This is my second year of Inktober and it certainly keeps you on your toes. One artwork a day and that’s on top of the day job! The key thing for success I think is to come up with a simple concept that works within a sensible scale so that you can pace yourself through the month and realistically keep delivering to the end of the challenge.

This year I thought I’d also combine it with the 31 inks in 31 days challenge, so that I could showcase a majority of my favourite inks. Starting off with simple swatch landscapes to highlight the beautiful chromatic qualities and colours within the inks, I gradually stepped up the complexity of the art by mixing 2 colours together and then introducing more graphic imagery, finally finishing Inktober with what would pass for as detailed watercolour paintings.

I really have enjoyed this particular Inktober. It hasn’t only allowed me to further demonstrate what’s possible with fountain pen inks as a unique art medium, but it’s helped me to further my own practise in appreciating how fascinating and surprising this medium can be. If I had to pick out a couple of crucial discoveries, it’s allowing the chromatography and serendipity to do their stuff first and then working on top with the limited palette (2 inks) as chosen. This keeps the images fresh and vibrant with little surprise twists that the processes deliver for free. And they really do enhance the visual experience! The final images are below if you want to take a closer look.

What seems to be apparent with Inktober is that it does tend to be dominated by black and white illustration. Fountain pen inks certainly count for the challenge and with the diversity of colours available, it would be great to see more of it being used in the future to add a big splash of colour and some of that unique chromatic magic!

All of my Inktober 2018 images are for sale, so if there’s a combination that appeals to you or you want to surprise fellow inkophile click here for the Shop.

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