My first 5 Inktober Sketches (Sketchbook Sunday)

Hi friends! I am well into the first week of Inktober (the month long inky art challenge created by Jake Parker) and I am still on the inky wagon. I haven’t done today’s drawing yet but it’s only 8pm, plenty of time LOL! Today for Sketchbook Sunday I thought I would share a timelape of how I have been approaching my subjects. I decided to draw hands because I really want to get better at them and I have been using mainly markers.

In this video you will see how I build up the colors to have something that resembles natural skin tone. I am really enjoying it! At the end of the post I will share the other inktober sketches I have done so far. The real time tutorial of this timelapse is 1 hour and 30 minutes long and available in Critique Club now.

Supplies: *affiliate links used

• Rendr Sketchbook
• Art-n-Fly Markers and black fineliners *I recommend starting with the skin and pastel shades or skin and 48 pack
• Prismacolor pencils

I am sharing my inktober drawings on Instagram daily as I do them. It has been a challenge to keep up with this to be honest but I hope I can make it through the month. I will also give myself some grace, if I miss a day I will pick up where I left off because a good something is better than a perfect nothing. I also want to be really honest with you, the color drawings each took me about an hour and a half each. I wish I would whip these up in 20 minutes and hopefully I will improve my speed as I work through the month but I am a bit slow with markers and that’s OK. I am telling you this so you don’t think I whipped them up in 15 minutes. I am finding this challenging and totally loving it. Make your expectations match the amount of time you have to work on a project.

Day #1 the prompt was “ring”. I almost scrapped this drawing after the first layer of marker but I am glad I stuck with it. I made many drafting errors that I had to correct along the way. I used Arteza Everblend markers in a Jane Davenport mixed media journal. Final touches done with colored pencils and acrylic paint pen.

Day #2 “Mindless” I used India ink to create a grayscale sketch in my Fabriano Venice book sketchbook. Then a layered on watercolor and finished with acrylic paint pens and colored pencil.

Day #3 “Bait” I used Genuine Crafts watercolor brush pens to color the sketch and then added colored pencil and fineliner outlines in my Fabriano Venice book.

Day #4 “Freeze” see video!

Day #5 Build I used art and fly fineliners to sketch the scene and details and a single black watercolor brush pen to shade and tone. Highlights were done with a white gel pen. This drawing took about 40 minutes as it did not have color. *Note, I used a reference photo where pinkie and ring finger were hidden behind the other fingers on the top hand and looking at this today I wish I hinted at them in the drawing because it kinda looks like they are missing.

All of the sketches in color started with a sketch with ColErase colored pencils. I think it is fun to sketch in color and takes away some of the “precious” in a sketch. These colored pencils are erasable as well making it easy to be free with them. The process of the color drawing is pretty much the same with waterbased or alcohol based ink so use what you prefer if you are following along with the video, just select the paper you like for the appropriate markers for best results. If you want to see the real time version of today’s tutorial you can find it in Critique Club which is a $5 a month membership for folks wanting to improve their artistic ability and get feedback on their work and/or have access to longer, more advanced tutorials. All artists are welcome to join! Happy creating!