WIPWednesday on hold - Join us for INKTOBER

NO WIPWEDNESDAY THIS WEEK, or for another whole month!
The weather's getting cooler, and the leaves are getting crisper. 'Tis the season for pumpkin spice lattes — and drawing! It's time to sharpen your skills and put your stamina to the test with our annual drawing challenge. This year, we're shaking things up and trying something a little different.

From Drawtober to Inktober

Drawtober was a month-long drawing challenge we started in October 2013. Each day a new drawing prompt was introduced on DeviantArt. The prompt could be anything from "a girl and her dragon" to "illustrate your favorite song lyrics." Our amazing community of artists would download the prompt and create their vision using SketchBook, and the entries would be collected into folders on DeviantArt separated by each different day. Every artist has their own vision, but seeing all the different interpretations of the same idea is always very cool.

But October has another drawing challenge. Inktober was started by Jake Parker in 2009, and many of our community members like to participate in both. This year, it made more sense for us to join forces with Jake's Inktober celebration and bring you the best of both worlds. Starting on October 1st, that's exactly what we'll be doing.

Jake Parker is an incredible digital and traditional artist working out of his personal studio in Utah. His impressive list of accomplishments include clients like Google, books like The Little Snowplow, and film credits on Epic, Rio, and Ice Age. Jake's Inktober started as a personal challenge. It seems like a simple enough concept, although drawing something every day takes real dedication. Part of Jake's idea was the added challenge of using permanent ink on paper. The stakes are raised when you can't erase. Jake inked a new drawing online every day, and artists from all over the world joined in to draw alongside him. Thus, Inktober was born.

Join us for Inktober

If you want to keep drawing with your pens, we'd never dream of stopping you. However, if you're more inclined to using a Wacom or an iPad for drawing, we want to be the digital side of Inktober. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Each day in October we'll post a brand new drawing prompt chosen by Jake in all of those online places — or you can check out the challenges each day on our Inktober prompt page. Use your imagination and Autodesk SketchBook to bring your vision to life. Go crazy. You can create a literal interpretation of the challenge, or you can interpret the prompt in a completely unique and different way.

Tag your art #sketchbook #inktober

Once you're finished, tag your artwork with two tags — #sketchbook and #inktober — to get noticed. We'll be watching those feeds every day to find some of the most interesting drawings made by the community. We'll share our favorite Inktober drawings every Friday in October on the blog.

What do you get?

At the end of the month, if you participate in every daily challenge, you'll ascend into a higher plane of existence. Just kidding! But you will be better at art; we promise that. These challenges are like your daily dose of  vitamins: It'll work your brain (and hands) into being better at art. Plus, seeing how others interpret the challenge can be really eye opening.

So get prepped for Inktober 2016! Download Autodesk SketchBook if you haven't already, and give us a follow so you don't miss a single prompt. Let's draw.