#obscutober

[graveflowerss]

drawtober days 1-6

i’m using the obscuretober prompts for these! loosely

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Prompt List(s)!

Anyone got room for yet another October Prompt List? 😉

I really wasn’t feeling the Official Inktober Prompt List this year & deeply miss the Obscutober lists nikolas_tower used to post over on Instagram, so I decided to break from tradition even more than I usually do & make my own! ✨

The main idea is each prompt is an Obscure Word, but I did get a little choosy & try to put a bit of my own spin on it!

Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk more about the details + Definitions if you need them. ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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Before I get into my usual long-winded description, if you want to actually follow this prompt list—Or the Lite or Weekly version—here's what you need to know:

Here's the "Official" Definition list so you don't have to spend time looking up the words yourself if you don't want to...But also, if you do want to, feel free! The "official" definitions are intended as a time-saving guideline!

The list is open to all mediums! "Typical" visual art (Digital or Traditional), Literature, Sculpture, Crafts, Coloring Pages—whatever you want!

The word itself does not have to be directly included/related to what you make; You can just take inspiration from the way it sounds or looks, or something the sticks out to you in the definition, etc.

If a word or two doesn't work for you for various reasons, feel free to swap-in a different word—Either another "obscure" word of your choosing, or a word from another prompt list that you like better.

I've provided "Lite" and Weekly versions of the list in case the full 31 is too much, but you can pick-and-choose words from the full list however you'd like if you're not crazy about the words I picked for the shorter versions, or if you want to shorten the list in a different way.

Tagging me is appreciated, but not required!

Remember that my views on these Month-Long Daily Challenges is that it's about the challenge of completing a certain amount of creative pieces in the time given...And that's pretty much it, so as long as you're doing that and having fun, I'm really not bothered about how you choose to follow the list! My Inktober motto has always been "work smarter, not harder," and this is no different!

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Well, well, Sparklers—I assume this is quite the surprise coming from me. 🤭 Both because I've been awfully quiet over the past couple of months and this is what I come back with. [And for the record, I intend to explain more about where exactly I've been in a Museletter, but I wasn't able to get it typed up and ready-to-go today; Once I get it ready I'll add the link here.]

Not that me disappearing for a while and coming back with something not necessarily expected of me is all that abnormal, but rather if you've followed me for a while, you might remember I'm not normally super-keen on everyone and their uncle's mother's brother's sister making their own Prompt Lists.

So then, Mystic, what gives? Why make your own Prompt List now?

You can thank nikolas_tower on Instagram for that, actually. 😆 Some of you might also remember that I follow his Obscutober list in October 2021, and I've also swapped in an Obscutober word a couple of times when one of the "official" Inktober words didn't work for me.

I've explained before how much I love the Obscutober concept to its core, so I won't re-hash all of that here. The important part is that I do love it, but to my great sadness, 2022 only got an abbreviated Obscutober list (2 words per week), 2023 didn't get an Obscutober list at all (though I didn't really need one for 2023 because I was busy enough as it was following two other prompt lists at once) and considering just how close we're getting now, I really sincerely doubt Nikolas has/had plans for a 2024 one. Add to that: I was not super jazzed about the official Inktober prompt list for this year. Now, don't get me wrong—I'm normally not thrilled with every single word on the list (and if you've followed my Inktobers' past, you know I say as much during the month!), but I'm not sure I've ever felt quite so unenthusiastic about the whole list before.

Additionally still, some of you might remember I did talk a little bit last year about some...struggles I supposed is the closest word, that I've had with the past couple of Inktobers I've done. And generally, I've had some ideas for really shaking up the way I handle October for the past couple of years.

While, granted, my main "shake-up" idea is totally unrelated even to this list and I never seem to be able to get the necessary prep work it would require done in time, I think the main takeaway is a I've had a low-grade yearning to do something different...but I do still want to stick to my "tradition" of handling Inktober unconventionally.

So in the end, it kinda just made sense to at least try making my own Obscutober-style list this year. It's something different and I've missed the Obscutober lists, so why not?

Worth noting that I did try to put just a little of my own spin on it in my choice of words. While already I did try to stay away from words Nikolas already used for all 4 of his Obscutobers, I also had a couple of "rules" with the words I picked:

No words that are "Obscure" purely because they're not English/aren't found in English dictionaries. For example, "Lunette" is a French word, but it appears in English dictionaries with a definition that's more than just "the French word for..."

The word must have a definition that's relatively easy to find and/or appears in well-established English Dictionaries like Dictionary.com or Merriam-Webster. This rule exists because I noticed pretty quickly a lot of "aesthetic" definition images on Pinterest either don't turn up any other reliable results that a word even exists, or the word may exist but the Pinterest definition is straight-up wrong.

