While drawing can refer to intricate and technically skilled pieces of work, it also refers to the idea of having complete artistic freedom, no matter how good the piece is. The art department focuses on the latter, basing the curriculum on projects that let students branch out into their own creative journey, art teacher Tyler Cripe said.

Getting students’ creative juices flowing was the first step in his art 1 class, executed through a doodling project. Students started the year by embracing art wherever they were and with no expectations, granting them complete freedom over their artistic process, Cripe said.

Cripe said this first project was the perfect segue into his favorite unit: Inktober. Invented by Jake Parker in 2009, Inktober is a drawing challenge where the goal is to draw something according to a prompt list, a new prompt for each of the 31 days in October, and traditionally using ink, Cripe said.

“It’s a really good exercise that you can use in anything since you can just switch up the mediums and still use those prompt words,” Cripe said. “You get to see a lot of other interpretations in the classroom.”

Fellow art 1 teacher Clare Dee said she loves to see the inspiration that Inktober grants her students. Instead of a normal unit with big assignments, the drawing challenge is not too structured, Dee said. 

“It brings a very classical, traditional medium [pen and ink] into the 21st century and makes it accessible for our young artists,” Dee said. “The fact that it’s also on Instagram allows students’ work to be shown off to the world, like an instant gallery show with millions of people.”

After participating in the challenge with his class every year, Cripe said he always looks for ways to diversify the mediums used and keep it interesting. For example, switching it up and using a ballpoint pen instead of fluid ink and brushes helps students branch out, Cripe said.

Exploring language also expands the project to more than just line art, as students can innovatively interpret words and prompts. Simple words like “skull” can be translated into a multitude of drawings, Cripe said.

Throughout this unit, students learn to deal with mistakes much better than they did before, freshman Poorva Khambekar said. 

“The thing with the Inktober project is, you don’t have an eraser because you’re going in directly with ink,” Cripe said. “It kind of forces you to use what you have and make the best with that.” 

Throughout this unit, students learn to deal with mistakes much better than they did before, freshman Poorva Khambekar said. Using quick thinking is critical and has taught her how to problem solve, leading to a completely new piece of art that would not otherwise be created, Khembekar added.

“The way that I try to do [Inktober] is embracing things that are accidental with ink because you can’t erase it,” Cripe said. “You might come up with an interesting look, a lot of times I find that students get discouraged with not making something perfect… You have to jump in with both feet in some ways.”