Every year many artists around the world participate in the Inktober art challenge. Every day in October, people are challenging themselves to create some awesome art – based on a yearly changing prompt list. In 2021 this is the prompt list it is all about:

Last year we started with featuring the most eye catching illustrations in a special article on Xquissive, we called it (no surprise): The Best of Inktober 2020. It was a great succes, so we welcome you to the 2021 episode!

Best artworks of Inktober 2021

Every day during Inktober 2021 we will select a few of the most incredible artworks (according to our opinion) that have been posted on Instagram tagged with #inktober2021 or similar tags and feature them in this article. Our goal is to inspire you and to let you enjoy the interpretations and skills of other artists. Have fun!

Oh, don’t forget to comment and let us know what your favourite illustrations are!

1. Crystal

The prompt of the first day of Inktober 2021 is ‘Crystal‘. What subjects does this prompt bring up to you? Take a look at these talented artists and their interpretations of todays subject. We think phusit_96, irisatakoyuncu and _the.art.explorer_ have done an amazing job.

2. Suit

Today’s prompt is ‘Suit‘. We’ve found three beautiful interpretation of todays prompt by niranjansoul, flyapples and chiragtripathy. Make sure to click through the artwork of nranjansoul as he compares drawing with ink to being a samurai.

A samurai and a pen illustrator is not much different in the sense that both the forms of art be it illustration or warfare require tremendous amounts of focus.
– niranjansoul

3. Vessel

With a little delay because of the huge blackout of Instagram & Facebook… here’s the third prompt of Inktober: ‘Vessel‘. What vessel would you like to jump into? We love the creations of toylettering, alexcarroty_art and about_a_bob.

4. Knot

The fourth prompt of Inktober 2021 is ‘Knot‘. What do you think of the lovely illustrations of mmmylennaa, its.ferik and the talented zsofiakiesewetter?

5. Raven

‘Raven‘ is the fifth prompt of this years Inktober challenge. We’ve seen so many beautiful creations that it was difficult to select three of them.

In contrast to many other participants thescrapshop_7 has chosen to keep the image light and bright, which gives it a unique touch. The devilartistt and lukas_thelin created beautiful scenes with a lot motion

6. Spirit

Today the prompt is ‘Spirit‘. The talented artists darian.pereira, _doyoudraw and melanie_drent have let themself go with todays prompt. The linework and creativity of the artworks from darian.pereira and melanie_drent blows of away. The artwork of _doyoudraw shows some beautiful out of the box thinking and skills to make it all work.

7. Fan

We finish the first week of Inktober 2021 with the prompt ‘Fan’. We know you are a fan of these Inktober drawings, but what did the artists think when they saw today’s prompt?

The artworks of annalombardi_artist and ryuvhiel stand out in detail, where the illustration of illustrazionidilut is tender and delicate.

8. Watch

Are you as curious as us to what the second week of Inktober 2021 will bring us?
This week starts with the prompt ‘Watch‘. It’s a word that should trigger the imagination and you can see that in the beautiful artworks of art__addiction___, shu_artproject and _that_geeky_chick.

9. Pressure

With the Inktober challenge putting a lot of pressure to perform each day by creating a little piece of art. Don’t forget that art is about having fun!

The talented devin.cikoja, 7om7om_art and mikemaihack have transformed todays prompt ‘pressure‘, either in a physical or mental in beautiful artworks.

10. Pick

We’ve found incredible artworks for todays prompt: ‘pick‘. We love the originality of the work of kristina_tartara. The artwork of heyy.feilipu is beautiful with the unique style and soft color tones. The illustration of shumster.art is a wonderful line-art illustration.

11. Sour

Todays prompt ‘Sour‘ felt a bit sour to the artists. It definitely isn’t the easiest prompt in the list, but it did challenge your imagination. The artists kapitan.kim, indimartinart and soul.paralyzed.art were able to illustrate sour in a beautiful and illustrative way.

12. Stuck

‘Stuck‘ was the prompt of today and it inspired many artists to create beautiful artworks. The talented artists naran_lua, karitzel_sk and patriciawelffens illustrated being stuck in many different ways.

13. Roof

The 13th prompt is ‘Roof‘. Three very different syles result in beautiful artworks from mark_juhar, sandrinesardi and kashew_the_dino.

