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Inktober

I'm learning to draw. Inktober is a drawing challenge: one prompt a day for the month of October, in ink, no undo. I doodle it, photograph the page, and put it here. Why do this? It's pointless, the doodles will suck, it's public. yes, and that's the point. They will suck. There is no point. But at the end of the month, I hope they will suck a little bit less, and I will have enjoied myself. Join me.

Inktober 2026

27 of 31 inked

Prompts as @inktober published them.

  1. Ink drawing on grid paper: a long, spindly black arm rises from the bottom of the page, its clawed fingers holding up a bright green apple, while a shaggy black figure with wide grey eyes and a gaping mouth stares at it from the right edge. Lettered APPLE at top and Inktober 2026, Oct 1 in the corner. 1 · Apple
  2. Ink and grey-blue marker drawing on grid paper: a squat, rounded stone block seen from above at an angle, carved with a crude face — two slot brows, round sunken eyes, a triangular nose and a wide rectangular mouth of blocky teeth — casting a soft shadow. Lettered RELIC at top and Inktober 2026, Oct 2 in the corner. 2 · Relic
  3. Ink drawing on grid paper: a giant steaming paper coffee cup with a sleeve lettered HOT COFFEE towers over the page, two ladders leaning against its side, while a tiny figure in a cap stands off to the right looking up at it. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 3 — Miniature at top. 3 · Miniature
  4. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a cheerful yellow-green saguaro cactus with both arms raised, covered in fine spines, with big eyes, raised eyebrows and an open grin with a pink tongue, and two pink flowers on top of its head. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 4 — Cactus at top. 4 · Cactus
  5. Brown ink drawing on grid paper: a domino slams flat onto a tabletop with a blue starburst lettered SMACK in yellow, while more dominoes tumble through the air with motion lines and a speech box in the corner shouts DOMINO, BITCHES! Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 5 — Smack! at top. 5 · Smack
  6. Ink drawing on grid paper: a round, lumpy ogre standing face-on with long dangling arms and stubby feet, two pink-striped horns, wide startled eyes, a big oval mouth and two orange tusks poking up from its lower jaw. Lettered Inktober Day 6 — Ogre at top right. 6 · Ogre
  7. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a blue-and-purple blob of a figure on stick legs and big shoes, clutching its head with both stick arms, eyes wide and mouth open in a scream with a red tongue. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 7 — Panic, underlined. 7 · Panic
  8. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a swirled brown poop emoji with a horrified face, wide eyes and a grimacing open mouth, stink lines rising above it and a grey shadow below. Lettered Inktober Day 8, Stink at top. 8 · Stinky
  9. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a hand-drawn chart with a RAM axis and the red label MEMORY PRICES, a green line wobbling along and then shooting up and off the top of the page, where it bursts in a red, orange and green explosion. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 9 at top. 9 · Ram
  10. Ink and grey marker drawing on grid paper: a large crystal ball on a squat stand, swirled with grey mist and shaded dark on the left with a lavender glow on the right, and in its center, in blue, HTTP 503. Lettered Inktober Day 10, Mystical at top right. 10 · Mystical
  11. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a furry orange paw with black pads and claws reaches up out of a rippling blue pool, while a red-and-white life ring on a rope flies in from the top right corner toward it. Lettered Inktober Day 11, Rescue at top. 11 · Rescue
  12. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a horseshoe tumbles through the air with motion lines and a looping trail behind it, its grey shadow on the ground below, heading toward a lone stake planted among tufts of green grass. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 12 — Toss at top. 12 · Toss
  13. Ink line drawing on grid paper: a single roll of toilet paper seen from the side, a long sheet hanging down from it with dashed perforations and a torn, ragged bottom edge. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 13 — Flimsy at top. 13 · Flimsy
