Inktober 2021

Let’s strengthen our visual thinking skills and get into the Word in a little different way by taking on the Inktober 2021 doodle challenge. Relate each word to a bible verse and then illustrate the verse.

My Inktober Process

Welcome to October. It’s time for the Inktober 2021 challenge.

I find it hard to sit down and imagine a verse and an illustration for a word and get it completed in 30 minutes which is about the amount of time I have to work on this challenge each day. To allow me to be more productive during my art times I like to have my verse for the day already selected. Then my brain is working on the illustration in my subconscious so the illustration time is easier.

Ideally, I would love to have all 31 verses selected by now but I only have about 5 selected. I will be working on this challenge for the whole month of October!

My process to find a verse:

Google: Bible verse + the word. Let’s use day 14 TICK for example. This search returned nothing.
Next, I try to think of synonyms for the word. Tick could refer to a ticking clock so I could try Bible verse + time or hour. The blood-sucking parasite is a tick and so I could try Bible verse + parasite. Tick could also refer to the process of marking off a list so I could look for verses about an accounting or counting.
Bible.knowing-jesus.com is a great concordance. Here are the results that I found:

Parasite

Psalm 35:16 – With profile mocking parasites, gnashing their teeth against me

Wow that’s kind of a gnarly verse. Let’s keep looking.

Time, Hour, Clock

Matthew 6:27 – Can any of you add a single hour to the length of your life by worrying?

Matthew 20:5 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

Proverbs 4:10 Listen, my son: accept my words and you will live a long time.

Those verses are better, I can imagine a clock with a pendulum in the illustration.

Checking off a list

Counting the number of Fish in the net (John 21:6)

Samuel counting Jesse’s sons till he met David ( 1 Samuel 16)

David taking a census ( 1 Chronicles 21)

These seem like possibilities as well.

4. I then sit down and illustrate the icon/object and write the verse around it.

5. You may find it helpful to draw a border, label it Inktober and put your name at the bottom and then make 30 more copies so you have your index cards ready to go. I prefer 5 x 7 index cards so I have room to write out the whole verse. Or you could use a half sheet of paper as well. If you have everything prepositioned you are more likely to do the challenge. It’s sort of like making your lunch the night before.

Visual Literacy

This challenge is so good for your brain as it gets you thinking in a non-linear fashion. This is called lateral thinking. We are relating one thing to something else that maybe isn’t so obvious. This is a great way to create visual images for things that might be more difficult to illustrate. So I can’t wait to see what you do. Check back to this post and I will add my illustrations here daily.

Hashtags

be sure to use the hashtags #sketchnoteboss, #inktober, #inktober2021

Inktober 2020

Here’s a link to the 2020 inktober challenge if you need so seem more examples and illustrations.

Disclaimer

This challenge was developed by Jake Parker who is an illustrator and children’s book author. He developed the challenge to get people doodling and drawing. The Sketchnote Boss Facebook group is enjoying the challenge and in no way is profiting from this challenge.

If you have a mind to publish your illustrations you are welcome to do so but please do not use the Inktober name in any way as it is trademarked by Jake Parker as it is his brainchild and we need to respect his work.