I still can't say that the bun is any better, I do like the shading in the hair and on the face and skin. I really found myself reaching for tools not available with the free program while playing with this; specifically the lasso and copy/move tools. Its why I'll be picking up the full copy when I have a job again.

And I think that will be it for this week. Let me know what you think of the drawings. Also, are you taking part in Nanowrimo? What is your word count so far? I've had a slow start. Day 1 gave me a migraine that wouldn't quit, which led to me only getting 1055 words for my first day. 

Inktober Supplies

 As Inktober gets closer, just like Nanowrimo, I start to get a bit antsy to get started. Despite my patience, I've never really liked waiting for anything. I prepare for conventions and concerts by immersing myself in the culture of the event, whether it be music, anime, writing or whatever else. I tend to give my husband his gifts for his birthday as I get them, early or not, and I don't even wait for Christmas to give gifts to everyone (okay, that's just a family thing since we kids grew up, but still). 

Today, I want to talk supplies and workspace. This is a picture of all of my supplies as well as my desk. Honestly, my desk is tiny for doing art on, so I'm hoping to bring up a second desk for my office that's about double the size before October starts, but barring that, this will be my workspace and all the supplies (aside from paper and pencils) that I'll be using throughout the month. 

For paper, I use cold press, 140 lbs/300gsm... which for those of you who don't work with watercolour is the most common watercolour paper I've found. It's a good thick sheet that will buckle (under my water use at times), but not horribly. Its made out of paper, instead of the cotton ones which are supposed to be way better, but honestly, I've never tried. Cold press means that the paper is a little textured instead of being super smooth like hot press is supposed to be. In general, I really prefer working with textured paper over smooth; even for my sketching, I use multi-media paper rather than the more usual sketching books. 

Here's the close up of my inks. I have 24 Bombay India Inks, 4 Winsor & Newton inks, 10 cheaply made Chinese inks and another 5 no name that I received with a glass pen I picked up last year. I also have a full bottle of Higgens Ink (the cheapest bottle I could find to practice with when I first bought a glass pen) and the other is Carbon Ink, one of the blackest inks out on the market. 

Here are the Bombay India Inks I was talking about. These inks are gorgeous to use, very pigmented, and permanent when dry. They are also lightfast. For those non-art folks, you know how some posters and pictures fade and lighten as they sit on your wall? That means they weren't made with lightfast supplies. So any picture I paint with these will remain vibrant for hundreds of years, rather than only a few. If you are thinking about taking part and still want colour, I can suggest these as a great supply. They are my go-to for most of my work. That said, there are 5 brown colours and 4 of them are horrible. Most pigment a physical thing inside the ink, along with a binder. This means that you shake/mix them well before use. But those four browns start tearing apart from the binder by the time you've removed the cap from your bottle. They come out as muddy and difficult to apply. They can still be used, but I suggest never using them directly from the bottle. Put a few drops onto your pallet and mix very liberally with water, remixing the pile whenever you re-dip your brush if you wish to use these colours. 

 These are my Winsor & Newton Inks. They are not as lightfast as the Bombay inks, but I bought them because they have gold and silver in this set. Also, an extra white is always a good idea. Also, they are completely waterproof if you let them completely dry... but only if you let them completely dry... otherwise, you'll still get some lift if it gets wet again later. On the other hand, gold and silver... I stand by my choice. 

 
 These two pictures are of my Chinese no-name inks. I bought both set from Wish for pennies on the dollar in both cases. That said, I almost never use them. They're difficult to open without spilling, they aren't waterproof at all, and while they are vibrant, they also have sparkles in them. Not a lot, but enough to add a very slight glimmer to dry inks as a final top layer. Offhand, I don't suggest them... I mainly picked them up as a lark, rather than a serious purchase. That said, I do like the subtle glitter effect, so they do see some use on occasion. 

The Higgens ink was some I bought upon buying my first glass dip pen. Basically, its a super cheap ink, not waterproof, even when dry, and it is a very dark grey rather than a black. I use this one for playing around with new supplies like dip pens and my glass pens rather than for any actual art. I do not use it for any actual art... I may use it for playing around if I were to start sketching with my glass pens, but that's about it. The Carbon Ink is a glorious dark black, one of the darkest out there, and is mostly waterproof when dry. I use it when I want a black that's darker than any other black I own. Plus, it's really nice to use. A silky feel on my brush as I lay it down. 

