My main reason for taking the Inktober challenge this year was so I would draw more and it seems to be working. While my effort for the actual Inktober project was down a little this week (I missed a day and skimped on another one), my overall drawing time went up. I was inspired to sign up for an online nature journaling course and have been doing some of the exercises in addition to my Inktober drawings.
To practice shading, I grabbed a persimmon off the counter.

I also drew sleeping dogs. They still move more than you would expect, but it’s easier than drawing dogs that are running around in the yard.


And here is one of my nature journal entries, the first drawing for the class. It’s from a photo of a yellow warbler, and I will be drawing it again when class is over to see what progress I’ve made.

How is your Inktober going?
I love the sketch from your nature journal! It makes me feel like going for a walk in the park… or it would if it wasn’t snowing so hard here, right now!
Thanks! I hope to be doing more nature journaling, although this is the tricky time of year for that. One of the exercises she has you do is quick sketches from videos to practice capturing moving animals, so I may do that on days when the weather doesn’t cooperate.