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.

Editing and Redraw from 2014

Healthy again, finally! 

At least enough to function. My nose is still stupidly stuffed up and I get really tired after only a small amount of work. But I have enough energy to go to the mailbox and cook dinner and not feel like collapsing. Sit down for two minutes between maybe, but no more than that. 

For full honesty, I will disclose that some of that is my allergies kicking in. I have an allergy to small furry animals. I may have had it as a kid and simply ignored it because I was stupidly healthy in every other way. But I first noticed it when I borrowed an angora sweater my mom had when I was 16 or so and I itched like hell all day. It got worse when I moved out and got fur babies of my own, of course, and then settled as my system became more used to them. One thing that my body simply won't put up with though is having my cats knead my bare flesh... Of course, that is the only place they ever want to knead. I make it easier for them by preferring to wear tank tops and shirts that leave my arms bare. 

At any rate, finally healthy. 

For my edit, I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped... I've been lazy. But I did finish the chapter 3 rewrite and have edited it in. I've also finished the rough draft of chapter four which I'm in the process of doing now. After that, the editing should be faster for chapter five and then another wait for chapter six which is a new chapter from scratch. I'm finding that new chapters because they have to fit in the spot I'm dropping them perfectly, it's taking more time, to write from scratch and then fill in the extra holes with the information it needs and then going over it a few times for editing to make it as good as the rest. The other chapters are flowing and I'm able to do one or two chapters a day. Fortunately, after this chapter is done, I only have four more complete rewrites. 

So, what else have I been doing? Well, I got obsessed with my redraw from 2014. I finally finished her a few days ago, and I've got to admit, she looks amazing. I've gotten some criticism on her hands... but considering that they are very difficult to draw and I included them regardless, AND they actually look like hands, despite my errors, I'm considering it a win regardless.

The one on the right was done on my tablet of the time, a cheap-y Lenovo with a stylus. While the stylus cost $15-$20 and had some pressure sensitivity, it still wasn't good enough to actually get much detail with. The newer one on the left was done with my Surface and MS Stylus, which has a very good tip and pressure sensitivity that I can actually use. In addition, I've figured out how the body works as a whole. I figured out how to do hair a lot better, although the new hair is definitely something I still need to work on... the location of shine and shadow still isn't perfect The face is more realistic while still being animation. I think you can tell my anime beginnings from this, though I think I have grown out of some of the anime tropes... the eyes aren't anime large anymore, just slightly larger than normal. I had no shading on the old one, partially because I had no idea how to add shadow and highlights. I've picked up some of that now, though I still lean heavily on my references, which is something I would like to keep working on. 

I'll be honest though, a lot of that is just nitpicky. I really do love the way this turned out. I need to speed up a bit on my digital work though... this picture took me twelve to fifteen hours to finish still. I was going for an adequate "here is my current skill level" but I would like to figure out how to draw a bit faster... fortunately, that will come with just sketching and using it for more art, which is something that I will be doing. 

If you're interested, let me know if you want me to make copies of it available or even just the lineart, in case you want to play with coloring it in yourself. 

And I think that's where I'll end it today. It is definitely time for me to get editing if I want to finish those two chapters tonight.