Yay! I just finished my second year in a row of Inktober! I had tried a few times before that but was never able to stick with it and finish the whole month. This time was difficult for me for a couple of reasons. One, I didn't really care for the official prompt list--sorry the words didn't spark too many ideas with me, other than the obvious, literal ones from the prompts themselves. And two, I was disappointed in the sketchbook I had selected for this year. I had heard so many good things about the Rendr paper that I was excited to try it. I thought it was perfect for something like the Inktober challenge, because it would lend itself to different media depending on the particular day's prompt. Well, being an Inktober newsletter subscriber, I got the prompt list earlier than the official release date, so I had time to do some prep work, which I spent making thumbnail sketches of as many prompts as I could think of (I got all bot the last week or so) and even did an insid
I finished another handmade sketchbook, this time out of Arches Watercolor paper and some really cute paisley fabric. I got lucky and was able to purchase a couple of 22"x30" sheets on sale at a local art supply store. I decided to use this one as a Swatch Book for one of my 24 color Palettes . I got the idea for the Zentangle Swatch Book from a YouTube Video from Notable Ink . I really liked the idea of having a handy mixing chart of your palette and practice your Zentangle doodles at the same time. If you don’t want to go through all the work of the Swatch Book and/or drawing the pages, I think you can buy the designs ready-made for download from her site. And yes, there were moments when I was considering just buying the pages myself, but I decided to stick with it and keep practicing. That’s why we doodle, right? To get better at it. I started with Phthalo Blue (green shade) and ended up with some really nice greens. I especially like the Burnt Sienna combination; it