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Issue 09

31 Days of Drawing

Kate Beldman

Kate is 12 years old and lives in Phoenix, Arizona. She would like to have a career in art when she grows up. All paintings by the author.

I love art. I love art because I can express myself without words. It helps me calm down when I am angry, sad or worried. I love being creative and doing work for a great result. But sometimes it is hard to be motivated or have ideas of what to make. That’s why I tried out Inktober.

Inktober is a drawing challenge created by Jake Parker who puts out a list of 31 drawing prompts for October. On each day of October, you draw something inspired by the prompt for the day. Many artists participate each year. I enjoyed Inktober a lot because it challenged me to draw something every single day. I didn’t anticipate it being so hard, but I learned I didn’t have to create a masterpiece for it. When I started getting frustrated with a piece, I would take a break and try something easier. It was great fun to try using different things to draw with. Inktober is for ink drawing, but I allowed myself to use whatever I wanted. Most of my drawings were made with watercolour. In 2022 I tried it out but, unfortunately, I could only make a few drawings. I had a hard time actually committing to drawing every day. This time I did all of the drawings but by the end I was not putting enough effort into the drawings – I was pretty burnt out. One of my favourites, which I really enjoyed creating, was the painting for the prompt word “Dream.”  I definitely put the most effort into that one because it was the first prompt. I also really liked the way Castle turned out – it is so bright and fun. Inktober was hard but now that it is done, I find myself drawing a lot more. I draw almost every day now.