Inktober 2023 Recap

Recap of Creating Art for Inktober: Fun, but Difficult

Inktober had turned out to be quite the creative adventure! I was excited to participate in this worldwide art challenge trying to push my artistic boundaries, but it certainly wasn’t easy.

At the start of October, I was armed with a fresh sketchbook, a variety of art pens, my ipad, and a cup of cold brew to fuel my creativity. Due to a busy work schedule, I had time to focus on drawing in the evening. I shared some artwork on a couple social media platforms, while also engaging and making connections with fellow creatives. Seeing the incredible range of styles and interpretations was inspiring, but I also made sure it didn’t deter me from trying to create the best work that could possibly be made. Doing such a thing can only hinder oneself, so I made sure I drew.
Some days, I found myself grappling with creative blocks or battling the pressures of a busy schedule, but I was determined to draw something and for more of October I was able to. Sometimes I used the Retro Supply Co’s Fright Fall art prompt for a boost to draw and other times I just let my hand and pen create marks until something popped in my head.

Looking back, I can confidently say that Inktober was a worthwhile experience and one of my better ones. It did make me work on my inking, specifically my digital inking as I knew early on that creating analog work was not possible due to my schedule. It reminded me of the importance of pushing through challenges and embracing imperfections to grow as an artist and trust me I know some of the pieces I made were duds due to getting something done that day. Inktober may have been fun and difficult, but in the end, it was undeniably rewarding and I will to continue to improve my craft.

Joe Baron -

10 TIPS ON HOW TO HANDLE INKTOBER

10 Tips on How to Handle a Daily Drawing Challenge
As an aspiring artist or someone eager to improve their drawing skills, participating in a daily drawing challenge can be an incredibly fulfilling experience. However, it can also be quite demanding. To help you navigate through the ups and downs of a daily drawing challenge, here are ten tips to keep in mind:


1. Set a Realistic Goal: Start by setting a realistic goal for yourself. Consider your schedule, skills, and personal commitments while deciding on the frequency and duration of your daily drawings. Do you want to create daily, every few days, or once a week?


2. Create a Schedule: Consistency is key when undertaking a daily drawing challenge. Establish a regular schedule for your daily drawing sessions. Plan a specific time each day when you can dedicate your undivided attention to your artwork. A consistent routine will help you build discipline, make progress, and bring structure to your creative process.


3. Gather Inspiration: Seek inspiration from various sources to enhance your creativity. Explore different art styles, study the works of renowned artists, and immerse yourself in diverse subjects. Maybe you want to look online at sites like Pinterest, Behance, Artstation, or other creative sites. You never know where inspiration will strike, it could be while you’re taking break by walking outside. Seek inspiration in everyday life, nature, or personal experiences. Inspiration will keep your creativity flowing and provide endless ideas for your daily drawings.


4. Keep It Simple: You don't need to create elaborate masterpieces every single day. Remember, the purpose of a daily drawing challenge is to practice, explore, and learn. Embrace simplicity and focus on quick sketches or studies. This will allow you to experiment with different techniques, subjects, and styles without feeling overwhelmed. Utilize references to help you when you're feeling stuck or lacking inspiration. Use photographs, objects, or even other artworks for reference to enhance your understanding of shapes, colors, and composition.

5. Loosen up with sketching: Loosen up the hands and mind by just sketching and doodling. Let the mind and body relax and work its way to the place where you’re “in the zone.” You’ll start sketching thumbnails and thinking how you want to proceed with the daily prompt, but you want to work your way there as you may not be there when you pick up the pencil.


6. Experiment with Mediums: Don't be afraid to experiment with different mediums to keep things interesting. Unless you’re a purist during Inktober, it’s okay to draw with pencil, then add ink, and incorporate color with paint or what have you. Try working with pencils, watercolors, markers, or digital tools to add variety and explore new techniques. You want to push yourself and grow. Personally, I plan to bounce back and forth between analog and digitally creating art on my iPad and desktop.