No overly gross/medical/NSFW words. (This wasn't a problem with any of Nikolas' Obscutober picks, this is just a personal preference that did shape my research a bit.)

One of my problems with the Inktober list for this year is too many words feel like synonyms/too closely related, so I wanted to avoid that. A couple of words are still kind of close in the end, like "Vitrine" and "Hyaline" or "Escutcheon" and "Orphrey, but they're still more different from each other than some words that I considered and ultimately turned down. [For example, I considered "Lambent" and "Clinquant" but decided they were too close in meaning to "Scintillate."]

Likewise, aside from the theme of being Obscure, I tried not to lean to heavily on words that fit a particular theme or idea

I tried not to pick "obscure" words that have become decently well-known or popular because they're obscure. The best example is "Aglet" wasn't even considered because it's been mentioned in multiple TV shows that I know of. "Scintillate" might push that boundary a little, but it is one of my personal favorites.

I also tried to pick words that had a little variety in definition length and not pick too many that had really short definitions, which ties into my next point...

More abstractly, I tried to pick words that feel like they both lend themselves to a really solid image but also leave room for interpretation of that image. Historically I've had problems with Inktober words feeling too much like they really only fit one specific interpretation of the word or they only have so many ways to represent the idea. And on the flip side, some of Nikolas' Obscutober picks (at least when I participated in 2021) felt a little too abstract at times. Ultimately, this feeling is probably highly subjective, but I tried my best to find the right balance anyway.

While not perfectly balanced, I did try not to lean too heavily on one type of word, as in Adjectives/Nouns/Verbs. There are still less verbs overall because it was just harder to find verbs that fit what I wanted, but if I hadn't consciously paid attention there probably would've only been 1-2 verbs and like 20 adjectives.

Not really related to adding "my own spin," but also worth noting that it was also important to me to provide "Lite" and Weekly versions of the list the way that Nikolas did for Obscutober II to make it easier for people that just don't have one-thing-every-single-day kind of time to feel welcome to still participate in some way. As stated in the description for those, you can just jump around the list however you like, but I know sometimes it's just easier if someone already lays things out that way for you instead of having to remember to leave things out and such.

And then for the visual list design, I did a mixture of Nikolas' Obscutober list style and my own more typical branding elements, which ended up working out much better than I expected; I wanted the "spirit" of the list to be recognizable to fans of Nikolas' lists without being an exact copy/looking too much like I was trying to "pretend" to be him or something, and I think I landed in a pretty good place. [And in case anyone is wondering, yes I did use my own template to make the list!]

I do have to admit to you Sparklers though that despite going through all that trouble, I'm actually still not 100% sure I'll be following the list myself. 😅 I've gone back and forth over how exactly I want to handle October at all this year so much...I definitely want to (and intend to!) do a Daily Challenge, especially given how spotty my uploads have been over the last year, but I just can't seem to settle on one full-fledged plan that I'm completely satisfied with.

I do have one potential idea I'm considering that already has a very specific alternate list, but pretty much all of my other ideas would normally use the official Inktober list, and so since that list isn't on the table for me this year, and it's really looking like DeviantArt isn't doing Drawtober again this year—Which I find incredibly sad, by the way!—I need another list on-hand that I know I can use and be reasonably happy with.

And for the record, I'm being intentionally coy about that one specific idea and not sharing that list because it's highly specific and if I do decide to go that route in some way, I'd like the main idea to be a least a little bit of a surprise.

But even if I don't use this list myself, I thought at least a few other people might enjoy giving it a try. After all, I wasn't the only one that enjoyed Nikolas' Obscutobers—I originally found out about them through another person entirely. So maybe a few other people are feeling that Obscutober void, or maybe you're just a big Word Nerd™ like me, or maybe you just want something that's a little different still from a lot of the more typical alternative prompt lists that have been floating around.

So, whatever the case, here the list is (and the Lite and Weekly versions, too); Let us all do with them what we will! 😉

Before I go, I will offer an apology to anyone who's disappointed or frustrated that I'm posting the list so close to time to use it—Believe me, if I'd been 100% sure I wanted to make it in the first place sooner, I would have gotten it out much sooner, too! But I'm doing the best I still can by getting out with this very tiny 2-day cushion instead of just dropping it right on the 1st. If the list turns out to be something you Sparklers want to see again next year, I promise I'll do my best to get it out with a lot more advance notice next time!

