Cactus - Inktober 2026 - October 4th 2026

 

"Cactus" Ink Drawing for Inktober 2026 Challenge. Alex Ariza 2026.

Day FOUR of the Inktober Challenge. Prompt: Cactus. 

I had to finish up the drawing from yesterday's prompt, miniature, this morning. That was a real pain, but I had renewed energy to take on this new piece, mostly because it was just one figure.

There's a lot of plants, rocks, cacti, and mountains, but those things are generally easy to draw and actually fun. Drawing the human figure is hard. It does not come easy for me. I haven't put in enough hours of study and training to draw people from the top of my head. That would be a really useful skill to have for this kind of challenge, unfortunately, I still have to rely on reference.

Preliminary sketch below is anatomically a mess and pretty impossible to replicate in real life. I learned this the hard way when I had my wife direct me and take photos for reference.

Preliminary drawing for the prompt, cactus. 

I'm looking like a thicc boy in this photo reference. 

So what's' the idea? My first thought that came to mind with the prompt, cactus, was the desert. The desert has always had a spiritual essence and is featured heavily as the setting for many Bible stories. One story was about this man named Job. He was subjected to a life of misery to prove he was faithful to God no matter what. 

It's a very unusual tale as it features Satan making a wager with God that Job would turn away from God if he lost everything. Job was tested in a number of ways. In the beginning of the story, Job is a very wealthy successful man. He loses his wealth but still remained faithful to God. He had a family and some kids. His kids die, but still he remains steadfast with his faith. From what I remember, his health also begins to deteriorate and he develops leprosy. Because he has leprosy, he is banished from his town and sent out into the desert. 

I imagined Job wandering around the desert and taking in his lot in life wondering what the hell happened to me?

Anyway, the vegetation in my piece is largely based on the deserts of the American Southwest, I don't even know if they have cactus in the desert over in the Middle East. 

In my original sketch, I did give the character lesions, but I ended up not putting it into the final image. Reason? I don't know, I just didn't want to do it.

I really should have done a thumbnail sketch for the shading of the drawing with ink wash. I just winged it and while not perfect, it gets the point across.   

Perfect is the enemy of good for this challenge. 

Also, an important note to myself in the future, if you are going to do an ink wash, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE USE WATERCOLOR PAPER!!!! 

Use the right paper for the right task, dummy! Sheesh.