“As year 10 students, we have collaborated and have operated the Inktober activity for a month. It started by promoting the month on the daily bulletin board and promoting it at the atrium during breaks and lunch where it happened. Not a lot of students participated in the activity at first but slowly joined one another and drew what was in their minds through the same keyword. There was an unexpected number of participants joining the activity and the board that was meant to put up drawings was filled up quickly. There were a variety of ideas and imagination used for each keyword for every different person in the way they interpret a word. It was an enjoyable activity where UISG staffs and student were given the chance to express their ideas through drawing.” – Y10 Sophia

We did it!

This year the UISG community has contributed to this global artistic movement of Inktober successfully throughout October that just passed. Students and staff participated by creating drawings and illustrations based on the daily given prompts, from Dream (Oct 1), Rise (Oct 13), until Fire (Oct 31). These drawings were posted on panels exhibited in the secondary atrium but also online in the UISG Inktober Padlet. Students were encouraged to share their artwork with others through their own social media accounts.

US cartoonist and illustrator, Jake Parker in 2009 started Inktober challenge to improve his cartoon inking skills by trying to draw for every day in October. The discipline and endurance built throughout those times effectively built his artistic skills and habits. According to CNN (2016), as Jake shared his mission online, other artists decided to join in and make it an annual event. But it was only in 2012 that Inktober became a worldwide art celebration as hashtags – labels used on social media websites to join messages on a specific topic – helped people spread the word and encourage others to join.

In UISG, Inktober challenge was started in 2019 in several art classes and small scale only but this year we are proud to have the whole month completed this challenge. Through daily drawings, we develop positive creative habits, balancing our screentime, and it builds our creative thinking skills as part of our Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills development.

From Inktober, we learn that every small idea could be a good idea. Everyone can express themselves and everyone actually can draw. Many times, we are too focused on perfection, that’s what makes us often scared and stop drawing. From this event, we discover these small drawings do not need to be perfect, we should continue to draw, and we should not be afraid of mistakes.

We would like to thank everyone who has participated and for the student volunteers from Year 10, HeeYeon Kim (Bella), JiHye Kim (Sophia), and DongHyeon Seo (Colin). Hopefully, this activity can inspire more members of the UISG community to explore and develop their creativity.

Mr. Benny Kharismana

Head of Visual Arts K-12

Source: Pequenino, Karla. “Ready Your Pens! It’s InkTober.” CNN, 24 Oct. 2016, edition.cnn.com/style/article/inktober-ready-your-pens/index.html. Accessed 2 Nov. 2023.