Inktober 2026

Page created: 2026-10-31

I had a pretty good Inktober this October.

Scroll down for all of the images. I think you’ll agree that they go up quite a bit in quality as the month progressed! This was a function of getting back into the drawing groove and blocking out time for it in the evenings. Nevertheless, any time you’re doing daily drawings, they’re not all going to be winners!

I posted them on Mastodon over here:

https://mastodon.art/@ratfactor

Here’s the official Inktober word list for 2026:

Day 1: "Apple"

A black ink drawing of an angler fish chewing on an apple. A barrel of apples sits in the foreground with the label "Bob 4 Apples"

Day 2: "Relic"

Black ink drawing. A goldfish seems surprised to see an aquarium treasure chest with bubbles and treasure and a decorative skull.

Day 3: "Miniature"

A drawing of a hand drawing on a sketchbook page on which a tiny fish is jumping out of a fishbowl. The drawing on the page is the scene

Day 4: "Cactus"

A blank ink drawing of a fish with ridges and spines like a cactus.

Day 5: "Smack"

Strange Batman smacking Robin in the face with a fish. Based on the well-known comic panel often used in memes.

Day 6: "Ogre"

Round ogre body with fanged fish head. Says Bah!

Day 7: "Panic"

Ink drawing of a fish looking panicked. In the foreground there is a note on a hook that reads

Day 8: "Stinky"

Pen drawing of a skeleton fishing in a toilet. Looks like we got a catch!

Day 9: "Ram"

Pen drawing of fish with ram horns looking dubiously at a stick of Random Access Memory which has landed on the ocean floor.

Day 10: "Mystical"

Pen drawing of a catfish in a cloak looks upon a glowing orb containing the shadowy image of a fish.

Day 11: "Rescue"

Pen drawing of a huge fish breaching the surface of the water

Day 12: "Toss"

A fish in office clothing sits at a desk with a typewriter. There’s a placard on the desk that says Mr. Fish. The fish is smoking a pipe and says "Bah" while tossing a crumpled piece of paper pulled from the typewriter.

Day 13: "Flimsy"

Pen drawing of a tiny fisherman pulling hard on a fishing pole. At the other end of the line is an enormous fish the size of a whale. The fisherman also happens to be on a precarious cliff overhang that appears to be crumbling.

Day 14: "Lady"

Pen drawing of a fish in fancy 19th century clothes posing for a formal portrait. She’s got a big poofy hat.

Day 15: "Hooray"

Pen drawing of a fish with a party hat jumping out of the water and saying "Hooray!".

Day 16: "Gangly"

Ink drawing of a fisherman with an unfortunate body shape and incredibly thin legs stands in a body of water. Fish look on as if they can’t believe what they are seeing.

Day 17: "Contraption"

Ink drawing of an ornate steampunk vehicle with feet. At the center is a spherical water tank holding the driver

Day 18: "Flightless"

Pen drawing of a fish holding a toy airplane and looking up at the sky. Birds and a pair of flying fish with luggage are passing overhead.

Day 19: "Confused"

A fish sitting at a desk making a phone call is confused to see an equally confused tiny human diver in an antique diving suit descending into the office area.

Day 20: "Lounge"

Ink drawing of a fish lounging in a martini glass

Day 21: "Hero"

A man in a fish-based superhero costume holds a fishing pole with a hand on the end of the line and waves at a fish superhero who is an actual fish.

Day 22: "Beacon"

Pen drawing of a scruffy guy with long hair and beard in a a life raft with a big emergency beacon lit up at the front. He is happy to see four rescue fish approaching with little round backpacks labeled "Food"

Day 23: "Dapper"

Pen drawing of FQ (Fish Quartely) with a fish in tuxedo and mustache. Based on a 1989 GQ cover featuring Sting.

Day 24: "Bake"

Ink drawing of a fish (grouper) in a baker’s outfit opening an oven and the muffins are floating out.

Day 25: "Fracture"

Pen drawing of a fancy ceramic object with fishy water designs has cracked open. A magical fish spirit is emerging from the crack.

Day 26: "Zip"

Pen drawing of a fish zipping up her human mom suit. Someone is calling from the door

Day 27: "Dumb"

Pen drawing of a fish jumping out of a fishbowl and into a toaster that has just popped a pair of toast slices.

Day 28: "Trophy"

Ink drawing of a guy holding a fish who is holding a little guy who is holding a trophy. The big guy’s hat reads

Day 29: "Tusk"

Ink drawing of a fish with an elephant head. Nice tusks. Bubbles coming from the trunk.

Day 30: "Cookie"

Pen drawing of a cracked fortune cookie. The fortune says

Day 31: "Flex"

Ink drawing of a swordfish who has just finished carving a pumpkin. Pieces float in the water. Three little fish are onlookers.

My tools this year were extremely minimal. A Staedtler 2mm lead holder with 2B lead and a Pentel Ain eraser. I’d say I did a pencil sketch for about three quarters of the drawings.

My only pen was a 0.4mm Pilot Hi-Tec-C. I used up an entire refill and part of a second one. I was super impressed with the ability of the Hi-Tec-C to keep up with me, especially when I filled in large areas with tons of cross-hatching. I don’t recall a single skip in the entire first refill.

The sketchbook is an inexpensive spiral-bound Blick pad with regular drawing weight paper.

The cardboard surface you see in the image above is my cardboard standing art station, which was very handy to keep everything set up and ready to go when I stood at the table.

These monthly challenges are always great warm-ups. I have a really ambitious (for me) art goal next and I think I’m ready to begin now. We’ll see!

Related: Art