Inktober Challenge 2019

Inktober Challenge 2019 – Enchantment Under the Sea

The title of the Inktober Challenge 2019 is very much a nod to the Back to the Future dance. This year’s theme was water mammals and their antics. This year, I’ve also moved from black India Ink of my previous Inktober Challenges to a variety of Winsor & Newton colored (should that be coloured) inks. I had so much fun this month researching water mammals for each of the prompts for the challenge. I learned a lot about sea mammals that I’ve never heard of and their odd habits.

Colored Ink vs Black Ink

I once received a set of colored Winsor & Newton inks when I was in high school. I never used them and they somehow vanished in years of moving around. Then I received the same set as a gift a few years ago. They sat in a drawer for a long time. While I’ve used India Ink for years, I’ve never found a use for the colored inks. I figured that I should push myself to try them out.

First impression. Wow! Why did I deny these for so long? It was very much like painting with very liquidy watercolors, with much more vibrance. I just loved applying layers of watered down ink. A commenter on Instagram even thought that the pieces were done with watercolors. I use the same technique as I’ve used with India Ink by adding water and applying the inks with a brush. On top of that I draw details with a dip pen. As I normally do with inks, I drew all of these piece on vellum bristol paper.

It’s All About the Mammals

In this series, I focused on water mammals. Mainly sea mammals. Dolphins were a large focus, but also, seals, walruses, otters, whales and a polar bear.