Fall is upon us which means hot chocolate, warm gloves, and usually a lot of rain here in Malmö. While the days are getting darker (don’t forget your reflexes!), some of Massive’s employees did whatever they could to try and brighten our days with some art by participating in the October Art Challenge!
The challenge first started in 2009, under the name Inktober, as a means for artists to improve their drawing skills, using only ink and paper. Since then the challenge has grown into a global movement with several sub-genres, such as Witchtober, Catober, Digitober and Vectober.
“Just for the joy of it”
Each day you’re prompted to draw an image, inspired by a specific word of the day. There are a lot of different lists of words online that you can follow. Here at Massive we have many talented artists who are participating in the October Art Challenge. Some of them follow specific lists and some don’t – like David Navarro, Senior Open World Designer, who is “drawing whatever I feel like each day.”
The challenge aspect of it helps keep me committed
Having worked with traditional animation in the early ‘90s, he pretty much stopped drawing after transitioning to CGI, and participating in the challenge is his way to get back to drawing as a hobby. “This is my first serious attempt in 25 years to draw just for the joy of it, and the challenge aspect of it helps keep me committed”.
Vectober, an alternative to Inktober
Many digital artists choose to participate in Vectober instead of the more traditional Inktober. One of them is Talia Gual, Lead UI Artist at Massive, who uses tools such as Adobe Illustrator and After Effects instead of ink and paper.
Why not two challenges?
Another Massive colleague who is participating is Ingrid Sarvik, Senior Video Artist. She, contrary to David and Talia, follows two different challenges – the official Inktober as well as one from 2018 called Catober. “I love cats,” Ingrid says. “I wanted to portray my own cats in the drawings, so they also get some praise.”
She goes on to tell us about how she, as a child, always grabbed her crayons as soon as she saw a blank paper, even if that paper turned out to be her mother’s bills. Participating in the October Art Challenge is her way to get an outlet for all that creativity.
I get a lot of ideas and inspiration each day doing my job
“I get a lot of ideas and inspiration each day doing my job and how do I get an outlet for it? Drawing is something that comes easy for me and I also get to know myself in the process,” she says and continues: “I’ve always wanted to do this challenge but never had the time or energy. I’ve always had excuses to not do it. This year I really felt a great need to be creative, so I decided to participate!”
The October Art Challenge is over for this year but why not participate next year? And who knows, maybe by then we will have our own Massive Art Challenge?
useful links
- Want to improve your portfolio? Check out five portfolio tips from Shray Khanna, Lead Props Artist here at Massive.
- Did you know that Massive has a Concept Artist Scholarship? Read more about it here!
