tick tock tick tock goes the clock

After I completed the Inktober project in October for the first time, I realized that I really liked drawing with ink. Okay, technically, I’m drawing with a pencil and am inking it in afterwards. But still, that’s considered acceptable, according to the people who run Inktober. Early in October, I had started getting the Inktober newsletter via email. It was then that I found out that Inktober never ends. It just gets a little less intense. The opportunity to receive Intober prompts goes on year round, but the prompts are weekly. And it’s called Inktober 52.

One week, I decided that I was going to do Inktober 52. I quickly realized the benefit of a weekly prompt. It’s a very stress free way of following a prompt. I could spend a few days thinking about what I want my picture to look like before actually creating the image. I started with, I think, week 47 of the Inktober 52 for 2024, and I finished the year. And then, it started over again on January 1st.

This is week three of the 2025 version of Inktober 52. The prompt is tick tock. It took me a few days to think of an image, and the idea didn’t actually come to me until today. I was thinking that, in a room of the Clock House, the bears could be sleeping. The house is heated only by fireplaces and, the room where the bears are hibernating is not very warm. If it were too warm, the bears would wake up and think that it’s spring. So, the clock house is going to be the setting of a future story about the adventures of Bearnacle Bear before he went off to sea.

Which makes me realize…. Inktober 52 is all about brainstorming ideas for potential stories. For me, creating the image leads to the storytelling. I have found that it doesn’t work as well the other way around. Creating the story first doesn’t necessarily lead to my having any idea of how to illustrate it. It’s like there’s this disconnect in my brain, and I’m not sure how to fix that.

So, back to Inktober 52 for 2025. Here is the image for week two. The prompt was shrimp. So, I made up this story about the Sam Shrimp, whom I picture below. It seems that Sam Shrimp and his friends had been invited to a pool party. When they arrived, Sam was horrified to see that the pool was full of some unidentifiable red liquid and that some of the shrimp had jumped in, thinking that they were going to get a tasty treat. Sam ran away, as fast as a shrimp could run.

“There’s this thing called shrimp cocktail,” Sam told his skeptical friends just before skedaddling. “I think that we are going to be the appetizer. Let’s not and say we did.”

The other shrimp began squealing about missing a tasty treat. Back in the ocean, Sam waited for his friends.

To be continued, I think. Maybe when Sam Shrimp meets Bearnacle Bear, somewhere out at sea. That could be coming later.

The first week’s prompt is sunrise. Just about two weeks after the winter solstice, sunrise is very late. I’m not an early bird type of person, but I have had a few opportunities to watch the sunrise, which has been very delightful. Now, a month after the winter solstice, the daylight hours are getting longer, with the sun setting after 5 p.m. More daylight is good. But back to brainstorming for future stories about the bears. Yes, I will put something in there about the hope of the sunrise in a bear story. Right now, it’s just a vague idea in my head. But check my blog in April. I am planning to add a few bear stories then!

2 thoughts on “tick tock tick tock goes the clock”

  1. Alice, I love your process. As you know, I am convinced your material should turn into super-popular children’s books. Most of my friends who write children’s books start with a premise, then a story line, then the text, then the illustrating. But why not the other way around? If it feels right to you, that’s how you’re called to do it. Btw, I had to look up Inktober, and before I saw there were prompts, I fantasized calling on myself to draw for an hour every week– a Kebinktober, if you will. Carry on, my friend!

  2. I loved drawings Alice and the wonderful story ideas that followed. I’ve never heard of Inktober, but I love doing pen and ink drawings and would really like to know more about it.

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