Smack - Inktober 2026 - October 5th 2026

 

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

Day FIVE of Inktober. Prompt: Smack. 

I'm still struggling to get these drawings done in time within a day. I've been adding too much research and difficult techniques to each of these damn pieces. Perspective was a real challenge for this one. I wanted to add more elements in the composition, but it's just too much work and I have to keep moving forward. I don't want to lose pace.

My wife and I like to give each other booty smacks. When I saw the prompt, smack, I knew what I had to do. 

Preliminary sketches below.

Preliminary sketch for the prompt, smack. Alex Ariza 2026

Once again, I am challenging myself to draw multiple figures in a piece. I've also decided to up the ante and create an environment for this piece. I knew I wanted it taking place in a mead hall. I had the image in my head, but executing is a whole different animal.

Each of these ambitious drawings is teaching me something new. I have to keep pressing myself to improve, this challenge is a great way to keep myself accountable.

Loose ink drawing getting the posing and gesture down for the piece. Alex Ariza 2026.

The hardest part of this piece was by far the perspective. I really struggled with finding where I wanted my eye line to be to show the action. Ultimately, I ended up go for bird's eye view looking down, but not too extreme. If I was better at perspective, I'd prefer to be more in the action, almost waist level to make it feel more immersive, but alas, I only have so much time for each piece, so bird's eye it is.

A few thumbnail sketches of how I wanted to place the "camera."

Thumbnails showcasing different perspectives for the piece.

Every time I see concept art of environments, and even more impressively, characters interacting and living in the environments I realize how little I know how to draw. I've never pushed myself enough when I was younger to get good at this stuff. Perspective is not intuitive. It's something that needs to be worked on to really get under your fingers. 

Maybe I'll actually get around to taking a class focused on perspective fundamentals. I've considered getting more training for my art. There's a few online classes that offer this kind of lessons and I will most likely take it during the winter when there's not much to do outside.

Until then, I will continue to do self-study and struggle.

The piece features a cartoonish jester smacking the buttocks of a tavern wench who was in the middle of picking up a handkerchief. In this mead hall, some onlookers laugh as they drink their beers.

 

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.

 

Miniature - Inktober 2026 - October 3rd 2026

 

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

Day three of Inktober was a massive challenge. Multiple figures with very different costumes, designing the figures, composition, and struggling with the tonality using only hatching techniques. Everything was hard for this piece. I wouldn't consider this a very successful piece despite my ambitions. Everything suffers when you're crunch for time. I work slow as it is, so having an outing smack in the middle of the day just makes it so much more difficult.

The political statement also falls a bit flat, I had way bigger image in my mind of how I wanted this piece to look and had to scale it back because it would have been next to impossible to fit it all in. I'm only working on a 11 x 14 inch paper, I could only go so small!

Below are some preliminary sketches for the piece.

Preliminary Sketches. Alex Ariza 2026.

Preliminary Sketch - Study of the Merchant Archetype. Alex Ariza 2026

Preliminary Sketch - Study of Executioner, Justice Archetype. Alex Ariza 2026

My art is totally anachronistic. I'm probably mixing up Renaissance fashion with Medieval stuff and probably Victorian era stuff. 

For reference I used myself as the model. Below is a crude image to get the posing and composition down.

Reference Photo. Way too many Alex's in the world.

While I would consider this piece a massive failure in execution, I would not mind revisiting this concept. I like the idea of pushing myself to create multi-figure tableaus like the classical artists of the past.

The King represents a tyrannical surveillance state, the Merchant a capitalistic opportunist extracting wealth from the masses, the executioner as corruption and the violent justice system, the clergyman as the failing of men who become overly idealogical and dogmatic (not only a knock on Catholicism), and the knight represents the military and how young men are led into pointless wars and conflicts. 

There's a lot there to unpack. Impossible to finish in a day. I would need more time, but alas, the challenge continues and I must move forward to the next piece.

Relic - Inktober 2026 - October 2nd 2026

 

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

October 2nd 2026 - The prompt is "Relic."

I've always been fascinated by the concept of relics, especially within Christianity. Something eerie and very curious about the veneration of someone's remains. To split up pieces of saints, clergy men, Kings, etc. to different people and parts of the world. I know no one will do that with my corpse.