7. Embrace Imperfection: Accept that not every drawing will be perfect. Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them. The daily drawing challenge is about growth and progress, so don't be too hard on yourself. This is a great month to experiment and let your creativity flow. Just think that some brush strokes are “happy mistakes” to quote the late Bob Ross.


8. Don’t Compare Your Art to another Artist: This YOUR creative journey. Do not compare someone else’s highlight reel to yours. Everyone has different schedules, some people may be able to dedicate a couple hours on a piece while others 20 minutes max. You’re growth is all on you and in order to get better or see what works you need to put in the work. There’s no harm at looking at others work and being inspired, but do not let it hinder you from making anything.


9. Seek Feedback: Reach out to fellow artists or join online communities to seek feedback on your work. Valuable insights and constructive criticism can help you evolve as an artist and provide fresh perspectives on your drawings. It doesn’t hurt to build another friendship from someone in the creative community!


10. Enjoy the Process: Last but not least, enjoy the process! Embrace the joy of creating and let your passion guide you throughout the daily drawing challenge. Celebrate even the smallest victories and find satisfaction in the act of putting pencil to paper or ipad(if you’re using an Apple pencil). This should be a fun activity and not a chore.


Participating in a daily drawing challenge requires dedication, perseverance, and a willingness to push beyond your comfort zone. By applying these tips and maintaining a positive mindset, you'll be able to handle the challenge and witness your artistic skills flourish. So, pick up your drawing tools, set your goals, and be creative!

If you want to see what I come up with this month make sure you follow the Branded Baron instagram, tiktok, and/or youtube channel.

Creating a self-portrait with 1 light source

The artist's journey begins with the first step...in getting to know themselves. Self-portraits are probably one of the most common pieces that you’ll see in an artist’s portfolio as the subject is the easiest to have allowing the artist to be their own muse while experimenting on different themes and techniques. I decided that I wanted to continue my growth with low-key photography.

I decided to use a Godox speedlight and mobile Godox beauty dish to work on my photo. I could have used a strobe, but I wanted to know that I can achieve a result with those equipment. I set the timer to when I want the camera to go off for each photo, which I did by using a trigger that was compatible with my equipment. I like to shoot tethered and I had my laptop facing me, so I can view each photo after they were taken and adjust my pose or lighting if needed. (It was needed,)

Once my mini shoot was complete, I reviewed my photos in Lightroom until I found the one that I wanted to finalize. Overall, I’m content with what was done and learned more on achieving results that clients would be happy with. You can see the short video for the visual.

Stay Creative,

Joe Baron

How to create an outline in Procreate

If you draw on the iPad, it’s almost a guarantee that you’re using Procreate. Yes, Adobe Fresco is a very good option, the popularity of Procreate has reached the masses. One feature that Procreate doesn’t seem to have just yet is creating an outline stroke. In Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop you can easily outline your art with a stroke, but Procreate can’t do or can it? Well, it can, but it does take a few steps which will be worth it in the end. In the video below I go step by step on what is needed to create that clean outline around your graphic.

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May the 4th be with you

Recently, I decided to take the look from Samuel L. Jackson’s character from Pulp Fiction Jules and see what it would look like if that was the appearance of Mace Windu (also placed by Jackson). You can watch the video below on a quick process of how I created that image in Adobe Illustrator.

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How colors are chosen for t-shirts and apparel

Having worked and continuing working in the apparel business creating custom garments will bring up various questions like colors for shirts. Sometimes clothing companies don’t want to use a stock blank from a t-shirt vendor and may want to customize their specifications. Offering a different blue, red, orange, etc. can help stand out from the rest of the competition and attract more customers in their demographic. In the video below, I show that there are specific Pantone books made for fashion. I’ve worked with production teams and vendors to fulfill the shirt sample with a specific color and I’ve gone through this book to pick out certain colors. Personally, if you were to start your own clothing company specifically if you were to start a t-shirt company I would advise going with a stock blanks from a reputable vendor such as Bella+Canvas or Next Level Apparel. There are plenty of quality companies that offer good product, but if you’re looking for that specific green then maybe you want to customize the color. If you’re looking for new graphics or consultation you can contact me here and we discuss what you need.