 These supplies are the unsung heroes of my work. I use a cloth for wiping down my brush, taking excess water from the brush and occasional cleaning. I try not to use paper towel when I paint, only reaching for it if I need more precision than the cloth affords.  I have two glasses of water so one can be clean water and the other dirty. I also have a tiny vial of salt in the blue container. It makes a mottled appearance in the ink when used that I love. My brushes, for the most part, are super cheap ones from Michael's (which almost never see use nowadays), as well as a few I've picked up (usually from art boxes) along the way. The two glass pens above don't see much use honestly, I'm including them here because occasionally I'll use them for lining. They won't end up seeing much use next month, but I love showing them off. 

 This is my swatch sheet for the month. You can see how vibrant the colours are and even the differences between how the black goes down. Those browns all look splotchy and bad, which is why I use them sparingly, as mentioned above. I do love the CX-11 violet and may use that more than the others in that line since I don't have a direct equivalent with the Dr. P.H. Martin's Bombay India Ink. The black paper is some black sketchbook paper I have. It isn't watercolour and seemed to dissolve under my Bombay white, mixing with it and making it a nearly invisible grey. The Winsor & Newton fared much better and I don't know why. Both whites work wonderfully on the other inks, just not on the black paper I put there to show them off. 

 As an added bonus, here's a painting I made earlier this week with the supplies above. It turned out amazing. It was made almost solely with the Bombay India Ink and the gold and silvers of the Winsor & Newton. I love how it turned out. The ability to layer the colours and their vibrancy is what makes this picture really pop. 

And that's it. What do you think about the picture? Will you be joining me in Inktober, even if it's only with a ballpoint pen? Let me know in the comments below. 

Inktober & Nanovember

Its nearly September and I am already eagerly awaiting October and November. Not because I'm in love with pumpkin spice... in fact, I am firmly on the apple cider side of this debate. Back to my apparent love of fall though. In addition to November being my favourite writing event of the year, NaNoWriMo (more on that in another post, but its basically a month-long writing event every November) I also take part in a few other yearly events. One is MerMay, where you try to try to draw mermaids every day in May. The other is Inktober, which is what I'm talking about today! 

 

Inktober, as you can probably guess, has to do with ink and the month of October. Started up by Jake Parker a few years ago, it's mainly a month-long challenge to simplify your art tools and work on your craft. As per the rule, you are supposed to try using only ink to draw with for the month. If you're an absolute purist, Jake Parker suggests using only black to do your work. Personally, I use the full rank of colours that P.H. Martins Bombay India Ink, makes (24 in all), plus another 5 to 10 in different blacks, golds, silvers, whites and even inks that sparkle. I also use a pencil to sketch in my design and much like I would never put out something without an editor looking at it, I also prefer to have some idea of what I'm drawing before I start putting down permanent lines.

Of course, it couldn't stay in its purist form forever, which is why you'll now find all sorts of creatives re-purposing Inktober for their own needs. You really need to work on your watercolour? You can use it for the month. What about pencil crayons? Go for it. There are even a few who turn it into a writing event, writing flash fiction and short stories every day. Some even work digitally all month, drawing up incredible works on their computer.

My thoughts on different forms of art being made under the Inktober name? As you've probably guessed, I'm fine with it. Last year I followed Lyfe Illustrations on Youtube (and on Instagram) and she did some of the most gorgeous artwork I've ever seen with ink and watercolour. You do you, Boo.

I would like to mention that all of the above pictures are mine, done during last years Inktober. 

So, will you be doing Inktober with me? I'll try to add my pictures each week at the bottom of my posts, but for daily art follow me on FB and Instagram and use the hashtags #Inktober and #Inktober2019 to see everyone else's art each day.

These two of the pictures are not mine. These are two of Lyfe Illustrations Inktober pictures that I was able to get from the Kickstarter campaign.

Inks!

