Only a full month (plus) late and down a few dozen pens (not really, but I killed quite a few this year), I’m finally done with Inktober 2024. I’m always behind schedule, because that’s how life is and I have this habit of noodling and obsessing over details. In general, though, I do kind of feel like I work faster, but because of that, I think I plan more complicated pieces.

This year felt like I had a lot more interruptions in the studio, which I think predominantly came from my recovery process from thumb surgery (I won’t completely rehash the ordeal, but over the summer I was dumb while doing some work on the house and severed a tendon. The actual tendon damage wasn’t discovered until weeks after the fact because the doctors I saw didn’t believe me, so the surgery happened seven weeks after the injury, complicating things. It’s been almost 12 weeks of recovery now and I’m not quite done yet). I’ve been going to physical/occupational therapy three times a week mostly in the mornings, but several times in the afternoons and evenings, which is generally when I spend the most time in my studio. There’s also the intermittent post-op check ins with the surgeon. It all amounts to fewer studio hours overall and less consistency. The surgery happened in September, so I knew it would impact Inktober this year. I wanted to reduce my turnaround time on each prompt as much as I could, and since the prompt list comes out in advance, I actually sat and thumbnailed out all my ideas ahead of time. I had a few last minute idea changes when certain prompts came up, but it definitely helped and I will continue the practice going forward.

Anywhat, enough whining. Let’s take a look back at all 31 illustrations and then wrap up with all the things coming up next.

BACKPACK

DISCOVER

BOOTS

EXOTIC

BINOCULARS

TREK

PASSPORT

HIKE

SUN

NOMADIC

SNACKS

REMOTE

HORIZON

ROAM

GUIDEBOOK

GRUNGY

JOURNAL

DRIVE

RIDGE (hand)

UNCHARTED

RHINOCEROS

CAMP

RUST

EXPEDITION

SCARECROW

CAMERA

ROAD

JUMBO

NAVIGATOR

VIOLIN

LANDMARK

Overall, I think I’m happy (for now) with what I produced for Inktober 2024. I was able to make fun allusions and references to some of my biggest influences again, like ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Calvin and Hobbes’, as well as make several new nods to things that may not have had as big of an impact on me creatively, but still affected me in my formative years. I even worked in one reference to my perpetually-in-the-works graphic novel Revery (I think I’ve taken some steps towards making that a reality over this past year, but we’ll talk about that in the end of year recap in a few weeks).

I have now amassed another three years’ worth of these here Plunger Monkey infused Inktober illustrations. For those that paid attention, you may recall I published a “little” book last year called Inklings (which you can get here), which compiled the first three years of Inktober illustrations I did since I decided to incorporate my plunger-wearing simian alter-ego. That kind of suggests I’m due to work on Inklings 2…I’m just not sure when or how to prioritize it. Volume one didn’t exactly sell for all the normal reasons: no one knows who I am, I didn’t advertise very well (or at all, really), and the nature of the printing required a higher cover price (especially for a no-name like myself). I like the way Inklings turned out, but some of the choices I made lead to some challenges and headaches. For example, creating all the custom page textures to make it look like an old illuminated manuscript meant having a full-bleed print on every page, which is expensive and finicky as slight shifts in the printing process sometimes leave a noticeable white edge on some pages after trimming. I’ve been told the colored pages also take away from the actual illustrations a bit, which “pop” more as just black and white. Then there’s all the additional decorative art I did and the custom fonts I designed, which took a long time. What I’m getting at is I have some decisions to make with regards to formatting and the overall look of future volumes, but that’s proving to be a little emotionally painful. I’m a bit obsessive compulsive about certain things, and the idea of producing future volumes of Inklings that look different – like doing away with the full bleed page textures – hurt my Brain. Things must be consistent!

Anyway, related to all that, I also have to decide what I’m doing with all the Inktober 52 illustrations I’m accumulating. Do they get their own book, or get lumped into the next Inklings installment? If the former, how many years do I stuff into one book as there are obviously 52 images rather than 31? Decisions, decisions. Have I ever mentioned I hate making decisions?

Alright, so what’s next? Well, there’s the annual holiday card I have to put together, which means there will be envelopes I will be doing custom, one of a kind PMD illustrations on. I’ve got some xmas gifts I have to create, including a special one for my brother that should be lots of fun. He asked me to do it, so I’m not ruining anything by mentioning it here, but basically he’s gotten into some retro gaming recently and decided to put together a pc just for it. He also bought a tabletop sized arcade cabinet to mount everything in, and he asked me to deck it out with some PMD art. I think I have some really fun ideas for it.

I’m also about eight or nine prompts behind on Inktober 52 now, but catching up on that will have to wait until I get through the holiday stuff. Looking into next year, I have a few sewing projects burning holes in my Brain again, like taking another crack at a utility belt to carry all my stuff, a wool hoodie to pair with my wool gi-style coat I made this year, a wool cape/cloak, and a bunch of tweaks to existing projects. I’ve been really itching to get back into working on the “It’s Plunger Monkey Dynamo Time” graphic novel, which I haven’t worked on at least since Inktober kicked off. I want to play around with Nomad Sculpt more and really learn how to 3D model properly so I can do…things (I have plans). I have a few ideas for new shirts and a few other new products on my Etsy shop, too. And of course there’s the giant hydra list of projects I keep coming up with and never getting to. So many ideas, so little time.

Anychickens, this has gone on long enough. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Be kind and pursue your dreams, “see” you in the next blog post or on my various social media thingamabobs.