I decided to forgo the ink wash for this piece. I decided to challenge myself with only getting different tones and values through hatching this time around. This takes way longer and probably won't be the approach I take for all of the remaining pieces. The ink wash, while challenging in its own way, is so much faster at covering large amount of space. You can cover more ground with layers of ink wash than you can hatching each line.

I played around with different approaches to the line weights. Not everything was successful with this piece. I tried keeping my line work as clean as possible, but I'm still such a novice with a pen nib, so there are areas that look very sloppy compared to others. 

I'll need to plan ahead way more for this to be successful and go more smoothly. 

Apple - Inktober 2026 - October 1st 2026

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

 For this year's Inktober prompt, Apple, the first thing that came to mind was Adam and Eve.

This Bible story from Genesis has always impacted me ever since I heard it as a kid. There is so much imagery that revolves around this story throughout the years. It's one of those archetypal stories that can be interpreted and viewed in many ways.

I decided to put my stylistic interpretation to this story, making the snake (Satan) as an overgrown cobra snake, with its hood hovering above the figures of Eve and Adam. Eve is handing Adam the forbidden fruit - throughout history it has been depicted as an apple. I imagined this scene occurring at night with the only light coming from the moon. I wanted the wild grass to almost resemble fire, so I gave it a waviness that was close but not quite that. In the background are cypress trees which have held a lot of significance throughout history. The cypress tree symbolizes mourning and death in classical and Mediterranean cultures. The garden of Eden was described as a lush paradise, I'm not sure if I captured that exactly, but I knew I wanted to place the action in a field surrounded by a variety of trees.

You'll also notice Adam's back is facing us. This was intentional and meant to symbolize Adam refusing God's command to never eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Instead he faces Eve and follows her lead which ultimately ends in banishment from the Garden. From then on they are faced with a new harsh reality. They become ashamed of their naked bodies, they experience hunger, pain, and eventually child birth and rearing. 

It took me a few sketches until I mapped out the composition I liked enough to pursue. The thing with Inktober is that you only really have a few hours in a day to execute, so I needed to make decisions fast. I made test sketches and tried different techniques with ink. I'm glad I decided to use a heavier stock paper as I ultimately decided to use ink wash. Normally I'd use watercolor paper for this kind of work, but I used Strathmore bristol paper with a vellum finish at 100 lbs. I really should have thought that decision through more, but I had an untouched pad laying around and threw caution to the wind.

The paper buckled a bit, but not too bad. I was very mindful about the amount of water I applied throughout the inking process. A light touch was needed and nothing more.

Some successful tests along with some failures with ink.

Thumbnail of a tonal study using ink wash.

In the end, I quite enjoyed the process of making this piece. It's been a while since I've sat down with an "assignment" and came up with a finished product. This was very time consuming, though, so I will need to keep in mind the complexity of my work in the future to avoid burning out, losing time, or falling behind.

Moving to Urbana Champaign, IL

I'm moving to Urbana Champaign, IL. After nearly 39 years living in New York State, 34 of which were in New York City, 5 in Rochester, I am heading out to the Midwest. 

I'm nervous. I'm excited. I'm sad.

I'm dreading the actual move which is estimated as an 11-hour drive.

On August 31st, I will be homeless for about a week, staying with my aunt and uncle here in Rochester.

My wife wants to try living somewhere new. She's been in Rochester longer than I have and decided she's done with this place. 

I have no connection to the Midwest. Two of my brothers lived in Wisconsin for about 5 years, but they've moved back to NYS already. Another brother of mine lived in Chicago, IL for almost 2 years and hated it. He couldn't stand the winters there. Too cold and too long for him.

Now I'll give living in the Midwest a shot.

I've already found two figure drawing sessions that offer sessions weekly. One is through the University of Illinois and the other through an artist collective. I could draw three times a week if I really wanted.

I've found a boxing gym. I know that there is a rowing community out there too. There is a Planet Fitness and Crunch Gym. I'll probably keep Planet Fitness for now but may switch over to Crunch (I like that they have real power racks and barbells that aren't attached to machines.)

I have a close friend living in Chicago. My wife has her friends in Chicago. 

We'll be living in Savoy, IL in a nice three-bedroom home with a big, finished basement. Our surrounding area is just a bunch of corn fields. 

I've never lived in such a rural area before. The University of Illinois is literally the heart of that "city."

We will be there for two years max. 

I need to live in a proper city. Chicago is the ultimate goal. 

Something tells me we may move back to NYS in the future. We might even move to NYC if it makes financial sense. 