With that, there are still two days left in September and as semi-implied already, I still have a ton to do to be anything close to ready for October, so I'll leave you Sparklers to the list and your own October plans, whatever they may be; Hope to see you all again hopefully very, very soon...! 🤗

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List Design  © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[endyillustration]

Obscutober Day 1 - Scintillate

From @mysticsparklewings prompt list!

[cobaltsoulsearcher]

Inflorescence

The first thing any Ashari druid learns is how to make a flower bloom. It’s a holiday, almost, the day when children learn to make a bud split open. Grandparents smile and toddlers stuff their mouths with petals. Parents look forward to off-season bouquets, teens to the teasing exchange of tulips and daisies from friends and classmates and crushes. There are picnics at graveyards, and scavenger hunts for bulbs hidden for this exact occasion. It’s not just druids who learn, either; if a Zephrahn or Pyrahn or Terrahn or Vesrahn can cast one spell, it is this one. 

Orym is not Ashari by blood; his mother settled in Zephrah, his father wandered on. But he is Ashari, and nothing connects him more to his culture and his people than pulling summer from dew-coated capsules or smiling in time with a sudden blossom. He spreads his fingers as the petals of a pansy unfurl, and sprinkles them onto his mother’s baking; he harvests sunflowers to toast on warm days, no matter the month. His mother can’t cast the spell, but she loved flowers, loves watching him birth color and petals and beauty.

He pulled up their irises from the box beneath his window after Will died. They were half-browned, lackluster; he blessed them back to bloom. Only the best for his husband. Only the best to be buried with his father, only the best to be salted with his grief. He finds a packet of seeds Derrig had given them for housewarming in the cupboard; he brings them to inflorescence in the time it takes his watering eyes to form tears. 

The streets feel empty that night, and it’s not just because so many have huddled in their homes, drawing relatives close in fear. All the flowers have been shuttered, gently closed. It feels as if the entire city is holding its breath in reverence to those they have lost. Zephrah knows how to bloom, and Zephrah knows how to grieve. 

He moves back in with his mother. A bouquet is waiting to welcome him home, white petals already beginning to droop and fall. Snowdrops. He looks out the window, towards the manor where he has reported for duty day after day, time after time, and it’s all he can do to stop from crying again. 

The flowers in Alma’s garden don’t open until spring, that year. They feel so young and soft against his fingers, but he doesn’t pick them, and when they close and fall, he returns them to bloom.

My second piece for the weekly version of @mysticsparklewings's obscutober.

[freshvanillapng]

#Obscutober day 14:

Octonary (adj. Or n.) Relating to or based on the number eight; consisting of eight; in sets of eight a stanza or group of eight verses

——

Anya, The Weaver - the embodiment and goddess of the Weave. and therefore the eight schools of magic!

(prompt by @mysticsparklewings )

[mllebleue]

Prompts for the October challenge formally known as inktober

In English and French, for those who like words and lateral thinking.

[potatoinalovelyhat]

Plexure Necromancer

The act or process of weaving together, or interweaving; that which is woven together

Day 6! Do not let her appearance fool you, she would add you to her friend the moment you give her any chance to do so.

The first list is the Obscutober list made by @mysticsparklewings https://www.tumblr.com/mysticsparklewings/762909713497309184/mysticsobscutober2024?source=share

The second one being the 30 Character Design Challenge made by Parakeetty https://www.furaffinity.net/view/22445508/

[thecontrarianlibrarian]

Day 8 of obscutober “nipan “

Oct 10 2020

[yousaytomato]

[1] Scintillate (v.) - my laptop charger every time I plug it in

[2] Littoral (adj.) - Litter-al

[3] Horology (n.) - do y'all remember these guys from doctor who?

[4] Apricate (v.) - Apricots Apricate

[5] Sklent (n.) - It was too difficult to draw Wesley

[6] Plexure (n.) - Shout-out to Mattress Stitch

Days 1-6 of @mysticsparklewings Obscutober. All created using Disney Art Academy (2016) for Nintendo 3DS....for some reason

Definitions here.

[acetaminophriends]

Obscutober day 2 - littoral

[ladyphlogiston]

Inktober day 10: selcouth (rare, seldom seen or understood) (didn't like the official one, selcouth is from the Obscutober III list)

This is my daughter (13) on her phone. From one point of view, a teenager on her phone is the opposite of selcouth. But who she is - who each individual is, as an individual - that's a rare thing. We are each one in a billion, precious as stars.

