Love, Life, & Beyond

I started drawing for the Inktober Art Challenge a few years ago as a way to be more consistent when it comes to practicing art. It challenges me to think more creatively given that the prompts are just single words. I look forward to the prompt list every year (by September first week) and plan ahead to ensure I am ready to ink!

This year, I knew I was going to be travelling in October, so I started work on the list a little early. This is my fourth year of doing the challenge, and every year I learn something new:

• Learning about myself through my art in the 2021 Inktober Challenge
• Learning cohesiveness in the 2022 Inktober Challenge
• Learning to be consistent in the 2024 Inktober Challenge

This year, I wanted a minimalist look so I had to think on how to bring out the essence of what was in my mind. I tried the colourful art trend in the previous years, but I prefer the black and white version, mostly because I just need a pen and don’t have to sit with multiple art supplies.

Have a look at my interpretations of Inktober 2025 prompts.

How I Decide What to Draw

Usually when I see the prompt, an image will automatically pop up in my head, then I take it from there. Some words that I am not familiar with, I will look them up in the dictionary and try to get an image I can draw. Sometimes, I take the lazy way out and do an image search when I’m stuck. It is always interesting to see how different artists interpret the prompts.

There’s no one thread that connects all the prompts for the month (except in 2024 when it was travel-themed), so my mind wanders about the different things a word can mean. For example, Trunk could mean a container, an elephant trunk, or a tree trunk. 

I was stuck for a while on Day 20 – Rivals. I went through a few options like snake and mongoose, and Tom and Jerry. I settled on the classic rivalry between cats and dogs, both of which I have at home. 

For the Puzzling prompt on Day 26, I did not want to use jigsaw puzzle pieces as I had used them in the 2022 prompt for Match. I considered using question and exclamation marks, but I had already made a similar drawing for Day 16. Then I just looked up synonyms for the word and optical illusions came to mind as something you can be puzzled by. Then I looked up how to draw one and that’s what you see on the page.

I’m quite happy with all the drawings, and I especially loved the smoke/cloud and the animal ones. I was not confident about drawing hands for the Day 18 prompt, Deal, but I’m glad I tried because it turned out quite nice.

What I love about the Inktober Challenge is that you do not need any fancy tools to make great art. Scrolling through social media, I see so many people showing off their art supply haul that I get FOMO, as I’m sure many others do too. We get tempted to buy more than we need or use and many times they dry up before we can use them fully. 

For Inktober, all you need is paper and a pen. My favourite is the Sakura Fineliner set or Manga pens, but any ballpoint would work just as well. The aim is to sketch out your idea. It doesn’t have to be perfect or grand, but you need to be consistent in your daily practice. If you aim too high and go into detailed drawings, you might not finish each piece. So take it easy, set a timer for each day, and make what you can.

Will you be participating in the Inktober 2026 challenge?

Some notable mentions I loved this year: Vinod Gowda, Roshan Kurichiyanil, Sri Priyatham, and Marina Zasuhina.

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