October is here again. Which, for me, means two things: No drinking for 30 days, and 31 consecutive days of ink drawings.

I first came across Inktober in 2014. I managed to finish 6 of the 31 proposed drawings (mostly due to my school schedule at the time.) I opted out for 2015 (again due to school,) but went full in 2016. Though I did finish all 31 drawings, the last post clocked in around mid-December. 2017 and 2018 fell off in similar fashion, around halfway. So here we are, 2019, 11 days sober and here with the periodic update for this year’s Inktober adventure. Each year, a list of inspirational prompts are posted to help artists come up with ideas for their drawings and each year (given that it’s Halloween season) I cross-reference the prompts with horror movies. So here is the first of 6 potential posts cataloging my progress this year (as it stands, I am only a day behind schedule!)

Day 1: The obvious choice for the given prompt “Ring” would be, clearly, The Ring. Attempting to subvert the obvious, I took this drawing in a different direction. Inspired by the classic thriller “When a Stranger Calls” I decided to tackle my phobia of drawing inanimate objects and architecture. Historically, backgrounds and setting are my weak point (I usually like to focus more on the human form and the actions and facial expressions therein…)

The telephone cord provided a great deal of anxiety on this one, the concentric loops and the requirement that it all at least appear to be one continuous strand… A new addition to the project this year are famous or relevant quotes from the films in question.

Day 2: “Mindless” naturally brings zombies to mind (“The ZED word, don’t say it!”) Shaun of the Dead being one of my favorite in the genre, comedy or not, seemed fitting. Doubling down on the “mindless” prompt, I chose to depict the final scene (uh… spoilers… for a 15 year old film…) since video games are often regarded as a relatively mindless hobby. Also mindless, the quote is in reference to the character Ed’s rancid farts. Hilarious!

Day 3: This one was a bit of a stretch for the prompt. “Bait” definitely brings fishing to mind, though I’d already done Jaws twice and The Meg (Jason Statham v. Giant Ass Shark) made an appearance last year. So I decided to follow theme this year.
Cabin in the Woods was a sort of sleeper when it came out, but quickly became one of my absolute genre favorites. The cabin vacationers in the film are literally bait for a ritual overseen by a bizarre corporation and it all turns out to be a metaphor for the genre as a whole. Gofigure. The “moose” in question, per the quote, is indeed a stuffed wolf head.

Day 4: “Freeze.” This one took some mental hurdles. My original idea was for The Shining, but I’d seen at least 3 other entries for this one (one of which showcasing the same image I’d been dancing around…) Naturally, I stayed in the Stephen King lane and went with another of his frozen hellscape thrillers.

Fun fact: Misery the film was written and directed by the same team that gave us the timeless classic The Princess Bride (William Goldman and Rob Reiner, respectively.)

Fun fact #2: I referenced my own foot for this one. So, there’s that.

Day 5: This one was a challenge, prompt-wise. “Build” doesn’t really bring to mind a lot of horror themed options. After a good bit of deliberation, the original Wicker Man landed on my brain. As much as I’d have loved to depict Nicolas Cage with a cage full of bees on his head (note to self: depict Nicolas Cage with a cage full of bees on his head next year… or later this year!) I went with the more iconic flaming effigy from the 1973 classic, starring the late Christopher Lee.

My folly here was that I was under an extreme time crunch (clock in to work at 4pm… start drawing at 2pm? Not smart.) However, I managed to maintain the detail on the wooden sculpture and not be late for my day job! Hooray for me.

Well, that’s days 1-5 of #Inktober2019. Posts are being made (mostly) daily on my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages.