Inktober was started not only as a way for artists to gather and share their artwork, but also to create the habit of drawing on a regular basis and to improve inking skills as well. Inking itself is a very simple concept as it is anything drawn with ink .Yet the detailed work created by these artists is anything but simple.
The majority of Mahmood’s drawings were Halloween-themed. She posted every four or five days as the drawings she made tended to be very elaborate and detailed. Illustration used with permission of Apanuba Mahmood
Senior Apanuba Mahmood has been drawing for 7 years and found out about the challenge through other artists she was following on Instagram. Mahmood often inks her work so it was an easy decision for her to participate in the challenge as she hoped to work on subjects that she wouldn’t normally draw.
“I ink a lot of my drawings so I thought ‘hey, why not kill 2 birds with one stone?’” Senior Apanuba mahmood.
She took the challenge as an opportunity to focus and improve on certain subjects, such as fashion drawing.
“I got a chance to do things that I otherwise wouldn’t have had time to do,” Mahmood said.
As with all Instagram challenges, participants are supposed to nominate others to participate. Mahmood chose to nominate another fellow artist, senior Anya Martin.
Although it was never Martin’s intention to join the challenge, she ended up posting over 25 pieces of her artwork over the course of the month, although she says she forgot to tag all of them with #inktober. At this point, the art mattered more to her than the challenge itself and the challenge merely became another way for her to explore different art forms. For her, participating in the challenge gave her a feeling of devotion to her art.
For both Martin and Mahmood, Inktober ended up being a learning experience as well as a bonding experience with other artists around the world.