          Before I really get started, let me apologize... I ended up making this post a bit longer than I prefer, but I promise that its all useful information. See, I said that I was going to start making some art posts, since it is my other way to unwind and drive myself insane at the same time. I was going to talk about acrylics, but in a fortuitous turn of events, I found a Winsor & Newton ink set that I'd been looking for on Black Friday. Then a friend visited on Sunday and brought some new Sumi ink that she'd purchased, which let me try out all of them.

          Because something I've discovered working with inks for all last month is that all inks are not created equally. It started when I bought a glass pen and needed ink to play with it. What I mainly discovered there is that I have horrible handwriting, a fact which I know and will really need to work on eventually.

          However, I found that inks can also be used in art with gorgeous results. I'll go into all of the brands in better detail later, since this time I'm only testing the opacity, darkness and waterproofness in today's tests.

          The first ink that I tried was the Higgens Fountain Pen India Ink. It is non-waterproof, which essentially means that it can always be reactivated with water. I generally prefer my ink work to be as non-reactivatable as completely as possible before I begin work on the next layer so it doesn't work with my art style (which makes it good ink for playing with my penmanship). Its also the lightest of the inks. The shade is really more of a grey than a black.

          The Bombay inks dry quickly and seem waterproof to me once they dry, and they do dry quickly. Within about twenty minutes, you'll only get a very light residual pickup and after that, it's essentially negligible. I love them and I think that they are my favourites of all the ones I've tried so far. The only issue for me is that the blacks aren't are black as I could wish. Don't get me wrong, its heads above the Higgens, but still not a really rich, dark black.

          The Winsor & Newton inks say that they are only water resistant but according to my test, after about 18 hrs they are picking up the same amount or less than the Bombay inks do. They are the darkest black I've found though and I am very impressed with how well they go down. I'll have to play more with the other colours as well, but let me say that as of now, I am very impressed.

          The final ink I tried is Sumi ink. Like the Higgens, it isn't waterproof at all, which is less surprising since it was originally made not for art, but for writing (to my limited knowledge). What did surprise me was that it was that it was even darker than my Bombay inks. It's only a shade or two lighter than my Winsor & Newtons. If it wasn't non-waterproof, I would love it.

          As you can see from this picture, this is what you see when you put down a block of the ink. The Higgens and Bombay don't go down quite as smoothly as the others, and they aren't as dark. Despite that, I still like the Bombay's for their other qualities... mainly the incredibly bright and gorgeous colours they have in their sets. 

          Oh, ignore the one I crossed out in red. One problem with the Bombay inks is that after you shake up your ink you need to let it settle for a few minutes before you use it or your colours will be lighter since you're essentially getting just watery bubbles with the smallest amount of colour. I originally dipped my brush and didn't get it past the bubbles. I didn't want to go directly over it and have it be two layers compared to only one of everything else. So I did a second square below as my test.

          This picture shows how the inks react later. The larger boxes were all done by rewetting the original boxes from above with water and then just filling in a box with just that. I waited about two hours for the ink to dry here. As you can see, after two hours the Bombay was completely dry, but the Winsor & Newton was still reactive enough to colour in the box. The smaller ones were done the next day after about eighteen hours had passed. As you can see, the Bombay and Winsor & Newton were essentially waterproof at this point and could not be lifted. The Sumi and Higgens could still be easily reactivated and still get quite dark. 

          Basically, this was interesting for me since I'm learning that there is a time and place for everything. Knowing how your inks are likely to react and the shades you're likely to get using them will help you know when to use the right tool. Like in writing, you have to really understand the rules before you can start playing hard and fast with them and doing unexpected and fun things. 

          Until next time, be creative. Whether its writing, drawing, singing, dancing, etc, do something creative with your time. Create, play with your tools and find out how they all work. I guarantee that knowing what you have to work with will help you find the right tools for all the right jobs. 

Man, has it been busy!

