The Inktober Controversy
An example of Inktober Art by Lisa Schmidt (aka Mullana.) The art is an anthropomorphism of Wikipedia.
Since its creation in 2009, the annual “Inktober Challenge” has gathered many participants of varying skill levels. By providing a new prompt every day in October, the challenge encourages artists to draw every day of the month. The prompts are one word, allowing the artist to freely express creativity, with some examples from the 2020 list including: “radio,” “disgusting,” “sleep” and “float.” The challenge was wildly popular, with thousands of participants yearly and over 19 million posts under the Inktober hashtag on Instagram.
The downfall of this seasonal challenge began in December 2019, when its creator, Jake Parker, copyrighted the name Inktober. Some considered this to be controlling and out of line, while others saw it only to be Jake Parker protecting his intellectual property. Parker claimed to be “trying to maintain the integrity of the challenge.” Despite the conflict, Inktober didn’t suffer a significant loss of participants — until August 2020.
On June 16, Parker announced the release of a new book, set to be published in October 2020, called Inktober All Year Long. The book boasts to be “an indispensable guide to inking,” but its glory was interrupted when well-known artist Alphonso Dunn released a critical YouTube video. The video, titled “Jake Parker Plagiarized My Book,” outlines the numerous similarities between his book Pen and Ink Drawing: A Simple Guide published in 2015, and Parker’s new publication. Parker quickly fired back, posting a response on Twitter where he claimed to never have plagiarized anyone’s work and criticized Dunn for posting publicly rather than going directly to Parker.
Although the alleged plagiarism has not been proven, Dunn has considerable evidence on his side, and Parker has given few comments, stating that “[he had] been advised against going into any further detail at this time” by his lawyers. Given these accusations against Jake Parker, many artists have chosen to boycott Inktober this year.
But what is one to do if they’d still like to reap the benefits of participating in a daily art challenge? Well, many creators have taken it upon themselves to make their own prompts in the format of Inktober. Here are a few from some of my favorite artists:
Creatober – @gremren
@gremren, also known as Renata Paton, is a popular artist on Instagram, specializing in art using Posca pens. This October, she has teamed up with @aubryjoi, @faunaparra, @laecheng, @thingsby_diana, and @vaulchenart to make their own 31-day art challenge. The challenge features prompts like “glacier,” “mushroom,” “deception,” and “underworld” to make for a fun and inspiring experience. The list also features a special type of prompt of their own creation: VS prompts, where artists can choose between two prompt options, such as fire vs water. The creators of Creatober will then choose 1 representative from each side and let participants choose a winner of the VS prompt challenge who will then win a special prize.
Plastober – @plastic.pen
@plastic.pen, also known as Stefan Große Halbuer, an artist specializing mostly in digital art, has created Plastober 2020. The prompt list includes a warm-up for the first four days of October, and a theme for each following week, including “nature strikes back,” “high tech, low life,” “faces” and “daily adventures.” The prompts are fairly simple and allow a lot of artistic freedom for participants, with examples being “desert,” “weekend,” and “shell.” In his Instagram post, Halbuer emphasizes the importance of fun for the challenge, saying “The most important rule is: there is no rule, just have fun! Grab a pen, doesn’t matter if digital or traditional, and start drawing!”
Peachtober – @furrylittlepeach
Sha’an d’Anthes, known as @furrylittlepeach on social media, has created her own challenge for October 2020: Peachtober. With cute prompts like “home,” “lilypad,” “rain” and “moon,” the list is inspiring and allows for a lot of creative freedom for participants. She included no rules with her challenge, welcoming artists of all mediums to join and have some fun with the month-long endeavor.
Slowtober – @loonalou
Have a busy schedule, or struggle to commit to a 31-day art challenge? Don’t fret! @chaigrey.art, @ellenwilbergart, @imafloof, @maiberryart, @sonuipeng, @ghtbns, @etherael_, @loonalou, @little.lis.art, @lunavalentineart, @taralingard, and @elysiaart have created a challenge for you! Called Slowtober, the challenge is free of strict rules, only requiring you to create one full artwork during October, and asking participants to document the journey from the idea to the final piece. The challenge allows participants to “slow down and push their creativity,” allowing for reflection on their creative process and their values in their art. The slogan, “become your own favorite artist,” emphasizes this goal. The challenge allows for significant growth and improvement during October without the pressure of creating something daily.
Despite the downfall of Inktober due to the scandals involving its creator, there are plenty of alternatives for artists of all skill levels who wish to benefit from the practice a daily art challenge can provide, so consider participating in a smaller artist’s challenge rather than supporting a creator accused of plagiarism.