The "hero" always returns home at the end of the journey if we're following Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey model. 

The only way I can return to NYC is if I'm making a lot of money. At least $250K for it to make sense.

Living in Urbana Champaign will be my "monk mode" phase of life. I'll be turning 40 over there. I want to get into excellent physical shape, develop a consistent studio practice, and refine my musical chops. Lord knows I'll have the time out there with the lack of distractions. 

I want to grow as an artist and really lean into my creative practice. Most of all, I want to connect with more people. I want to connect with artists and like-minded people.

This move can be a real opportunity for me to further realize who I'm meant to be. Resurrect old dreams and live the life I want to live.

Henry Starving Follows the White Rabbit Into the Woods

Henry Starving Following the Rabbit Into the Woods - Alex Ariza, Pen and Ink.

 

Thirty-Nine

 I turned thirty-nine in April this year. 

Growing up I never had a real plan or vision of what my life would look like in the future.

The future is here.

I had no idea I would abandon my childhood dream of being a professional artist in my thirties. 

I had no idea I would ever leave NYC.

I had no idea I would end up working remotely in the healthcare industry and making a decent salary.

I knew I would get married, I just didn't know it would be so late in life. For some reason I thought I would've gotten married at age 27, which seemed really old when I was a teenager. It makes me laugh thinking about how unprepared I was at that age for anything.

I had no idea that I would join a rowing league for recreation.

I had no idea that I would learn to play tennis.

I had no idea that I would learn to box. I didn't think I'd ever be in a fight - controlled or not - but, I did it. 

Now I have a new set of unknowns to think about:

When will my parents die?

How will they die?

When and how will any of my family members die?

How will I die?

Am I emotional strong enough to handle that level of grief?

Will my marriage last as long as I live? I hope so. 

Will I have children? How many?

If my wife cannot have children, will we adopt? Will we abandon the prospect of having children all together? 

Will I develop a chronic disease? If I do, how will I handle that?

Will I have enough saved up for retirement? According to financial projections, I should have enough, but what if external forces changes things?

Will I stay within the healthcare field indefinitely?

How much money will I be making by age 50? Can I make a million dollars before age 60?

What current beliefs do I hold inside require serious examination?

What kind of man will I be in old age?

Am I making the right career decisions or am I holding myself back? Should I be aiming for more?

If I die, what will happen to all my stuff? Note to self: create a will and testament.

Will I ever get over my past regrets? Can I learn to accept my past and look back with compassion or will I forever "cringe" at myself?

With the limited number of years left in life - roughly 31 to 51 years left what do I NEED to do?

I have never formally kept a bucket list, but maybe I should create one and complete something off that list each year.

I don't know where we go from here yet, but a plan is needed to continue.

The Beauty of Physical Media: Film Photography

 Embracing an Analog Life in a Digital World

My Re-introduction to Film Photography

My then girlfriend (now my wife) back in January 2024. This was the first photo I ever took with the Canon AE-1 Program.

There is something special about exploring old technologies and methods of creation. In an age where everyone essentially has a camera in their pocket as part of their smartphone features, photos have never felt more cheap and disposable.

Think about it, does the photo gallery on your phone have the same feel and preciousness as the family photo album? I personally do not think so.

In January 2024, I picked up film photography. I started with my humble Canon Sureshot point-and-shoot camera that I purchased in Ann Arbor Michigan in 2012. After shooting a few rolls on that camera, I decided to upgrade to an SLR.

Cliche as hell and blurry to boot - but you can see my Canon Sureshot point-and-shoot camera in this shot. 

I ended up choosing something simple and affordable, the Canon AE-1 Program. This camera was released in 1981, just six years before I was born. It still shoots like a champ. 

Shooting with my Canon AE-1 Program.

I love shooting with the Canon SLR. I love hunting down and collecting the Canon FD lenses in different focal lengths. Photography sparked something in me that I did not feel in a while - being a beginner and learning a new skill set. 

The Inherent Beauty of Film

Film is gorgeous. The texture of grain so kicks the crap out of pixels. I love trying out different film stocks and learning what they can and can't handle well. The color grading and value dynamics of film are so different from digital cameras. So much fun.

Wintertime in Highland Park, Rochester, NY. Alex Ariza, 2024. Expired Kodak Gold 200.

Village Gate, Neighborhood of the Arts. Alex Ariza, 2024. Expired Kodak Gold 200.