     Well, it has been a super busy couple of days since my last update. I have been trying to do at least one October picture each day this year, but I am behind by a couple of days now, four to be exact. On the other hand, most of the pictures are actually working out reasonably well, I think, and I'm definitely getting better at using the medium. I did take some time off today to work with my Copic markers though. I figure they still count since I'm inking the picture first and then using the marker ink to colour it. Though, honestly, I'm not one of those people who is a stickler for the rules here. If you're doing #Inktober and you're doing it digitally, or you're just working on hatching and some of them are in pencil or something, hey, you're drawing, and therefore you're doing it right. Are any of you out there doing it? Let me know.

     I also have two bits of very good news for all of you. The first is that I should have an update for when I'll be releasing a short story digitally! Yes, you heard that right, I will be publishing something very soon, I just want to get it back from my editor and read it over before I reveal the official date of publishing. I am keeping my fingers crossed for October 31st, but either way, keep an eye out for it.

     The other bit of good news is that I have finally finished the first edit of my second novel in the Kitsune-Ken series. I am going over the document once more for punctuation and grammar and then the novel will be sent to my editor as well. It's my hope that I can work on edits for it starting in December/January, and then I can have a release date for it reasonably soon after the first one drops. The third book (as you know if you've been following) was written last November for Nanowrimo and I'm hoping to start looking it over for editing soon too. This November, I will begin work on book four in the series. I will definitely keep all of you updated though. I am starting up a mailing list that I'll use to send out updates. I haven't had a chance to actually set it up yet, but if any of you want to be sure you're on it, please dm me on FB or something with your name and your email address and I'll add you in. I promise I will only be using it to update you with publishing information.

     Anyways, I'm going to jump off here and open my document to do some editing before I head to sleep for the night.

Moving Fast!

     It has been an insanely busy week. Inktober has kept me moving. Still, I've managed to actually keep up so far. It really helps that I drew the first five days in advance. I've since drawn another 2 days worth and will be trying to do another two or three today. Having the drawings in advance really helps me to spend the day, mostly considering colour and not worrying horribly about composition. Here's an example of my favourite three so far.

     One nice thing about having my pictures sketched in advance as well is that it gives me a bit more time to spend my time working on my book. I came down with a cold during the week which means I did less than I wanted to, but that doesn't mean I accomplished nothing. I sent in a short story and my novel to my editor and am sending away a request for a cover (so keep an eye out later this month for a cover reveal). in the next day or so. I have 32 chapters of my novel is done and probably another 12k to 15k left before its completely done. Part of my issue is that I found a full chapter I needed to rewrite, but I needed to move it entirely to fix it, which meant that I've had to rewrite it twice now. I'm pleased to say that it is finally working and I'm really hoping to have the book done by the end of next week and hopefully sent in to my editor as soon as she has time. Then I'll be spending the rest of October, getting ready to sell my artwork and preparing for Nanowrimo.

     This is getting a bit longer than I was hoping though, so I'm going to call it here. Are you going to be doing Nanowrimo this year? And are you taking part in Inktober? How are you doing with it?

Start of Inktober & an Update

     Sorry that I've been gone so long guys. With my head, taking so long to heal, I pretty much dropped the ball on everything this year. Or if not everything, then a lot. I stopped posting online at all for quite a while and slept and healed and worked whenever my head allowed me to. I took the time I needed and forced myself to heal. All of which means that I'm back at it... and that I've had a lot of life changes to go with it.

     First of all, I am no longer working at my day job. They laid me off when they decided that my position was no longer required at the company. And while that is a very life-changing change, it wasn't as out of left field as you might expect. They've been telling us at our company for years that certain positions would be disappearing and they told me nearly a year ago that my position would be one of the ones that are disappearing. That said, its a completely different thing being told "your position will be going away soon" and actually not having to go to work anymore. After I found out, I took some time off from writing to adult, figure out where I was going and what I was doing. My plan is currently to take a few months off and actually start making a business of all the creative art stuff I do. The point of this is to see if I can work from home without a day job effectively and get things done. 