Stop the distractions and be productive with these tips

No matter whether you’re an entrepreneur, designer, marketer, hard working employee, etc. there will be distractions. The key is to find ways to avoid being distracted, because you have goals to reach and not focusing on them will help no one. If you’re busy, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re not sidetracked from your duty. Remember it is better to be productive than busy. Here are some suggestions that I feel will help improve your productivity.

Check e-mails and phone less – Modern technology is a gift and a curse, there’s no doubt about that. Constantly checking messages does nothing but waste time. There’s a report I read that the average employee checks their e-mail 36 times an hour. If you’re a startup, you’ll end up checking it more or every time your phone or computer notifies you have mail. I know when I started out, I was constantly checking my phone and not all the e-mails received were important at all. If you can check your e-mail 3 times a day that would be greatly improve productivity. If you can’t do that at least start out by checking your messages once every 3 hours. You will go through withdrawal, but trust me, it’s okay.

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Step back from Social Media – It is important to be interact and engage with your fans, because that helps build brand loyalty. What you don’t want is too be glued to your screen constantly tweeting, posting, scrolling through your Instagram feed, and not stepping back. You should be able to have a strategy when you post on your outlets. You need your followers to look and respond. It’s okay to have some downtime, you can come back the next day to discuss the trending topics of today. With everyone wanting to gain likes, not necessarily earn them, you can become anxious and caught up with why isn’t your great post receiving the likes and shares as it should. Yes, you’ll have to strategize your social media content, but it will be refreshing to put your phone down or temporarily block facebook so you can focus on what is important.

Create a “To-Do” list – Prioritizing is beneficial for your productivity. I never used to believe in it and thought that I could remember everything in my head, well that’s not the case and a very immature way of thinking about it. You may remember a lot, but chances are you’ll forget certain tasks and details. Before you begin your work day or your day for that matter, write down everything you have to do. Put the most important things that must get done on the top to the least important task. The goal isn’t to finish the whole list, but complete the tasks that will reach your goal. No need to put pressure on yourself if something doesn’t matter or isn’t relevant for you to reaching your goal. Another option which does help some people is writing a new list the night before or at the end of your work day, so you can come into work or after your morning routine to begin crossing those items off your list right away.

Looking for Inspiration – I love coming across a book or a site that inspires me to work on creating art or coming up with business strategies. The fuel is lit and I must attack and you should do the same when the spark ignites. What you shouldn’t do is spend time continuing looking for more inspiration or forcing yourself to be inspired. Inspiration will strike, but surfing the web trying to find something that you think will give you that extra boost is only another time waster. If you do find some inspiration on social media that is great, but you won’t always find it and you have to remind yourself to step away from it. If you haven’t taken a walk on a nice sunny day, you should, because it’ll help clear your mind and take your surroundings in which can lead to some great thoughts.


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Organize your workspace – This is another item on the list that I was guilty of not doing when I was younger. From time to time we get sloppy, unless you’re already neat freak, it is important to tidy up your area. Productivity thrives in a clean environment and you’ll notice that you’ll have a clear mind when everything is clean. Think Feng Shui, harmonize your work space and you’ll be in a good state of mind to work.

Take a breather – This may be counter productive, but every once in awhile you may be stressed where you need to relax. Relaxing will put your mind at ease where you can go back to the situation and proceed with a better headspace to fulfill the duty at hand. Anxiety, stress, any negative emotion will not help you reach your goals. Having a clouded judgement will hurt your business, so if you need to go outside to catch some air, grab a drink of water, take a couple deep breaths, take 10-15 minutes to meditate or do whatever you do to calm yourself do that as you will come back ready to perform.

These are only a couple ways to help you from being side tracked. If you have anymore suggestions that you think will be useful leave a comment.