For a number of years, UK artist Doug Jackson has been hosting #Boatober. For 31 days in October, he posts a different photo each day, and his rabble of avid followers and fans use these photos to interpret the scene in their styles.
This is the first year I’m taking part in Boatober. Until recently I hadn’t really been interested in painting boats. I was happy focusing on urban sketching people. But now we’re living in a fishing village – with a small boat harbour a mere half-hearted jog away – it seems like an opportune moment to give this annual art challenge a go in an effort to improve my boat-sketching skills.
Two Art Challenges for the Price of One
I’m dove-tailing onto Boatober to also participate in the #QuickKickOctober sketch challenge. This second challenge is hosted by Kick in the Creatives, and we’re tasked with doing a 15 minute sketch of the same thing every day in October. So after meandering my way through my detailed sketch for Boatober, I’m using it as inspiration to create a 15 minute version of the same scene for Kick October.
Boatober 2025 Day One – Wednesday
Enjoyment Level: *****
I love the vibrant colours of this main sketch. I recently added Phthalo Blue (green shade) and Phthalo Green (blue shade) to my watercolour palette, two strong, staining colours I’ve historically avoided. Now I’ve realised how great the green is for mixing, and how a diluted version of the blue creates a vibrant alternative to cerulean blue for the skies.
For my first 15 minute sketch, I timed the sketching and painting portion. I thought I would run out of time to apply watercolour, because the sketching would take too long. But it only took six and a half minutes to sketch, so I have plenty of time to add colour.
Boatober 2025 Day Two – Thursday
Enjoyment Level: **
This scene felt so laboured and lifeless, so maybe I didn’t approach it with the right positive frame of mind! I struggled with how to render the sea, seaweed, and the stoney background. On a positive note, I liked how the blue captain’s cabine turned out, and how I managed to depict the angular nature of the front and how the light hit it.
I actually prefer my 15 minute version. It’s more playful and lively.
Boatober 2025 Day Three – Friday
Enjoyment Level: ***
The shape of the composition was inspired by another artist participating in the challenge. It gives an appearance of a circular vignette, which I like. The shadows on the smaller sails irked me, but I really like the looser feel of the shadows on the big sail. The water was a bit laboured, and it’s not surprising really, because it’s one of my bug bears, and another reason why I thought it’d be good to participate in this year’s boatober.
The 15 minute sketch is kind of blah!
Boatober 2025 Day Four – Saturday
Enjoyment Level: ***
This was a fun topic, but the perspectives and details were challenging. I struggled with how to render the background, and ended up settling for a simple pencil sketch. My favourite part of this sketch is how I used the negative space to create the white water under the boat and in front of it. I think I could have pushed the effect more, by adding some more shadow under the wave, or adding some additional erratic ink marks on the wave itself to give it more depth.
Two versions of the same photo really stood out for background inspiration. One artist did quick/loose lines for houses and a faded little dab of colour on the rooves. Another artist did loose paint shapes and lines for the houses, using different mixes of the same colours used for the sea and boat, so there was a real cohesive feel to their scene. Both of these versions will serve as inspiration for a future sketch.
Tried something a little different for the background in my 15 minute sketch. Not ideal, but I did like that vignette shape of the overall sketch. Just need to loose some of the complete lines at the edges on the houses.
Boatober 2025 Day Five – Sunday
Enjoyment Level: *****
Loved doing this one! To me this photo told a story of the comparison between the dreary industrial background, and the cheerful little boats in the foreground. There were more boats in the photo, and it just looked to overwhelming to sketch, so I edited some of the boats out, and then changed the composition of them, so it looked like the big boats were bullying the little red boat (another story within the story).
The sea was a little disappointing. Initially it was a brighter blue, but it was competing too much with the boats, so I put a layer of diluted grey ink over it to tone it down.
One artist did a beautiful rendition of the water. They only added watercolour water where there is shade (in front and the side of the boats, and the rest of the water was left as blank white paper. Really effective, because it really made the boats stand out. Another technique I’m going to borrow for future sketches.
This 15 minute sketch is really quite chaotic – and I really like it. The perspectives are off as well, but I just think it’s a joyful sketch.
Boatober 2025 Day Six – Monday
Enjoyment Level: ****
Went for that vignette look again for the overall composition. And had a go at using the “just paint the water where there’s the darkest shadow”, although I did add a really light wash of diluted blue ink over the rest of the water rather than leaving it white. I was happy with the boat, I just wish I’d achieved more differentiation and depth between the boat and the building. I did play around a bit with adding a few darker ink lines, but think I could have been more both to create a more dramatic difference in line weight.
This was another sketch where my sky was too bright and distracting, so I brushed over it with diluted grey ink to tone it down. I really like the shading the rocks in the harbour front, because of the depth and the variation in shading.
Bit of a rushed 15 minute sketch today, a bit confusing and non-descriptive.
Boatober 2025 Day Seven – Tuesday
Enjoyment Level: ***
Discovered that I had some brown waterproof ink, so used that for the sand and shadows. Realising I’m getting quite fond of using diluted ink. The water looks like actual sky rather than a reflection of the sky, but I had fun experimenting with using the blue diluted ink and some watercolour to achieve that reflection effect. From a shape and perspective point of view, the middle boat was the most successful.
I actually love the more warped perspective of this 15 minute sketch, because it’s easier to easier to envisage that the water is water and not sky. Loved the simplicity of the boats, no oars or oar holders on the boats. I almost ran out of time, but I was determined to get the shading and depth on these three boats, so had to miss out a lot of the smaller details, and keep the sand and sea more simple.
Boatober Week One Summary
The biggest challenge with the initial sketches it how to create depth between the foreground focal point boat, and the background. Lots of these background elements are essential for telling the story of the scene, but you don’t want them to compete for attention with the focal point.
My sketches are my natural tidy, neat (and sometimes too stiff) renditions of the photos. My goal it to develop a looser more expressive style of ink line, but I’m realising that this can’t be achieved until I’m comfortable and confident the basic techniques needed to convey depth and focal point. Once my approach for this becomes more automatic, then I think loosening my lines with become a natural progression. I’m hoping that these 15 minutes sketches will be the vehicle to help me develop that loose line look. Having a timer, really does help to get you to focus on what’s important to draw, and what to leave out.
I’ve been using my initial long sketch to base my 15 minute sketch on, but am realising the benefit of doing them first, or at least doing a quick thumbnail to determine the composition, and testing out how to depict the water and sky.
