Even though school’s back in full swing and NASEF is working hard to prepare for our Overwatch tournament, we wanted to stretch our students with some fun challenges.

We’re participating in Inktober, a month-long, worldwide challenge to help people improve their art skills as well as help develop the habit of drawing regularly. 

What Does Art Have to do With Esports? 

NASEF is about education AND esports. As a scholastic esports federation, one of our Core Values is Learning. By incorporating this value, “we connect learning and play in and out of the classroom so that students, educators and families experience the real-world value of education through interest-driven learning.” 

We’re challenging our students to participate in Inktober for a couple of reasons: 

1. Esports is more than simply gaming. There is an entire ecosystem of people that are a part of the world of esports. Content creators like artists and graphic designers help create the visual element of the games that people play. Web and print designers help create marketing material and collateral for clubs and software development companies. An artist has influenced everything we see in the world of esports.   
2. Drawing doesn’t come naturally to many people. While gaming utilizes a lot of strategy, dexterity, and teamwork, drawing takes a different approach. We saw this as an opportunity to challenge our students to stretch themselves outside of their comfort zone. NASEF’s tagline is “Game. Grow. Learn. Lead.” By pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone, we force ourselves to grow! 

How to Participate in Inktober

Grab your favorite writing instrument, some paper, and start drawing. If you’re an artist who’s handy in Photoshop or Illustrator, or you want to learn how to begin building these skills, come join the fun by trying out one of our several prompts and the ideas associated with them:

• Week 1 (October 1-6): School Mascot
• Create a drawing that involves your school mascot. 
• Paint a mural that involves your school mascot. 
• Don’t have a mascot? Draw your favorite college or university school mascot.

• Week 2 (October 7-12): A Character That Inspires You
• This could be a character from a video game, book you love, television show, movie, or a person that you admire. 

• Week 3 (October 13-18): Word Art
• Create a drawing using words, like a word cloud, where you can use different colors, shapes, or gradients to make a picture. 

• Week 4 (October 19-25): Club Logo
• Does your club have a logo? If not, design one! 
• If your club has a logo, draw your depiction of it.
• Create alternate logos for jerseys, web graphics, and more. 

• Week 5 (October 26-31): Halloween Themed Drawing
• Create something spooky and fun. 
• We know whatever you make will be “boo”-tiful, regardless of your skill level. 

These are just suggestions to help get some ideas going. Feel free to take creative liberty! Be sure to tag us in your creations with the hashtag #NASEFinktober. 

Participating in Inktober is not about having the skills of a world-class artist. It’s about attempting something outside of your comfort zone to grow and have fun. 

Be sure to follow NASEF on Instagram and Facebook so that you can keep up-to-date with the latest news, events, and other exciting things happening across North America!