Inktober 2019 Plans

Hi everyone!

It's this time of the year again! 🔆

As I mentioned in previous posts, I will be participating in Inktober again this year (of course), but I will be taking it a little more easily than previous years, because I can't afford to burn myself out, and I have so much work to do beside Inktober, that I need to be able to manage everything without melting my brain. 

So here's a little breakdown of what I am planning, what you can expect to see as patrons, and what rewards will look like as a result of the challenge. 

So, I had a lot of different half-formed plans, but I have finally decided to follow the original prompts this year.
I haven't done that since...2016 I think. It used to be something that stressed me out, and I didn't actually enjoy following prompts, but I now feel a lot more confident in my ability to find ideas to fit my style based on each word, and it is actually something I am excited to attempt.
Here's the list for this year, in case you hadn't seen it yet. 

I suspect I will be primarily using brush pens and black ink, although I might not be able to resist adding a little red or blue every here and there. I'm not putting any pressure on myself and will see what feel right.

Here are the brush pens I currently use.
My usual favourites are the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and most Kuretake Brush pens.
I don't actually enjoy the Pigma one, as it frayed really fast, so I mostly use it to colour in if I need to.
I will probably also use the Sennelier Black Encre de Chine. It's a liquid black India Ink that is permanent and light fast.
For my paper, I am not entirely sure what I will be using. I bought some Fabriano Watercolour paper, mostly motivated by the fact that I wanted a square watercolour pad for a project idea, but I could only find cold press paper in that format, which isn't ideal for ink work. I might start using it and see how it goes and what else I can find. 

As per last year, rewards will be a little different in October and November, as I will have less time to sketch and paint. 

Here's what I have planned : 

✦ Sketchbook PDF :
The October one will go up in a week or so, but I might not have sketches in November, depending on whether I managed to fit some sketching time in between Inktober drawings or not. If I don't have enough sketches for a PDF In November, I will create a PDF with scans of Inktober drawings from the archives! :) You'll get to see some of  my Inktobers before I managed to finish it and before I became a full-time artist.

✦ Process Video :
I still owe you the Process video of Moondust, and I will have a video of The Thieves also. November will be another Process Video Month, and I have some footage of Bloom for that purpose. Sorry for the delay on those, they take me a long time to put together, and even more so since I had to catch up on a lot of task during the summer. 

✦ Tiny Tutorial :
I am already creating the Tutorial for September, so I'll have that up soon, and will be hopefully making another for October. The September tutorial is about painting transparency, and the October one will be about using Brush Pens. 

✦ $15 Rewards (2 Small Prints) :
Patrons at this tier will receive 2 small prints, each of an Inktober drawing. Each design will be voted on towards the end of the month. November rewards will go back to normal 

✦ $20 Rewards (8x10 print + 1x small print) :
In 2018, patrons at this tier who had been pledging for more than 2 months got a copy of my 2018 booklet, and the others got an Inktober print. I am hoping to once again make a booklet this year, probably smaller than previous ones. Each $20 patron will receive a copy of the booklet as their October reward, replacing the usual large and small print. November rewards will go back to normal. 

PATREON POSTS YOU CAN EXPECT DURING THE MONTH
Regarding what you can expect as Patreon feed posts this month, on top of the rewards I mentioned above, I might do some sketches in advance and ink them on the day, particularly for week-ends, and if I ever do that, I will post the sketches on here as Patreon exclusive previews.
I will continue working on anything else I manage to fit in, so any extra work in progress will also go up. I am in the process of creating the September Painting, and will update you about its progress as I go on.
If I finish Inktober drawings early in the day, you will get to see them before everyone else also. 

I have a few other things planned during and after Inktober, some of which might not happen, some of which might happen later...I'm not sure yet, but I thought I would share the ideas with you, and you can tell me what you think! Your feedback is always helpful and much appreciated :)

✦ INKTOBER SALE :
I need to start cleaning up my shop to make room for fresh prints and products, so I am planning a big Inktober sale of all my previous Inktober designs.
Some of you may remember these polls
Inktober 2017 Print Poll
Inktober 2018 Print Poll
In which I asked which designs I should keep as prints on my shop, and which I should retire. These will be the basis for the sale, and I will heavily discount all prints, and only keep the few that were most popular in those polls once the sale has ended.

As per usual, there will be a Patreon exclusive discount code that will be valid for all patrons during the sale and will be slightly higher than the public discount code.

I am still not sure when this sale will happen, as I will also be doing a Christmas Sale, and I would like the two of them to be separate. So this one might be soon, or in the new year.  

✦ NEW STICKERS :
Like last year, I will probably create some stickers from some of my Inktober drawings, and I will need your help deciding which designs to use, once I have drawn a few, so keep an eye out for that. All patrons with physical rewards will get a sticker with their October or November packages, depending on when I receive the products from the printer. 

✦ INKTOBER 2020 CALENDAR :
This idea is still very fresh and new, so I am not sure if it will happen, but I was thinking of perhaps creating a 2020 calendar with some of my Inktober 2019 drawings. It could become a reward for $20 patrons in the new year, and I would make them available on my shop also. You guys could help me choose the drawings and help me design it. I don't know yet. I just like the idea of making a calendar. I even bought square paper for just that purpose...

And I think this is it for now!

This is all a little up in the air obviously, as it will depend on how much work I manage to do this month, but I will do my best to keep up with everything, This month id going to be intense, but I don't mind, I like that the end of the year is always quite busy, it makes me feel like I earned my Christmas break, haha. I did shoot a little too high last year and failed to fulfill a couple of things that still haunt me, which is why I am a little less adamant about things this year, and will just see where things go, I hope that's ok. I'm learning my limits, but that does come with some trial and error along the way...

All in all though, I'm excited about Inktober! I already have a bunch of ideas for most prompts,and I hope you will like what I create! 

Thank you being amazing, always, 

Take care peeps, 

M