Inktober 2024
This year is my first time participating in Inktober. Every year, there are prompts for each day throughout the month of October and you challenge yourself to draw every day. I checked out the prompt list and decided to try and create a cohesive story out of them where each day is a new page. And I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with this but here is day one. "Backpack" is the prompt. These first two prompts might give Goonies vibes but, oh well.
Here is my attempt at "Iris in Thalorenmor"
Day 1: “Backpack”
Iris lost her grandmother who she always felt a deep connection to. She always knew her grandmother was adventurous and traveled before settling down to start a family, always telling her stories and teaching her about other cultures, but she never knew how adventurous she actually was. After her mother encouraged her to go through some of her grandmother's things to keep in her memory, she came across her old luggage, and a backpack she had never seen before.
#inktober2024 #inktober
Day 2: “Discover”
Iris rummaged through the backpack and came across an old, folded piece of paper. She slowly pulled it out and carefully unfolded it. To her shock, Iris DISCOVERed what appeared to be a map of a place she had never heard of before—Thalorenmor—and a moonstone amulet imprinted with the image of a lyre.
She sat there, staring at the amulet, which seemed to place her in a trance. Then, all of a sudden, there was a flash.
#inktober2024 #sketchbook
Day 3: “Boots”
Iris opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the pair of boots on her feet where her sneakers once were. Around her neck was the amulet. As she looked around, she realized she had been transported to another world. Was she dreaming? Was she dead? How did this happen? All these thoughts raced through her mind, when a voice through the wind whispered “Map.” It startled her. She looked all around but saw no one.
#inktober2024 #sketchbook
Day 5: “Binoculars”
The wind blew again and this time Iris thought she heard someone whisper "the top of the mountain." Unsure of what happened and what to do about it, Iris took a breath and pulled out the map. A mountain range sat northwest. She looked up and saw it in the distance. She pulled out a pair of BINOCULARS and removed them from their case. Looking at the mountains in the distance, she saw a bright light flashing near the summit.
The wind whispered "go."
Day 6: “Trek”
Iris set forth on her long TREK toward the mountains of Theloranmor, and she needed to find shelter fast. The sun was setting, the moons were out, and the Starfinches sang their evening song.
Day 7: “Passport”
Iris took shelter in a cave she happened upon along the way. Reaching into her backpack to see what else she might find, she came across her grandmother's passport. No stamps for Theloranmor in there. This was no ordinary place. What is it? Where is it? And why was she brought here?
'Rest,' the wind echoed through the cave, and Iris fell asleep.
Day 8: “Hike”
Iris continued her hike through the mountains, realizing that the stories her grandmother had told her about the magical, playful felnara were no longer fiction as they frolicked around her along the way.
Day 9: “Sun”
Reaching a high overlook in the mountains, Iris paused to take in the view as the sun set over Thelornamor.
Day 10: “Nomadic”
Iris wandered deeper into the mountains wondering why she had been brought here. Wondering if it was all real or a dream. She saw a light through the brush of the montane forest. Then more light. She became scared. Was she about to walk up on the first people of this mysterious place? Was she in trouble? SHould she turn around? She kept going. SOmething inside her told her this was the way. As she approached the lights grew brighter and she saw movement. People! There were people who appeared to be setting up camp. Fellow nomadic people? Then, before her eyes, the world became silent as a woman turned around as if to greet her. It was her grandmother. Jenie
Shocked, Iris mumbled “Oh my God I am dead.” Her grandmother laughed, tears streaming down her face. “Oh sweetheart you are very much alive. And we have a lot to talk about.”
Day 11: “Snacks”
“Come sit down,” said Jenie, "You must be starved.” The others who were with Jenie walked over and offered an array of snacks for Iris to fuel up on — water root crisps, moonberries, and night bloom nut clusters. As Iris devoured the delicious, otherworldly snack, Jenie explained what had happened. She told Iris that she too had stumbled across the amulet as a young woman and that it was her great grandmother who connected with her. Those with deep connections to the natural world are meant to become stewards of the Earth. The Earth is in peril and has been. Every generation has a steward who is meant to go forth and do what is necessary to preserve the Earth before it’s too late.
She was transported to Theloranmor when Jenie’s time was up on Earth, as a test to see if she was indeed the type of human who could continue with the important mission of restoring the Earth. Theloramnor exists as a place where those who serve the Earth, continue to thrive. Heaven for those who believe in that, but simply another dimension where the human form can continue to exist. Where the people live in harmony with the natural world, as was intended with the world we were gifted before greed took over.
Day 12: “Remote”
Iris stopped eating. She was having a hard time processing everything she was being told. How much of a responsibility was this to attempt to save the world? Save the world? That’s impossible. Another dimension? In a remote galaxy far, far, away. She looked up at the first star she could spot in the sky and wondered if that was Earth. The thrill and confusion of seeing her dead grandmother wore off and she became incredibly homesick. And how would she get home?
“I can’t do that,” she mumbled.
