Illustration Story: Inktober 2025 Showcasing 31 Halloween illustrations made by State Press illustrators

During the month of Halloween, certain artists have made it a tradition to partake in Inktober. This means each October, they will make a new sketch every day, with each new day bringing a new prompt. The prompts are created by created by the official Inktober organization and spread to a multitude of different artistic communities, creating a unique experience every year. Now that the month has come to an end, The State Press illustration team would like to share with you its wonderful creations!

Week 1

In order from top left to bottom right, Mustache and Weave by Aliya Carnahan, Crown by Jennifer Kao, Murky by Sarah Pedrini, Deer by Jennifer Kao, Pierce Senna James, and Starfish by Caitlin Hawkinson.

Week 2

In order from top left to bottom right, Heavy by Sarah Pedrini, Reckless by Caitlin Hawkinson, Sweep by Hannah Armstrong, Sting by Sarah Pedrini, Shredded by Aliya Carnahan, Drink by Caitlin Hawkinson, and Trunk by Jennifer Kao.

Week 3

In order from top left to bottom right, Ragged by Senna James, Blunder by Caitlin Hawkinson, Ornate by Sarah Pedrini, Deal by Caitlin Hawkinson, Arctic by Sarah Pedrini, Rivals by Sarah Pedrini, and Blast by Sarah Pedrini.

Week 4

In order from top left to bottom right, Button by Hannah Armstrong, Firefly by Hannah Armstrong, Rowdy by Aliya Carnahan, Inferno by Jennifer Kao, Puzzling by Aliya Carnahan, Onion by Hannah Armstrong, and Skeletal by Jennifer Kao.

Week 5

In order from top left to bottom right, Lesson by Caitlin Hawkinson, Vacant by Hannah Armstrong, and Award by Aliya Carnahan.

Next, let's take a look at some of our favorites from this month.

Hannah Armstrong

“I really like my firefly I drew because it has a fun personality to it and matches the halloween vibe” - Armstrong

"It was hard to decide a style but I wanted to keep this fun and simple so I went with a doodle style that could also look like a stamp" - Armstrong

Sarah Pedrini

"I especially enjoyed working on the illustrations for "Ornate" and "Rivals" as I was able to work closer to my usual art style, more linework and character design focus." - Pedrini

"Rivals was a chance for me to experiment with shape language and silhouettes in character design, and I challenged myself to complete it in a short time period (the entire piece took just an hour from start to finish) to push my skills. It was fun working with black and white + halftones and not just greyscale like I usually do with colorless illustrations" - Pedrini

Jennifer Kao

"I wanted to lean in to the creepy/ominous vibe just a little in the spirit of Halloween, and I think these illustrations are my favorites because they kind of give off that feeling." - Kao

"I definitely struggled a little with being limited to grayscale and ink, but it was also pretty freeing to not have to worry about the colors. Overall, I liked being able to get a little more messy and creative with the prompts and to show more of my style!" - Kao

Caitlin Hawkinson

"I love to tell stories with my art, and I felt that these two prompts allowed me to do that the most. I pushed myself to think past my first associations with these prompts, and to come up with something more interesting and fantastical. For "Lesson", I had the idea of a butterfly teaching caterpillars how to cocoon." - Hawkinson

"For "Drink," I was inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and had the idea of a shrunken down person trying to grow back to their normal size. I had a lot of fun letting my imagination flow with these prompts!" - Hawkinson

Senna James

"Normally, the medium I use is pencil so it was definitely a struggle using ink. My inspiration was partly from all the rugged looking characters on TV" - James

"I had fun drawing pierce because I love all types of vampire lore, and I’ve never attempted to draw a mouth before so it was a fun challenge." - James

Aliya Carnahan

"The inspiration is my puppy, she puts her head to the side like this when she’s confused or doesn’t understand what you want from her and I thought this was a perfect way to portray it! I struggled with creating a good texture for her fur because she has curly and straight hair but I think it still came out really good!" - Carnahan

"I thought the bicep idea was a good portrayal for shredded because that’s the first thing I think of for shredded, other than cheese lol. The definition in the muscle was really fun to create because the more I shaded it the more “together” it started to become. Overall this was definitely a very fun piece to create!" - Carnahan

Credits:

The State Press