Lamberton Conservatory, Highland Park, Rochester, NY. Alex Ariza, 2024. Expired Kodak Gold 200.

Hungerford Building Train Yard at Night. Alex Ariza, 2024. Expired Kodak Gold 200.

The Organ at Christ Church, Downtown Rochester, NY. Alex Ariza, 2024. Expired Kodak Gold 200.

 

First National Bank of Rochester, Downtown Rochester, NY. Alex Ariza, 2024. Expired Kodak Gold 200.

Vacant Buildings on the Corner of Clinton and Main, Rochester, NY. Alex Ariza, 2024. Expired Kodak Gold 200.

Discovering the Magic of Film Photography

In 2012, I took a trip with my cousin to Ann Arbor, MI, to visit my brother, who was studying musical theater at the University of Michigan. During this visit, on a whim, I purchased an old point-and-shoot film camera for $15.00 at a thrift shop.

I'm not sure why I decided to purchase this camera.

In 2007, while attending the Fashion Institute of Technology for illustration, part of our coursework included a photography class. It was my first time shooting with an SLR camera, and I was terrible at it. I couldn't grasp the relationship between f-stops and aperture speed. This ignorance led to rolls of poorly exposed and blurry photos.

As a broke college student, the constant disappointment of coughing up cash to develop film and getting bad photos in return was painful. It was a hit to my ego and my wallet. 

This class was happening when digital cameras were becoming more commonplace. Getting instant feedback on whether your photos came out well or not was the new norm. The mystery of film photography did not enchant me. It felt like another antiquated class pushed onto us by the school that refused to change with the times.

When I returned to NYC from Michigan, I decided to begin shooting with the newly acquired camera. Around that time, a close friend of mine had purchased a DSLR camera. We went to Forest Park to test out our cameras and eye for photography.

My Canon point-and-shoot camera was loaded with Kodak Gold 200, a color film. After finishing that roll, I loaded it up with a black-and-white film left over from my photography class in college.

After that outing, I never had them developed.

Fast forward twelve years to January 2024, and I've been living in Rochester, NY, since the summer of 2021. I was rummaging through a cardboard box of my belongings in the hopes of downsizing possessions I no longer wanted. 

The box contained tools, scrap material, tchotchkes, and other oddities I collected over the years. At 37 years, I pulled out the Canon point-and-shoot camera, now curious about the images I took when I was 25. I had forgotten what was even on these rolls of film.

I needed to find out.

I searched online to see if any businesses developed film and came across Scott's Photo by Rowe right off of East Avenue in the Neighborhood of the Arts. 

When the film scans came back, I was hit with a massive wave of nostalgia. My family members, friends, and I looked so young in these long-forgotten photos. My childhood home in Richmond Hill looked foreign - the furniture, the color of the walls, the layout - everything was different. 

The photos came out well-exposed and clear for the most part. There were some blurry photos, but even those had a certain charm to them.

This photo was taken in Forest Park in September 2012, about a month before Hurricane Sandy.

In 2012, the MTA was repainting the elevated trains throughout the five boroughs.
This was along Jamaica Avenue near the 104th Street Station.

Getting some artsy fartsy photos walking along some abandoned railroad tracks in Woodhaven, Queens, NY. 

Playing with perspective and the contrast of man-made structures against nature.

My friend Ken Ghani walking the tracks in Forest Park.

Tree Tumor

Young 25-year-old Alex shooting a self-portrait.

ROBONAM - Inked Drawings by Alex Ariza 2012

 

ROBONAM, Ink on Paper, Alex Ariza, 2012

ROBONAM, Ink on Paper, Alex Ariza, 2012

ROBONAM | Illustrations of Robots Warfare by Alex Ariza 2011

ROBONAM - Sketch of Robot Soldiers standing guard, Alex Ariza 2011

ROBONAM - "Robot Down!" Sketch of robot soldiers carrying away a damaged soldier, Alex Ariza 2011

ROBONAM - Splash Page of Weapons, Alex Ariza 2011

ROBONAM - Abstract line drawing of metal structures, Alex Ariza 2011

ROBONAM - Sketch of robot soldiers loading up a medical evacuation helicopter of their fallen robot compatriot, Alex Ariza 2011

ROBONAM - Line drawing of robot falling, Alex Ariza 2011

ROBONAM - Vector Art of Robot Exploding From Behind, Alex Ariza, 2011

ROBONAM - Dead Clanker, Alex Ariza 2011