Inktober prompts #22-31 (Patreon)

The final Inktober prompts are here, and they're great! I'm really proud of Josh because he hasn't fallen behind or dropped the challenge this year, despite setting a really high bar for himself (he can be a bit of a perfectionist, and those lines are time-consuming). It's exciting to see him set time aside every day to draw. Having animals as prompts, and knowing that you all were involved in the process has definitely helped make it exciting and novel. We're so glad you were all so keen to participate!

Here are the animals that got picked this week:

22. Loved animal as a child (Tiger!) - Dallas DiLeo

23. A horrible Goose - Renée Krulich

24. Dark-eyed Junco - Joel Rissinger

25. Bumblebee - Alexandra Lawrence

26. Sandpiper - Kelsey Lee

27. Black-billed Magpie - Emily (Nicky Tate and Adam Higgs, close enough?)

28. Impala - Cat

29. Harpy Eagle - Cat again

30. Varied Thrush - Mason Maron

31. Bobcat - Daniel Graffon

Josh's favourite animal as a child was definitely a tiger. His parent's house still have several stuffed tigers, all of which once belonged to little Josh (and some are being used now by the newest generation of Barkmans). He still has his favourite one as a memento in his office! Meet Tio:

People often compare his comics to Calvin and Hobbes; because he loved tigers so much as a child, I think it may have influenced him to read them again and again (we have the complete anthology). I guess if Southern Ontario had more felines / some sort of snow tigers, that's what he would be drawing in his comics instead of birds :)

Anyhoo, after this crazy busy month, I'm sure Josh is suddenly going to feel like he's got extra time on his hands. Which is good because we all want more comics, and he's got the T-shirt designs to draw too! November is also typically extra busy for him, because it's when a lot more people than usual buy prints to give as Christmas gifts. The last date to ship prints to make sure they arrive on time is December 1st, so this year I've even taken the last week of November off to help him print and ship it all. It can be hectic and our house is usually filled with shipping supplies. But I'll show you more of that when the time comes.

This past month has also shown me how fun it is to make Patreon interactive, so I'll be thinking of more ways to involve you all in his process, and perhaps have special Patron rewards. And if you have ideas, do let us know, too!