That's it! I survived Inktober :) + new illustration
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Art & Inspiration letters from NIGHTEͶ (Nathan Guilhot)
This is not just a newsletter — it's my personal magazine documenting my creative journey.
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Hello!
I hope you're doing fantastic this week! I'm slowly recovering here after finally finishing the very busy month of October, and I'm super excited to tell you about it today! :)
This week we're going to reflect a bit on the Inktober challenge and finally see my big illustration finished!
Let's dive into it ✨
But first! As announced last week, since we are beginning a new month, it means one of you has been picked for the monthly print giveaway!
Thank you so much for your support, the newsletter grew a lot this month, which makes me so happy to see :) I hope we'll continue this journey for a long time together!
(And check your inbox just in case!)
That’s it! The illustration is done!
I’ve been working on this piece for more than a month, but now that Inktober is over I’ve finally been able to put the final touches! And I think it’s done now :D
I see a lot of ways I could improve it. And in fact, the deeper I go the more I see! But at some point a line must be drawn (pun intended), and I think it’s enough.
As often, I had some help from my girlfriend with the final colors, and she also suggested adding those white seagulls, which add a lot to how lively the piece feels.
I'm not sure about the title yet!
According to Krita, my drawing program, the image has 186 layers, and I have spent almost 17 hours of editing time on this piece — but that only counts the time when I had my pen on the tablet, so this was actually much longer in real life!
Here is an overview of the whole process in less than 2 minutes :)
I hope you enjoyed following the journey of this illustration! I’m excited to see this one printed, and to start working on the next one.
That’s it! Inktober is done!
Yes, as I mentioned earlier, the challenge is finally over!
I’m so relieved that it’s not only over, but also that I was able to keep up the pace during the whole month. Things were sometimes a bit hectic, but I did it!
Here are the last few entries I made since my last email. If you want to catch up, I have a surprise for you at the end!
I added this one last week but forgot to add the text!
DAY 27 The Seed Vault
If you are a kid studying in the city, one thing you have done for sure is a school visit to the seed vault.
There is a bigger one under the mountain observatory, but it has been decided to have a miniature version under the central park, making good use of what was once an underground parking and turning it into a place to educate children and anyone curious.
Make sure to stop by the gift shop, where you can buy plants and seeds to grow at home! They always give good advice on how to take care of them.
DAY 28 Froggy’s Convenience Store
Love it or hate it, you cannot go very far in the city without passing by one of Froggy’s convenience stores.
People love to hate on their high prices and bad coffee, but, on the other hand, they are so omnipresent and handy to go to when everything else is closed on a Sunday.
In my opinion, it was way better when they were open 24/7 a few years ago. Those were the days!
🐸Surprise! I've commissioned my friend Shertigan to make the jingle for Froggy's! You can listen to it here!
DAY 29 The Electric Grid
Walking around the city, you can probably guess that a lot of buildings have their own way of making electricity - whether it’s solar or wind, it’s solidly anchored in the local culture.
But to ensure that the whole city is always connected, the city has a particularly intricate power grid, like an urban nervous system.
The city is directly linked to the wind turbines in the mountains, whose power runs down the mountain and spreads through various electric substations.
If you pass close to one of them at night, you might hear the buzzing of the current passing by, singing among the calm breeze of the night.
DAY 30 The Nightclub
Hidden inside a worn-down building at the heart of the old port, the nightclub is the city’s most lively place you can find at night.
The rusty place has been completely appropriated by the local students; various groups took it upon themselves to fix up the peeling paint, install equipment, and make sure that everybody has a good time. Every academic year, students relay themselves on this task, self-organizing for years.
If you’re lucky enough to be there on the right night, there is a mysterious, masked DJ who can show up unannounced and takes control of the late night. Nobody quite knows who they are, but everyone agrees on one thing: when he or she plays, you don’t want to be anywhere else.
DAY 31 FIN
Thank you for coming along. It’s been quite a journey.
And yet, this city has many more secrets for you to discover. I can promise you this. It’s a weird place, unlike any other. But it’s my home, and that is enough.
When it’s time for you to come back to your own home, maybe this little tour can help you look at your streets differently, and discover the hidden stories in your own weird corner of the world.
This project taught me a lot, that’s for sure.
For one, I was reluctant to do anything for Inktober at first. I wanted to do it only if I could build something that people would enjoy and that could live longer than just the challenge, and I think I’ve succeeded!
This also made me realize the importance of world-building. For years, I simply didn't like it at all, and I still think that too much of it is boring. I would rather have a story set in a bland environment than a hyper-detailed world with no story.
But what I missed was that giving a frame to a story is not only useful when writing, but also makes it easier for people to understand. Surprisingly, nobody can see what is in my head until I talk about it haha
Again, lots of gratitude for this project.
Now, here comes the surprise:I’ve compiled all the entries from this Inktober into a single article on my website, and you can easily flip through anytime you want to revisit them :)
Thank you once again for following this adventure ❤️
What’s next?
I’ve been wondering recently what the next step should be for me. This month helped me a lot in figuring out what I want to do artistically.
What I want is to continue building this world and use it as a launchpad to tell interesting stories, building on what I’ve done before. And I have many ideas on how I could do so!
But I’m going to rest a bit first.
The immediate next step will be to cleanly scan the images from Inktober and make a zine out of them, as originally planned. I can’t wait to share it with people at my next convention :)
Thank you for reading! I hope you had a good time following along! I'll see you next week, and in the meantime,
Take care, - Nighten
This email is part of my art Newsletter. Invite a friend to join the club: https://club.nighten.fr