Clara Thomas is a senior at Boulder High, and she’s excited to be a part of the Owl again. She hopes to bring a love of writing, as well as a passion for the arts, to the newspaper. Said passion is apparent in her activities outside of school, which include ballet, violin, and art. In the little free time she has, she enjoys reading, getting tea with friends, researching any topic that interests her, and listening to music or audiobooks while playing unhealthy amounts of solitaire. While she believes no fruit could compare to raspberries, in a life-or-death situation she would choose green grapes over purple.
Miguel • Sep 23, 2021 at 5:06 am
Well Isaac,
Dunn assumed someone copying his book because some concepts and examples appeared similar. Dunn should’ve waited until he could get an actual copy of Parker’s book to do a comparison and get multiple other professional artists opinions.
I actually have read and own both books. I made a pinterest board comparing them.
The books aren’t the same at all. Here is that pinterest board which has actual full page unedited pictures that compare the books side-by-side.
pin.it/4p2Dc4j
The chapter names, order, wording, layout, and illustrations are different. All the illustrations in Parker book are different than Dunn’s and are done in Parker’s style.
Dunn didn’t have a copy of Parker’s book to make a real comparison. He based his video/accusations on a couple stills and a 30 second blurry video flip through. Which Dunn admits in his video that he cannot clearly read but can guess what it says. Overlay the pages in photoshop or another graphics program. Nothing lines up.
These times are from Dunn’s original video.
1st comparison is at 4:23 in Dunn’s video.
Dunn makes the accusation of copying between what he calls making a texture chart on pages 76 and 77.
In Parkers book its call Rendering different materials. Those are on pages 90 and 91.
Different titles, different layouts, and different illustrations used to explain the concepts.
Also a 14 page difference of their location in the books. So they cannot follow the same sequencing.
At 15:43 Dunn compares his texture, form, and value pages to Parkers examples. The chapter in Dunns book is named simulating textures. He compares pages 84 & 85 and Dunn jumps back to pages 78 & 79.
In his book Parker calls the pages Structure and Render. Structure is on page 100 and goes over the construction of a wizard using basic shapes. Then the next heading Rendering on page 101, Parker goes onto add volume and detail to the wizard. Nothing similar at all. Yet Dunn claims they’re copied. There are 16, 17, 22, and 21 page differences in locations of these examples between between books. How is Parker’s book copying Dunn’s order, sequencing, wording, and illustration examples?
Dunn used a highly edited video that focused on just page areas and not full pages. Admits that things are different, yet not different enough. All the illustrations between the books are different and done in two completely different styles.
Miguel • Sep 23, 2021 at 4:49 am
1st comparison is at 4:23 in Dunn’s video.
Dunn makes the accusation of copying between what he calls making a texture chart on pages 76 and 77.
In Parkers book its call Rendering different materials. Those are on pages 90 and 91.
Different titles, different layouts, and different illustrations used to explain the concepts.
Also a 14 page difference of their location in the books. So they cannot follow the same sequencing.
At 15:43 Dunn compares his texture, form, and value pages to Parkers examples. The chapter in Dunns book is named simulating textures. He compares pages 84 & 85 and Dunn jumps back to pages 78 & 79.
In his book Parker calls the pages Structure and Render. Structure is on page 100 and goes over the construction of a wizard using basic shapes. Then the next heading Rendering on page 101, Parker goes onto add volume and detail to the wizard. Nothing similar at all. Yet Dunn claims they’re copied. There are 16, 17, 22, and 21 page differences in locations of these examples between between books. How is Parker’s book copying Dunn’s order, sequencing, wording, and illustrations?
Isaac • Sep 17, 2021 at 11:05 pm
I recently saw a post about this, and picked out this article. thank you for even providing alternatives, because that’s what I was struggling to do.
(P.S., ding dong that thinks ‘cancel culture’ is for ‘cry babies’: I hope that you don’t end up so wronged that someone ends up taking credit for *your* work, or wronged in ways that people won’t believe you if you speak out about it. ‘cancel culture’ is just trying to hold people accountable for their wrongdoings.)
Sara • Aug 20, 2021 at 2:08 pm
Hello friend, I just read about the problems with inktober on IG and went to do my own research rather than put the burden of my betterment on others. I chose your article to read first because from the Google preview I could tell this piece managed to maintain voice while coming across impartial. After reading this I know where else to look and a new book to check out, as well as some artists.
I never leave comments but I could not finish this darn masterpiece without fangirling Miss Thomas. Y’all, someone appreciates this young writer! Thanks for your informative, approachable style and please keep writing!
Miguel • Dec 13, 2020 at 10:28 pm
Well, once again there was no inktober downfall. There was a million plus followers on the inktober instagram account. Cancel culture tried but failed because people are tired of the online cry babies. Especially spreading information that’s clearly wrong.