Topic: Opinion: Inktober, and Other October Art Challenges

Posted under Art Talk

This is supposed to be my third year in participating Inktober, and I'm planning to go with ballpens this year after two years of going overboard with all the pens and markers that I have collected over the years.

After watching this video on how to avoid the drama with all the current controversy that's happening with the art challenge regarding the challenge's creator and another artist, are you still going to participate in the challenge?

  • If you're participating this year, what means will you bypass the trademarks?
  • Whether you're going to boycott or not, what other art challenges will you participate this October? (I'll be participating the Orctober Tuskbuddy Exchange this year.)
  • What are your tips and tricks on not burning out so quickly in the middle of the challenge(s) that you have taken?

Updated

I'm renaming the title because nobody knows what "That Yearly Monthlong October Ink Art Challenge" was.

Ratte

Former Staff

From what I heard the trademark was only for the Inktober logo, not for all works created for the event.

Having seen the drama as it started I'm pretty skeptical about the plagiarism aspect. Most of it was more or less the same as you'd find in any other art book and trying to say "butbut I founded the six-step value scale!" is very silly, as is complaining about title similarity. You can have two unrelated people reach the same or similar conclusions with enough time even if they don't know each other. I think Dunn should have reached out to Parker privately and tried to settle the matter that way. Immediately jumping to crying in public just causes unrest and endless games of telephone, not to mention it kind of feels like he's trying to jump on the controversy regarding the trademarking that happened last year.

as a complete third-party with no idea of what's going on/was going on/whatever, just going on the concepts I could glean from that video; people doing what is essentially copyright whiteknighting for/against a party you have no direct contact with is dumb as fuck. a bunch of internet randys ranting about nothing whenever they hear someone might have done something potentially unsavory always makes stuff worse for everyone in cases like this.
I'm not sure if I really want to blame anyone _actually_ directly involved for venting frustrations, whether they were on the right side legally or not, the real problem is when a bunch of idiots blow everything out of proportion.

either way, don't let a bunch of other peeps' dumb drama effect anything you've been looking forward to.
I'm pretty sure that using the term/hashtag "Inktober" (assuming that it is trademarked) wouldn't actually constitute an infringement unless you were somehow implying that you are involved with/are the entity which owns the trademark, but you should research that kinda stuff for yourself before making any decisions. if you really wanted to avoid using "Inktober" you could just still do everything the same but just avoid using the term itself and/or use some other term.

I do think this drama was blown out of proportion like SuperRaeDizzle heating up a $100 Gucci pen , yet at the same time, the creator attempting to trademark the logo (hopefully not the whole challenge) is shady, but yeah, I'll still keep participating "Inktober" without mentioning it too much and without following much of the official prompts. I will also mind my own business and keep my own pace in order to keep these creative juices flowing for October AND November.

I mean, the official prompts are not de facto, and there are other prompts from other artists to follow, or you could make an ink illustration from scratch.

Updated

So, anyone else going to participate in Inktober, or any other art challenges this month?

  • 1