     Which leads to my second interesting update. I will be publishing very soon, this month or the next. It will be a single short story, out hopefully before the end of October, but it may end up being a little bit later than that (my editor just bought a house and isn't taking commissions for the next couple of weeks). I am going to be looking into covers for it and I will let you know as soon as I have an update for the date. My first novel will be coming out, hopefully before mid-December. I am nearly done with my first pass on the second novel in the series and will hopefully be under my editor's eye sometime in November-December. I have also written a dieselpunk novella that will be coming out sometime in the new year after I've had a chance to edit it. The important thing to remember in all of this is that I will be publishing soon. Keep an eye here, and I will let you know when I am finally releasing everything! If you'd like a more direct way to get noticed, please send me an email at inkedfoxpress@gmail.com saying so and include the email address you'd like to be notified at. I promise I'll only be using the email to send out updates when I'm actually publishing something. 

     And finally the start of my title... #Inktober is finally here! For those that don't remember, I kinda took part of #Inktober last year. The idea is to try to use only ink to make works of art for the entire month of October. Last year, I didn't manage to get it finished every day, but I did manage to get 18 or so drawings up, most of which were done with Copic markers. While Copics are still my favourite medium, I have also branched out to watercolour and most recently India Ink. Here is my first offering this year. 

     I think that's it since this update is already way longer than I wanted. If you think I've missed on mentioning something, please let me know in the comments below and maybe I can do a full post on some of them in the next month or so. 

Keeping busy

          My tendinitis is acting up... again? Still? At any rate, I'm under doctor's orders to not abuse it and take painkillers steadily until it starts feeling better. The doctor said a week or two and it been nearly double that now, so hopefully it will be fine soon. On the one hand, I though I'd be dying without my ability to write. And while I will be soon, I have found things to keep me occupied.

1. Reading
          Okay, so this is always my first fall back and this time it came with the added bonus of allowing me to start editing it since every edit includes one full read-through to see where it currently stands. I put the second novel of my Kitsune-Ken series on my Kindle app and 5 chapters in, I can say thats its well written but I will need to rewrite/replan the beginning of it. I changed one thing in my first novel and completely killed the original conflict the novel started off with. That's why I always start off with a base level read through.
          I also picked up a few books, the Howl's Moving Castle series, Your Name and Romancing the Inventor. I haven't started the series yet, but the other two are amazing so far and I would totally recommend them. Fair warning if you do pick up Your Name; it doesn't explain the cultural context of pretty much anything and assumes you'll already know it (sort of like a book set in modern day England wouldn't explain what a biscuit was or why they were having it with tea). So if you know something about Japan, this is an awesome read. If you don't, be aware, its going to take you a bit longer to wrap your head around it.

2. Inktober
          Inktober, if you missed my last blog post, is a monthly challenge to improve your inking skills. Annoyed by my pens inability to blend at all, I went out and picked up some copic markers. They are amazing. If anything, its my art ability that limits their potential. (See pictures below).

3. #WIPJoy
          Unable to do anything by half, I am also filling my resting time with the #WIPJoy challenge. Created by an author who wanted to interact with her story a bit differently, #WIPJoy challenges you to answer questions about your current work-in-progress everyday. I didn't start it until yesterday, so I'm currently behind, but I am catching up. Check out my author page on Facebook for all of those updates.

          So, yeah... this is how I fill up my resting time. What's keeping you busy this week?

Inktober

          I'm going to divert a little from my normal track here and talk about something other than writing for a few minutes here. October has now become Inktober, with a hashtag and everything. Yes, it's another challenge month, and this one I thought was quite fun. The idea is to improve your inking skill and draw a picture in ink every day this month. Since I am a good copy artist, but not a very good artist, I've decided to take part. The drawings don't take more than 20 minutes a day for me to do, but so far, I've had fun. I'll add in the three pictures I've done so far below, but I warn you, they are laughably bad. Please let me know if you'll be joining in #Inktober with me and what your favourite picture of mine is in the comments below.

Day 1 - A character from the video game Journey. Not great, but I had fun creating one essentially from memory.

 Day 2 - Inuyasha. I was going to draw a chibi-Inuyasha, but the eyes got messed up and I decided that regular adult Inuyasha was better... also, for no discernable reason, he's naked.

Day 4 - I missed day 3 and decided today to do a Sailor Moon picture. I told you, laughably bad. I have had the most fun trying to figure out how to shade these pictures though. The pens I have do not mix together at all and most of them are too dark to be used complementarily.