Recently, some friends & I were challenged to take on Inktober 2019.
The rules are as follows:
Basically for each day of October, you take a given prompt, and try to make a design out of it.
Simple, right?
Take a prompt, make a drawing, share it.
Repeat 30 more times.
The only thing we did differently, was that we didn’t limit it to only drawings in ink. We opened it up so that you could also make these drawings using any medium you wanted, including design software such as Illustrator, or AdobeXD.
My tool of choice for this challenge, was Adobe XD.
As someone who had never done ANY (and I mean ANY) sort of design before, I was feeling super anxious and honestly terrified about it all. There were quite a few thoughts and questions going through my head:
- will people like the designs that I make?
- what if everyone thinks my designs are super amateurish and embarrassing?
- my designs clearly won’t look as good as other professionals, why even try?
- can I even come up with 31 different designs?
- why even bother if you’re just going to fail?
It didn’t help my anxiety that the group of friends I was doing this challenge with, we’re all super creative, and professional designers who made a living off of design.
Fortunately for me, these super creative, and professional designers, are also super supporting and encouraging people who gave me enough courage to try. And I’m so grateful that they gave me the courage to do so, because it’s been an unforgettable ride, and I’ve almost never had this much fun before, doing something I never ever imagined I could possibly do, let alone love to do.
So with that, here are 5 personal learnings I’ve had from 31 straight days of design!
1. Not everything you create will be a masterpiece
I think of myself as a bit of a perfectionist, and this was one of the hardest things for me to accept. We all want all of our work to be amazing and perfect, but sometimes, the creative juices aren’t flowing, or you just can’t get that perfect vision, or life happens, or whatever.
Sometimes, we just have to do the work, and move on. But the important thing is, that we don’t get discouraged, and continue again tomorrow.
2. Sometimes we’re capable of things we would never have imagined possible
Often I would start on a design with the first idea that came to my head, and sometimes it would turn out okay, and other times the design should probably never see the light of day.
But, from time to time, I would stumble across a little idea that came out of nowhere. Maybe it was from a little idea that someone mentioned in passing, or from a little piece of feedback that someone would give.
But I would take that little idea, and I would work on it, bit by bit, slowly adding to it, tweaking a little detail, making it into this grand vision I didn’t even know I had. And eventually, when I came to the end of that idea, I would end up with a design that would make me ask myself…
“I can’t believe this is real, did I really do this?”
And it’s the little moments like this, which made me double down on my efforts to become a better designer.
Fun Fact: a friend got me a printed painting of this, making it my first ever printed piece!
3. Even when you want to quit, keep practicing, and then practice some more
When I published my first design, I was all about ready to quit. I was looking at what my friends were designing, and then comparing it to my set of circles. I was thinking to myself, they’re producing these great pieces and all you could come up with were a set of multi coloured circles.
Congratulations, you’ve just proven to the world that you’re not meant for this.
But of course, the little voice of reason in my head would pop up at that point, and say something reasonable like, “they’ve probably spent thousands of hours perfecting the craft, and you’ve only just begun. Give it another hour.”
And so, I would listen, and spend another hour practicing and creating another piece. And then I would look at my new piece, almost give up, then try for another hour. This cycle would continue every day for October, and finally before I knew it, I had finished 31 designs.
Looking at my 31st piece, I have to say I’m happy that I didn’t quit, and I’m starting to see the practice paying off.
4. Sometimes less is more
I think as a beginner designer, I often fall in the trap of thinking “more is always better”. I’m always trying to add another layer/piece to a design, not necessarily because there’s a specific goal in mind, but often just because I can.
It’s been hard for me to remember this, but sometimes keeping it super simple does exactly what you need.
And finally, my biggest takeaway from it all…
5. Inspiration can come from anywhere!
Once I started really enjoying doing these prompts and designs, I started seeing inspiration everywhere. Inspiration could come anytime, from anyone, and anywhere. It could’ve been a cool font that I saw on a bus ad, or maybe it was an old video game that I used to love that I happened to see again.
Sometimes it would just take a single word, and an idea would start spinning together in my head. Other times, maybe it was a local celebrity (the trash panda here in Toronto) that gave me just the little nudge I needed to get an idea going.
I think the biggest thing I took away is that we all can be creative. There’s boundless possibilities for new ideas that we can create, and the whole world can be our inspiration. If we keep an open mind about ideas, who knows what we can come up with!
So there you have it!
31 days, 31 prompts, 31 designs.
Inktober 2019 has been at times a frustrating and stressful challenge, but it’s also been a great learning experience, and helped me discover a passion I didn’t know that I had! If you’ve also participated in Inktober, I would love to know, and to see your work!
