Happy Halloween!

I finished my first Inktober challenge, just before NaNoWriMo, too. I'm a hobby writer still learning different techniques, but I decided to try my hand at doing art regularly. Writing's taught me forming a habit is pretty important.

The most important lesson I learned for Inktober is to keep it simple. The obligation of doing at every day is stressful. I dealt with balancing my writing while also contending with real life obligations and surprises. A few days ago, for example, during the hurricane, part of my house flooded and the stress occupied a lot of my time.

Unfortunately, I didn't always try the simplest of designs, but I learned early on to drop some of the more elaborate color schemes. The top thing is to finish and ink the sketch; it's not a finished product. I feel lucky to have completed thirty-one pieces, and I did by focusing on what I enjoy alongside sticking to black and white for the time being. Like NaNoWriMo, it's about having something to go back to and revise later.

Here are some of my favorite pieces I did:

Dramatic, huh?

If you haven't seen, I've changed from Emily to Morgan. Morgan Dante, to be exact. This is a pseudonym change, not a legal name thing. All my social media accounts are the same, just branded differently. I'll still keep my old author name on my old works.

This has been a long time coming, but I hesitated, worried over how much I'd need to alter or if it'd alienate or confuse anyone. Eventually, I took the plunge, and I'm so happy I did. It wasn't as big a deal as I thought it'd be.

Here's why I'm transitioning to a new author name:

I consider myself a hobby artist. I love all sorts of creative endeavors, but my professional interests lie in writing. Still, I find that engaging in other creative pursuits (like drawing or video game design) helps me keep my motivation. Also, it's super fun.

I'm a newbie to Inktober. Though I've always admired people for working at it, I never had much confidence in my art. Also, the fact it comes right before National Novel Writing Month makes October a hectic time for preparation.

Nevertheless, here are my finished pieces for the first week. Happy Spooky Month!

Raphael, an OC from my brother's RPG campaign, teaching two young women how to be based comrades.

Ishmael, an OC from my brother's RPG campaign, teaching two young women about literature. Definitely inspired by a certain cartoon character.

Beelzebub, a Prince of Hell, from Hope Springs Infernal.