  14. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a square-headed bear with round ears, a tuft of hair, rosy cheeks, a big black nose and a pearl necklace smiles from a bubble bath in a clawfoot tub with gold feet, a black faucet running blue water. Lettered Inktober Day 14, Lady (Bear) at top. 14 · Lady
  15. Bold ink line drawing on grid paper: a big, contented bear in a yellow polka-dot party hat raises one paw in celebration as blue, yellow and green confetti and red streamers fly around it, with a cupcake and a single lit candle on a little table at the lower right. Lettered Inktober Day 15 — Hooray at top. 15 · Hooray
  16. Ink drawing on grid paper: a long, gangly black stick figure with a round head and small red eyes strides forward, arms flung wide with spidery fingers, wearing red high-top sneakers, with grey motion streaks behind it and a smudge of ink by the front foot. Lettered Inktober Day 15, Gangly at top left. 16 · Gangly
  17. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a Rube Goldberg apple-picking machine. A tiny stick figure by a slingshot and a wheel at the left drives a tall pulley frame, which swings a spinning double hammer, which pulls a line through a whirling spoked wheel to a scoop up in a green apple tree; red apples fly through the air into a little cart full of apples. Lettered Inktober Day 17, Contraption at top. 17 · Contraption
  18. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a wide-eyed penguin with an orange beak gazes up at a thought bubble, in which a penguin flies a green-and-white propeller plane through a blue sky past white clouds, trailing red streamers. Lettered Inktober Day 18 and “Flightless.” 18 · Flightless
  19. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a brown-and-white dog sits with its head tilted hard to one side, one ear sticking straight up and the other flopped, brow furrowed, staring at a yellow tennis ball in the bottom corner. Lettered Inktober Day 19, Confused at top. 19 · Confused
  20. Ink and pencil drawing on grid paper: a long, button-tufted sofa runs off the right edge of the page beneath an arched floor lamp, and at the near end a hound lies buried under a rumpled blue blanket with only its brown nose poking out. Lettered Inktober Day 20 — Lounge (Hound) at top. 20 · Lounge
  21. Ink drawing on grid paper, in two halves. On the left, a man in a suit with a briefcase walks along a street past a car and a waving figure, thinking: The system is hurting so many (good) people... On the right, three arrows point down from the word HERO to a small crowd of stick-figure protesters on the sidewalk holding up signs, one reading ABOLISH ICE. Lettered Inktober Day 21, Hero at top right. 21 · Hero
  22. Ink and marker drawing on grid paper: a red-and-white striped lighthouse on a rocky cliff at the right throws a huge yellow beam across the page, through a sky of swirling black wind and cloud, toward a tiny red sailboat with a small figure aboard, tossed on a sea built from stacks of short black strokes. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 22 Beacon in the bottom corner. 22 · Beacon
  23. Ink drawing on grid paper: a round-headed cat with pointed ears, heavy scowling brows and a flat, unimpressed frown, dressed in a black tuxedo jacket, a buttoned shirt and a big bow tie. Lettered Inktober Day 23, Dapper (Cat). 23 · Dapper
  24. Brush-ink drawing on grid paper: a cat in a tall chef hat, its head shaped like a square loaf of bread, sticks its tongue out at the left, while on the right a countertop oven with three knobs has bone-shaped biscuits baking on a tray inside. Lettered Inktober 2026, Day 24 Bake along the bottom. 24 · Bake
  25. Brush-ink drawing on grid paper: a blocky, tilted skull with tall rectangular eye sockets, a heart-shaped nose hole and a row of square teeth, hairline cracks spidering across its cheeks and brow, casting a grey shadow below. Lettered Inktober Day 25, with Fracture running diagonally alongside. 25 · Fracture
  26. Ink and grey marker drawing on grid paper: a big zipper, half open, its two stitched fabric tapes curving apart into a V above the pull tab, which is lettered YKK. One tape is shaded with crosshatching and the other with parallel hatching, with soft grey folds of cloth on either side. Lettered Inktober Day 26, Zip at lower right. 26 · Zip
  27. Ink drawing on grid paper: a square, blank-faced cartoon head with dot eyes, a question-mark nose and a lopsided open grin says: I’m just not gonna vote. Below, lettered large: Inktober Day 27, DUMB. 27 · Dumb
  28. 28 · Trophy
  29. 29 · Tusk
  30. 30 · Cookie
  31. 31 · Flex

Prompt list © Inktober. The drawings and the photographs of them are mine.