Ninktober

Several years ago, due to time constraints, space constraints, and other considerations, I decided to do the October art challenge… differently.

No ink. No paper. Just digital. 

Also, I asked fans in my art group to help me out with the prompts. Boy, did they. I asked for a word, or two, and then put them into a spreadsheet, two columns, randomized the columns independently of one another, and the top 31 usable options (because not every ‘prompt’ was coherent to be illustrated) became my daily prompts for the month of October. It didn’t take them long to catch on to the fun sidebar game of ‘let’s stump Cedar!’ so a tradition of giving me words in hopes I’d have to look them up for the definition was born. They usually win.

What follows, in descending chronological order, are the last few years of prompts in case you get a wild hare and decide you need to get your imagination motor running with a jumpstart. The current year will be the top one.

You don’t have to create illustrations. You could, as Sam Robb and I did one memorable year, write stories based on the prompts (or as he did, the prompt and my illustration for it). We put that out as a book, One October Night, and that’s a thing you could do as well.  Grab a partner and do it together. Stretch your wings, write a poem, a haiku, a limerick, a drabble, a flash of fiction. A photograph, an generated image, collage, sidewalk chalk…

I will be drawing, using the Procreate app, for my no ink challenge in this sixth year of the art challenge.

The possibilities are endless. The prompts are absurd. Join me! If you want to share the journey with me then just tag me in on X @cedarlili!