Inktober 2016 Spotlights Tokusatsu-Inspired Pieces

Rider Man by Jordan Gibson

Tokusatsu fans and artists brought their kaiju and henshin heroes inspirations to Inktober, the annual traditional medium drawing challenge held in October. 

Inktober is a drawing challenge started by artist, Jake Parker, in 2009 as a way to “improve his inking skills and develop positive drawing habits.” Since then, the challenge has grown worldwide.

The rules for Inktober are as follows:

1) Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil under-drawing if you want).

2) Post it online

3) Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2016

4) Repeat

Participants are encouraged to keep a consistent schedule, be it daily, bi-weekly, or weekly. The goal is simply to cultivate good habits.

Some of the Tokusatsu Network’s past Artist Features are currently participating in the Inktober challenge with their own tokusatsu-inspired work. Most notably among these include, Jordan Gibson, who took on the challenge to draw a Kamen Rider for every day in Inktober.

• Furthermore, toy and mecha designer, David White, shows his mechanical detail work in his original mech designs.
• Thomas Perkins, character designer for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Godzilla: the Animated Series, also posted his original tokusatsu avenger, Daikuju.
• Jackie Jonson posts her Inktober posts on her Patreon feed, including an Ultraman Ginga piece.
• Christopher Bonnette created themed days, such as Mad Scientist Monday and Thursday, the 13th.
• Though not specifically participating in Inktober, artist Matt Frank, use some traditional tools for his pieces for the Kaigai Manga Fest held in Japan this coming weekend, including this heartwarming Godzilla friendship:

A quick sketch I made of #godzilla from @Legendary helping #ShinGodzilla to celebrate the U.S. release of #シン・ゴジラ from @FUNimation pic.twitter.com/QG5Qlgfc2Y

— マット フランク (@spankzilla85) October 11, 2016

In addition to our past Artist Features, other artists also posted various tokusatsu inspired Inktober submissions.

• Brooke Regalado, character designer for Cartoon Network’s Bunnicula, posted a sleepily, munching Godzilla for Day 6.
• Writer and artist Victor Perfecto Camba added his Zyuranger / Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Pink Ranger tribute.
• Fan and artist, Kenia Rubio presented her GARO Inktober piece on Day 7.
• Artist, DMir Anda, posted his tokusatsu inspired Inktober pieces, which include Kamen Rider V3 and kaiju, Gabora, on his DeviantART page.
• Indonesian artist, Aculita, added a range of tokusatsu inspired Inktober posts from Ultraman, to Mazinger Z, to Battle Fever J.
• And artist, Josh Perez, under the name Dyemooch, also posted this Rider inspired mash-up:

Another dump mashup for #inktober2016; M.A.S.K Rider. pic.twitter.com/kTVMik8HD2

— ジョシュピザ先生 (@dyemooch) October 3, 2016

Finally, staffers on Team TokuNet also participated in this annual drawing challenge with their own tokusatsu-inspired pieces.

• While not specifically tokusatsu, Team TokuNet’s graphic designer, Emily Sansom, posted an adorable self-portrait.
• Regular podcast host, Michael Nixon, posted the king of all monsters in time for Shin Godzilla‘s Los Angeles premiere.
• Managing Editor, Yasin Bulhan, posted this “noisy” piece inspired by Zyouhger and this Dekaranger “broken helmet” post.

“Facing outrageous evil! Smashing the darkness of fear! Detective of the Daybreak! DekaBreak!” #inktober #day9 #broken #brokensentaimask

A photo posted by Yasin Bulhan (@inuitakumi23) on Oct 9, 2016 at 10:20pm PDT

Inktober is more than halfway through and we hope to find more tokusatsu inspired pieces. If you or an artist you know has a piece they would like to add to this list or to future Artist Features, please let us know in the comments below or you can use the submission box in the Contact Us page.