Roof by sandrinesardi

14. Tick

‘Tick‘ is the 14th prompt of this years Inktober. We love the interpretations by matto.draws, saptaranga_ and 0.hiraeth.0.

15. Helmet

‘Helmet‘ is the prompt for Inktober 15. We are almost halfway Inktober and it’s like the illustrations get better with each day!

Make sure to like and follow the art of blue_sora_art, lauras_artistry and gyvulius.

16. Compass

So we are finally halfway Inktober 2021. What beautiful art does Inktober bring us from here… we still got quite some days left!

We do know that today’s prompt ‘Compass‘ is leading us into the right direction with the beautiful creations of silviamukart, andgabart and 2d.jam.

Compass animation for Inktober by 2d.jam.

17. Collide

The prompt of today is ‘Collide‘. These artworks catched our immediate attention when we were scouting on social media for today’s best of… We think that you’ll agree that itsninawest, annagriot and znegative88 did an awesome job!

18. Moon

The prompt of today is ‘Moon‘. Take a look at the beautiful artworks of jessferns.art, sevana.tadevosian and gerda_lindworm99.

19. Loop

Today the prompt is ‘Loop‘. We can imagine that Inktober gives you that feeling too. Going to school or work, think about the Inktober prompt of the day and then try to work it out into something eye-catching… 31 days long!

Anyway, meh_zart, prasannare and caseymaddendesignnl were able to capture the loop in a beautiful way.

20. Sprout

The prompt of today is ‘sprout‘. We love how everyone interpreted this prompt in a slightly different way. We think the artworks of niccyd.art, itsme_annika and miaubird (make sure to visit her, because it’s a papercut artwork!)

21. Fuzzy

‘Fuzzy‘ is todays prompt. Although, there’s nothing fuzzy about these beautiful illustrations.
Make sure to check out the creations of shuflyadkaaa, sakshi_chokhani and w_dominczak.

22. Open

No open doors at todays prompt ‘open‘. Okay well, that’s kind of a lie, since we’ve seen quite some open doors and windows searching for todays favorites. We think the illustrations of luke_lok_chun_yee, kristinjfrost and occultinks

23. Leak

We know one thing for sure. There’s a lot of ink leaking away this Inktober! Today’s prompt ‘leak‘ shows us once again what great artworks can be made with ink (either digital or not digital). Take a look at the creative works of apredart, sjneale and borodarisuet.

24. Extinct

‘Extinct‘ is the twenty-fourth prompt of this years Inktober. We know one thing for sure and that is that Inktober is far from extinction! So let’s quickly take a look at today’s best of by eveberthelette_art, gulukut_art and matthew.s.armstrong.

25. Splat

Are you ready for the last week of Inktober 2021? We’re kicking of with the prompt ‘Splat‘.
Three totally different styles and interpretations of todays prompt by tsuikagura_art, chaos__paintings and gio_sketchingfox.

26. Connect

The prompt of today is ‘Connect‘. We love the artworks from rainer.cs, ottbyrds and fuchs_und_baer (animation).

27. Spark

‘Spark‘ is the prompt of today. We hope that seeing all these beautiful artworks brings a spark to you and that you get excited to get creative yourself!

Now go and check out the detailed illustrations that laura_von_critters and soupederiz created and the stylish illustration from gp_illustration.

28. Crispy

The prompt of today is ‘Crispy‘. The selected artists of today have created crispy clear artworks! Be sure to take a closer look to the art of deep_white, plumeharfang and artmatura_fox.

29. Patch

‘Patch‘ is todays prompt. We love the works of crocky_drawings, heidi.zurbuchen and re93ka.

30. Slither

‘Slither‘ is the second last prompt of this year’s edition of Inktober. Katorin.art, olga.ani13 and jbrunnart created stunning artworks.

31. Risk

We made it! Today is the last day of Inktober 2021! We’re going out with the prompt ‘Risk‘.

We are happy to go out with a bang with these incredible artworks from nicolerobertsart, kylas_sketchbook and winona_adamon. We’re impressed by the level of detail they managed to squeeze out on this last day. See you all next year!

You’re invited to reach out to us if you think your artwork should be featured here too. Contact us directly or leave a message under this post. Sign up to our newsletter if you want to stay up to date and don’t want to miss any great articles or deals!