Every October I take part in a daily art exercise where I try to draw and post a picture every day of the month. Some days I’m really in to making something special, other days I’m burned out from my other responsibilities and make something simple. In any case, I look forward to seeing what I’m going to make over the course of the month every year.
But every year I run into the same problem, and every year I forget about it until I’m a few days in.
Every year, for every Drawtober or Artober or whatever you call it (we don’t call it Inktober any more), I feel like I stumble out of the gate. I like to imagine I’ll start off every year with a big opener or a grand entrance, but whenever I sit down to start I end up starting small. While there’s nothing wrong with starting slow or starting small, I feel like I’m failing to live up to my own expectations… which is the natural state of any artist, really.
I always feel like I find my stride about a week or two in. The first few days are random attempts at spooky themes and tributes to classic monsters, but then at around the two-week mark I hit on something that feels like a theme I can pursue. I’m nearing the end of the first week now, and I’m excited to see what strikes me this year, whenever it happens or whatever it is.
I like this annual art challenge/exercise because, while I’m already making art every day in the form of comic pages, this forces me to push myself even further while also remaining a proper distance from burnout. Among the many other things, it’s a tightrope walk and maintaining balance is good exercise.
The best way to see these daily art posts is to follow me on Bluesky. I’m also on Instagram but their phone-centric format will sometimes crop pictures.