Inktober

Inktober is a worldwide initiative/drawing challenge started in 2009 by artist Jake Parker, open to participants of any age across the globe. Each year, he releases a list of ‘prompt words,’ numbered 1 through 31 for each day of the month of October. The objective of participation is to instill a daily habit of drawing in the artist taking part, preferably in some kind of ink on paper, even if a pencil underdrawing or other technique is used.

In my (possibly somewhat grumpy) opinion, a lot of people have lost the ‘point’ of Inktober—to draw in ink—and they do it all digitally now… but I am forever an Inktober purist—long live paper and ink! I’ve participated in Inktober for about 10 years; here are some of the most recent yearly collections…

Inktober 2025 (in progress)

After so many years of doing Inktober, I have started trying to make an additional challenge or two for myself each year. Since I’ve always been obsessed with hand-drawn typography/lettering, so for 2025 I decided to compose each prompt word, out of the prompt word itself…? Something like that.

Inktober 2025
Official Prompts

Mustache
Weave
Crown
Murky
Deer
Pierce
Starfish
Reckless
Heavy
Sweep
Sting
Shredded
Drink
Trunk
Ragged
Blunder
Ornate
Deal
Arctic
Rivals
Blast
Button
Firefly
Rowdy
Inferno
Puzzling
Onion
Skeletal
Lesson
Vacant
Award

Inktober 2024

My self-imposed extra challenges for 2024 were: A). all drawings should include pop culture references (video games, films and TV, song lyrics, etc.), and B). all drawings had to have hand-drawn text. Why do I torture myself with extra work when I can barely finish the 31 days with the base challenge alone? Um… I don’t have an answer for that! So, how many references can you pick up on?