Inktober Supply Suggestions

Earlier this month I asked for assistance on what monsters I should draw. You all warmed my heart with all the wonderful suggestions. However, what made me the most excited was seeing in the comments how so many of you were also participating in Inktober! I can’t wait to see all of the artwork this next month!

Since a lot talked about this being their first Inktober, I thought it would be fun to share some of my art supplies for this project. Because using India ink pens is one of the easiest ways to transition into ink. Unless you’re a painter, then you might prefer ink jars instead. But if you’re clumsy like me, this could be a bad idea…

I started and have mainly focused on doing my line work with a pencil or pen. That’s why over the years I’ve collected a huge pile of India ink pens. They are definitely one of my favorite art supplies. This is mainly due to the fact that it goes on the paper and dries with a flat color compared to a regular ink pen. It really helps make your art stand out I think. However, a regular ink pen is a great place to start as well because it is cheap to acquire and can help you decide if inking is your thing.

So without further ado, here are the main pens I plan to use for my work this upcoming month:

They’re a mix between Faber-Castell, Micron, and Gelly Roll pens. If you’ve never used a pen like this before, the numbers above the pens are references to the size of the pen tip. I wrote out each pen’s title with lines beside of it not only because it’s visually pleasing to me, but it also helps showcase the pen tip differences.

The last pen is actually just a white gel pen. I’ve learned over the years though that this one addition to artwork can dramatically improve how the artwork looks when you finish.

As for the sketchbook, I found one over at Staples specifically for this project. I was surprised to find that they stocked Speedball Mixed Media Sketchbooks there. (Speedball is known for their ink products, from regular ink to screenprinting.) This one’s size is 5.5 inch by 8.5 inch. You can see what the ratio looks like up above from me using a piece for the background of showcasing the ink pens. I’m really excited to see how this paper holds the ink.

If this is your first time and you don’t have the money to just run out and get a bunch of art supplies (trust me, the only reason I have this much is years of collecting and saving money for it), I have some suggestions for you.

Find a pen and some paper. And that’s all you need for this project. Yup. It’s that simple. Because this art challenge was created to help improve your art skills. You don’t need expensive art supplies to get this challenge done. You just need your passion to draw and the willingness to work on improving those skills.

If you want to take it to the next level, I’d suggest starting with a 02 or 03 Micron Pen. They have a similar tip to an ordinary ink pen, so the only thing that changes for you is the type of ink you’re using.

Thank you for helping me put together my list of prompts for this Inktober! If you would like to use to prompt list yourself, please send your work my way on any of the social media platforms listed at the top of this page! I would love to see how your creativity was inspired by these!

Thanks so much,

Jessi, the ArtsyRobotz

P.S. If you’re participating and would like to have a buddy to help encourage you as you go through them, please comment below and I’ll check out your progress on which platform you chose to post it on!