Artober :: Artober :: Bonus Comics

Artober

Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year. — InkTober.com

Then there's those of us who like Inktober but are not ink artists, nor desire to be, and would rather work in our preferred mediums. Thus, Artober! My goal is full pencil drawings with a bit of story with it.

Given how embedded Inktober is in the webcomic and online art community at large, I would be remiss at not addressing it's two key issues:

Copyright and Tradekmarking. In December 2019, Jake Parker copyrighted his annual event and the term that he had coined. While he tried to assure his followers in the announcement that this was in no way an attempt to profit on the artists who had used his prompts to create and then sell artwork, and was instead a legal move to be able to take action against those would use Inktober in a malicious way, such as promoting hate and violance or by impersonating Parker for criminal intent. He had the simple restriction of "do not put the Inktober directly on your artwork so as not to imply official affiliation with the company". Many artists took offense to this move. As a business owner and a professional, I have no qualms with the trademark or his terms of use. My use of a medium other than ink is even addressed on the official FAQ as being an acceptable engagement in the challenge.
Plagiarism. In August 2020, Alphonso Dunn accused Parker of plagiarising his book, Pen and Ink Drawing, and created a video comparing his book to Parker's Inktober All Year Long. Parker refuted the claim. The case was eventually dismissed. The online art community remains divided to this day, with many detractors accusing him of racism for no other reason than the fact that Dunn was of a different ethnicity than Parker. I have not read either book. For all I know, the whole accusation was a marketing ploy they agreed to beforehand to boost sales of both books, and it's well known that controversary is great advertisement. Regarding plagiarism in the art tutorial community, I have seen illustrations from Andrew Loomis' Figure Drawing for All It's Worth blatantly plagiarised in books like Figure Drawing: Keys to Drawing the Human Body by José María Parramón, but there wasn't any outcry for Loomis because he is dead, he is a male caucasian who was normal for his time but would be considered a phobocist by today's standards, and Parramón will never have the popularity and influence that Parker had.

I will continue to participate in Inktober as I desire and have time.

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