How I Finally Made Inktober Fun After 10 Years

3 Inktober Rules That Keep Me Going

Every October, artists around the world take on the challenge of daily drawing prompts – Inktober, Drawlloween and so on. If you’ve attempted it before, you probably know how it feels: you start strong on day one – full of power and anxiety to share on social media, and by week two, it starts feeling more like a chore than a creative outlet.

After 10 years of taking on drawing challenges and rarely finishing every single day, I’ve realized something important: it’s not about perfection or finishing 31 perfect pieces. It’s about building momentum, discovering new styles, letting yourself to experiment, and having fun.

So here are 3 practical rules to make daily art challenges manageable, exciting, and rewarding.

1. Choose Your Format Wisely – Go small!

A giant, blank white sketchbook page can be intimidating, it can be scarry to commit. The pressure to fill edge-to-edge space with complex detail often leads straight to creative block and anxiety.

Shrink your canvas: Instead of a standard sketchbook, try working on a much smaller scale – like an 8×8 cm / 3.15 inche sketchbook or miniature blank cards.

Make it manageable: A smaller format lowers the barrier to entry. While a drawing might still take an hour or two, a compact page feels far less daunting and keeps the process moving pretty fast and exciting. Also it’s a fun challenge – what idea can I fit on to such small workspace?

2. Pick a Limited Color Palette

While traditional challenges focus strictly on black and white ink (therefore InkTober), drawing solely in monochrome requires a lot of skill – heavy shading and texture work to create contrast.

Add an accent color: Give yourself permission to introduce one or two bold colors (like red, orange, or blue) alongside your ink lines.

Spark new ideas: Working with a specific color naturally directs your concepts. A pop of red, for instance, can inspire ideas around apples, vampire blood, or autumn leaves, while making your sketches pop right off the page.

3. Design with a Tangible Outcome in Mind

One of the easiest ways to lose motivation is feeling like you’re just creating sketches that will stay closed inside a book forever. Instead, give each drawing a post-challenge purpose:

Stickers & Prints: Designing in a compact square format makes it easy to turn your daily sketches directly into custom sticker packs. If you use Temu, you can order a batch of 100 stickers dirt cheap, and have fun with them. I have a video about that right here:

Laser Engraving & Merchandise: Daily illustrations can easily be digitized for rear-view mirror charms, wooden ornaments, or Patreon rewards.

Postcards & Gifts: Think about how individual pieces could become holiday cards for friends and family.

When you know a sketch will live on as a tangible object, the daily practice feels purposeful rather than routine.

Embrace the “Bad” Drawings

Looking back through old sketchbooks will always reveal ideas that didn’t pan out—awkward shapes, confusing prompt interpretations, or rough lines. But that experimentation is where personal style begins to emerge.

You don’t have to draw all 31 days, and you don’t have to follow every rule to the letter. Pick a handful of prompts that excite you, keep your canvas small, and let yourself experiment. You never know where a single small sketch might lead. Stay curios, get inspired, be creative!