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.

Taking a Week for me

This will be a very short post, so I'm apologizing in advance. My tendinitis snuck up on me this year and took me out this week. I'm under strict orders to rest my wrists, which means no writing or drawing for a few days. Which is sad, but since it happens at least once a year, I'm kinda used to it, even if I hate it. 

I will say that I and my family and friends are all okay and no one has caught Covid-19. My husband and I are self-isolating as much as we can. That means I'm staying at home and my husband (whose job is essential and therefore can't) goes to work and then comes straight back home.

I'll leave you with blessings that your family remains safe as well, remind you to isolate yourselves as well as you can, and I'm hoping that I'll be back, better than ever, next week. 

Personally, I suggest reading during your self-isolation to keep yourself entertained. It's about all I can do, since holding a mouse hurts too, which throws Don't Starve right out of the running. Oh, here's a WIP of my latest drawing. It isn't finished because of my wrist, so I'll post it again when it is done. There are a few things I still need to fix in the sketch (mainly connected to the head placement) and the colors aren't quite right yet. Aside from that, I quite like where it's going. What do you think?

Chibify Me!

Okay, I'm no longer in a decadent pool of laziness. Which honestly is good. I can only sit around doing nothing all day for a short time before I'm bored. Unless I'm playing Don't Starve. I have lost days to Don't Starve when I was working for the Co-operators and I was on a weeklong vacation. 

The Don't Starve binge itself only lasted a day or so past the last post. I am still being a bit lazy though... I'm only working on about 3 hours a day right now, but I am cleaning and doing everything else, so I'm calling it a good start. 

Most of my office is finished. I have a desk-full of odds and ends to find homes for, some art supplies to get rid of, and a stupidly large amount of card decks to find homes for (I buy them for the pictures and because I like playing solitaire and other card games). Also, I haven't even been able to start on my closet yet. That said, its really coming along. 

I started writing again a few days ago and have finished 3 chapters in Noble's Choice so far. I remember where the plot is going, have reworked things that weren't working well in my original draft and streamlined the plot. Originally one of the characters was supposed to be a very important villain, for example, and now he's just a distracting sub-villain. The story is coming together though, which I love. I want my rough draft finished before the end of March. 

I have also talked to my editor. She is expecting that it will probably take a month to get Lord's Curse back to me, so I'll be spending Camp Nanowrimo (April) making one last round of changes before we can start on the final proofreading edits. 

The other update I have is in my art. I jokingly mentioned that I wanted to draw a Chibi-Me and a Koi playing Don't Starve Together. While I had a picture of a koi, I didn't really have a chibi of me lying around. So I drew this one. 

I'm not 100% happy with it yet. There is something about the shape of the eyes that seems off to me and I want to work on the hair more. That said, I am very pleased with it. Its the level of detail I want and she is adorable AF. I dressed her in my favourite outfit, a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. You can't see it, but she is totally wearing a comfy tank top under the sweater. Also, I had to give her ears and a tail. Because I can. 

What do you think of her? Have any of you ever drawn your own Chibi-Me? 

Its Never Easy Getting Back in the Saddle

Well, this is coming a bit late... December is always an incredibly tough time for getting writing done. After spending a month writing 50k, I always need a few days off. This year, fortunately, it wasn't really a recovery I needed, but a chance to rejuvenate my flagging creativity. Its one of the side effects of falling into just one creative bubble for me; when I get out if straight recovery of abused muscles isn't needed, some mental recovery is. So, since Nano, I've been obsessively playing around with my tablet, drawing some really gorgeous dahlias. I've also got a quick rough picture done of an ink painting I want to do.

Now onto some awesome news! I just found out that my novel, Hunter's Gambit, has been added to at least one online bookstore in Sweden. While I realize that this is something that I should have realized would happen, seeing it actually do so is really exciting. It's a small thing, but it has absolutely made my day. Its another little way that helps me feel like I've made it. That added to the new review that I have on Goodreads and I feel like I could fly. I've also received one additional star rating, though no physical review for that one.

What does this mean? Well, Goodreads has my book sitting at a very respectable 4.25 stars with three reviews. I am secretly hoping for even more reviews for Christmas.

Speaking of which, how many of you have e-readers or are asking for them for Christmas? What books are on your gift lists this year? And will any of you be giving books (mine or others) to your family this season? Let me know in the comments!

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.