(Also, as a proud mother, I can't help thinking that my daughter is especially wonderful :)

[maximum-hell]

and for day 2 of Obscutober, Littoral

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Day 22: Adust

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Adust (adj.)

scorched; burned

dried or darkened as by heat

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#Obscutober 2024 Day 22: Adust 🔥

I can’t believe we’ve only got 9 Days left to go of October/Inktober. 😵

I also kind of can’t believe I’m as happy as I am with how today’s art turned out since it’s not a very “me” palette or concept, but here we are! 🙌

Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk a bit more about my general thoughts/process. ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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Some of you may remember that yesterday I mentioned today would be another day I have to fit Obscutober in around some IRL things; For that reason, I decided it would be best to keep the concept simple and just do my best to add details where I could to make it feel more complex than it actually is.

[This is also why this is going up later in the evening tonight; I actually had the art done earlier, but I didn't have time to sit down and write this description and the cross-posting caption until many hours later. 😅]

Naturally, the most obvious thing I thought of was fire. There are other things that can burn or scorch of course, like the sun or even hot water, but fire was the path of least resistance and something I haven't really touched on in previous Days, so that's what I went with. But I did do my best to not focus so much on the orange and the flames themselves.

I did still rely on shapes that felt "fiery," or in some cases "spiky," because I was thinking about the spiny, blistering pain that a burn or scorch would come with, and I played just a tad more with line texture for the same reason.

It wasn't fully intentional, but I think the outer edge with the cross-hatching kind of came out looking like that area was actually burned by the fire, so that was nice! My goal was just to try and get some mroe darkness/black as things tend to turn when burned in without having to rely on black much for the actual background colors, so the texture working out well in another way was a nice bonus. 👍

I also didn't intend for the angled lines in the ring closer to the center to look sort of like firewood, but that's what happened! I was just going with a zig-zag (...although in hindsight, it's really just the "zig" I guess) because I thought zig-zags felt kind of spiky and they mimic the movement of a flame without being too obvious.

The centermost ring was intentionally supposed to kind of look like a stone ring like you might find placed around a fire. I couldn't think of anything else that felt like a genuinely good place to start, and that was reasonably simple to do, so it won by default. 🤷‍♀️

And while I don't think it's doing as much as yesterday, I think today's color scheme is still doing quite a bit to really tie everything together. As I mentioned, I tried to be careful about how much orange and brightness I gave to the fire since the word is more about something fire does than fire itself, but it was kind of unavoidable/inevitable that some would be included and that it would steal focus from the colors that are actually more "adust"-related. At least the way my brain works, it was.

That wasn't helps by the fact that I'm just not generally drawn to browns in a color-palette anyway; I prefer bright and unnatural colors. 😆 But today was not the day to try and experiment with a magic-fire palette instead of a natural one.

It did take a little patience to get the balance of the darkness and the placement of the darkest browns just right, but it really wasn't that bad, especially given had tired I was at the time I got to that stage. [This is was in the early morning hours before I'd gone to bed.]

And...I think that's everything. A bit short and sweet for tonight, but like I said, I purposefully kept things simple and tried not to get too caught up in the conceptual details because I had other things to worry about today.

All things considered, I think it could have certainly turned out much worse, so I'm satisfied with my efforts. 🙂

It was never going to be in the running for my favorites based on color palette alone, but it's definitely not my least favorite—I like it about as much as I reasonably could with the palette and concept I ended up working with.

Now the real "fun": Seeing if I can be equally satisfied with my cross-posting experience and get to eating dinner in a reasonable amount of time. 😅

See you Sparklers tomorrow as we count down the final 9 days to go! 👋

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See the Prompt List

Artwork © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[endyillustration]

I would avoid the water if I were you

Obscutober Day 2 - Littoral

From @mysticsparklewings prompt list!

[cobaltsoulsearcher]

Scintillate

My first entry for @mysticsparklewings's Obscutober (I'm doing the weekly version) was basically an excuse for me the Everlight's canonical children. AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59540239. "Sometimes–often–Haley wishes her mother had never been bright enough to leave light in the two of them. Couldn’t she have taken what made them glow with her when she left? Taken what made them special? Taken what makes them hunted? She does not say this aloud. She does not need to; her dullness in comparison to her brother’s ceaseless radiance speaks louder than any words. They have split their mother's legacy between them and Topher has taken the light and has taken ever, has taken an eye toward the future and what she needs to reach it."

[freshvanillapng]

#Obscutober day 11:

Derecho ( n.)

a widespread and severe windstorm that moves rapidly along a fairly straight path and is associated with bands of rapidly moving thunderstorms.

——

when purging Adrasteia of the cursed Koilosion root, the party accidentally released Typhon who was slumbering under Prometheius‘ flame. he was eventually defeated after Cyaro summoned the Chthonic deities which is definitely not going to cause any problems down the line….

(prompt by @mysticsparklewings !)