Last October, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to take up the daunting challenge of Inktober, something I had been planning for many years. It was daunting not only because one had to draw every day throughout the month but also because I hadn’t sketched in a while. However, the timing was perfect thanks to the leisure that the work-from-home arrangement provided. The lack of other creative activities indoors and a chance to get back to sketching prompted me to try my hand. While the original Inktober‘ prompts’ — or topics — seemed easy and encouraging at first, the streak lasted only for five days. Still, it was a start. 

The Inktober challenge was started in 2009 by American artist Jake Parker to improve his own skills and develop positive drawing habits but it has since turned into a worldwide movement. Over the years, people around the world have tried it and more recently have developed their own set of prompts for friends and social media followers to sketch around every day during October. The official Inktober website’s 31 prompts this year include ‘crystal’, ‘suit’, ‘vessel’, ‘knot’ and 'Raven', among others.