Inktober 2020

 Inktober 2020

(Minus one drawing, inexplicably missing at the time of the photo...later discovered stuck to the back of another. Not a great loss, as it was perhaps my least favorite. And it’s absence turned the unwieldy 31 into a nicely composed 30)

Definitely not a success overall, but completed nonetheless.

In years past, I’ve felt that the Inktober exercise, while uncomfortable, ended up pushing me to make some drawings that I felt pretty pleased with in retrospect.

This year, not so much. Something about the viral video / meme source material, and my rather flat-footed, ‘draw what you see,’ approach to them, provided me with a fine opportunity to make a lot of crappy drawings. Or maybe I am just losing whatever shred of drawing insight I might have had. There might be maybe two drawings in there that don’t totally embarrass me. Maybe.

Looking carefully at the videos and involving my family in choosing them (even the other adult in the house participated!) was, however, interesting and worthwhile. And in the original spirit of the daily napkins project of course. It is always intriguing to see someone else’s slice of the Internet. And of course, always good to have a reason to check in on what our kids are looking at. 

But I am glad this one is over. When I tackled a meme or video in the napkins in the past, I always tried to put a more personal spin on it, so I didn’t end up trying to make an interesting drawing out of a grainy video that didn’t really want to be reduced to one image anyway.

But, I always tell the MFA students that I work with not to be afraid to make some crappy work... so here I am, executing my own advice, making a lot of really crappy stuff. 

Hope it is a step in the path to making something more interesting.

Now Here I Go Again

I Don’t Keep My Visions To Myself:

Inktober 2020, Day 31

Okay, yes, I finished this drawing on November 1st, so in the end, I didn’t manage to complete 31 drawings in 31 days. But let’s just say it’s close enough.

I don’t think the original Ocean Spray/Skateboard/Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” tiktok clip by @420doggface208 was particularly popular at our house, but both our kids and my spouse showed me spin-offs. 

I was initially a bit confused by the video clip of a man drinking out of a Titebond glue bottle (The woodworker version). Our younger son showed me the Halloween version by Kiel James Patrick (a clothing company) featuring a pumpkin headed person (wearing a stylish sweater) who pours something in a Starbucks cup (a pumpkin spiced latte, one presumes) onto, and into, his jack o lantern head. 

By then, I had looked up the original bit by a Nathan Apodaca. I observed that the parody videos did not quite have the looseness of the original, or the aesthetically pleasing composition of selfie arm draped in fluid sweatshirt material, so I tried to take the best of each. Minus the wood glue of course (sorry!)

A belated happy Halloween. 

And, if you are still here, thanks for making it through another Inktober of bad drawings with me!

 

Mouse Centerfuge

 Avian Rodent Abuse

Inktober 2020, Day 30

Is animal abuse more funny when perpetrated by another animal?

In this widely viewed clip, a businesslike parrot efficiently picks up a small white mouse, puts it inside a running wheel, and then proceeds to crank the wheel at high speed, effectively centrifuging the rodent. There is definitely no running involved. 

Viewer comments argue that the bird has been trained in this nasty behavior. There are other videos of the bird toting the mouse around, and shutting it in its cage, so there does seem to be a generally bossy bird situation. Whether this is a result of human intervention, I really can’t say.

I thought the whole event was a bit hard to see in the video, so I tried to draw it from another perspective. 

Ha, ha, perspective, not my strong suit, as you can see here. 

Perfectly Cut Diet Dog

 

The First Thing You Lose On A Diet Is Your Sense of Humor

(even if you are a tiny, fluffy dog)

Inktober 2020 Day 29

In this video, a Pomeranian watches a human hand deliver a pitiful two bits of kibble to its bowl, looks down at the food, looks back up, arranges its cute features just a little into a scowl, and makes to lunge at the bearer of bad meal tidings.

Perhaps he or she was irritated at obviously being set up for a meme.

Hilarious Kitten Distress

 

Continuing to Fill The Cat Quota:

Inktober 2020, Day 28

The urban legend in the early days of the Internet was that the web was 15% pictures of cats. I seem to remember that statistic was disproved, but...depending on the day, it can seem like an underestimate.

This one, “Unhappy Kitten” comes to our family from @perfectlycutscreams which is is both a social media account and a genre. The unifying characteristic is of course that the video ends with a cut off scream. The unhappy kitten might not be in fact a perfect instance of the category as there is a scream in the middle also..... but it’s got a kitten!

Motorcycle Fail/ Not Fail

 

Any Crash You Can Walk Away From:

Inktober 2020 Day 27

We like to watch video clips of people performing amazing feats. The ones that are shown to me by family members usually involve an element of danger- mountain biking near a precipitous drop, or performing amazing parkour leaps. 

And of course we also like to watch other people fall off things, get hit by things and generally have dreadful accidents.

And then there is the happy combination of an accident, and a physical feat. 

In this particular clip, a shirtless man successfully rides a motorcycle over a series of barrels, only to flip over the handle bars when he reaches the grass on the other side. But then he is back up, as if gracefully lifted by wires, to casually walk away, looking as if it were all just a planned part of the trick.

If only all motorcycle spills were so elegant and injury free.