Inktober is a drawing challenge held every October in which artists across the globe create illustrations (typically in a pen and ink style) based on a list of daily prompts. In 2019, I decided to write my own story that each illustration would be based off of. The story, called Mitsuki Awakens, unfolded over the course of the month, each day’s “chapter” based on the featured word in the official prompt list.
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Mitsuki Awakens tells the tale of a young witch who wakes up over a thousand years in the future with a curious case of amnesia. With the help of a long lost friend, and a few new ones, she must head out on an adventure across Japan to track down her missing memories, and uncover the mystery of the memory thieves, the black market memory trade, and government corruption that goes all the way to the top.
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The following are a few of my favorite story beats and illustrations from the series. To read the full story from start to finish, scroll back to the first post of my old art account: @deadwolfmakes
And to see what other comics I’ve been making, head over to alittlehaunting.com
Inktober Day 3: Bait
Once Mitsuki fully regained consciousness, and settled down from the shock of waking up in a once familiar, but now totally foreign world, she realized she had to go. Where, she wasn’t quite sure. After what appeared to be many generations of death and regrowth, the forest had completely transformed. Not a single tree looked familiar to her.
Despite not knowing where (or when) she was, she set off through the woods. And as she walked, she came upon something she certainly hadn’t expected to see: a coffee shop. And it was open.
“Wow, I’d die for latte right now! It’s like the forest knew…” she thought to herself. And then she paused. Did the forest know what she wanted? Was someone trying to get her attention? Why else would a full blown coffee shop be in the middle of the woods?? Something wasn’t right. She had better carefully consider whether some mythical, magical entity was baiting her before sauntering into to a suspicious shop.
Inktober Day 11: Snow
Nooni and Mitsuki left the shop, and got ready for their journey to Tokyo. It was going to be a long one, and the first season’s snow was starting to fall in northern Japan. Mitsuki donned her heaviest velvet cloak, and climbed aboard her broomstick. She took Nooni’s paw (he couldn’t fly fast enough to keep up on his own) and kicked off from the ground.
It was time to go to Tokyo and get some answers.
Inktober Day 14: Overgrown
After collecting up the dragon remains, the two proceeded to catch one another up about what they were doing out there in the first place. Aka had been out for what should’ve been a casual stroll (he lived in an old minka nearby) until he ran into the dragon. Mitsuki told him of her wild tale; waking up 1000+ years in the future, missing memories that she now believed to be stolen. She told him how she had been headed to Tokyo when she and Nooni heard his cries for help.
“Well, the sun is starting to set. If you don’t much fancy flying in the night, you’re welcome to stay with me,” Aka offered, “it’s truly the least I can do.” He paused, thinking a second. “Actually, I’d like to do a bit more. If you’d like my help, I can come with you on your journey to find out what happened to your memories.”
Mitsuki probably should’ve taken a beat to think about it, but the fact was she was in an unfamiliar time, all alone. Plus, the red bearded man was awfully cute and charming. So she eagerly responded with a grin, “Absolutely! But I agree, let’s rest for the night and take off bright and early.”
With that, the three new friends headed to Aka’s home, set deep in the woods, completely overgrown with plants and vines and beautiful greenery. Mitsuki suppressed a gasp—it was basically her dream home.
Inktober Day 22: Ghost
With their bellies full, Mitsuki and company headed towards her old apartment building in search of answers. They found a building at her old address, but it definitely wasn’t her apartment. The building had been converted into what appeared to be a speakeasy themed ghost club—aptly titled The Spookeasy.
Inside they went, passing all kinds of apparitions along the way. They approached a sheet ghost bartender, cleaning a tumbler with his ghosty sheet hand. “What’ll ya have?” he asked the group. Mitsuki ordered a Polterjuice, Aka a Nec-rum-ancy, and Supotto an Aperolition. Nooni abstained, not much of a drinker himself.
Once they had their drinks, and had exchanged a brief bit of banter with the ghostly bartender, Mitsuki got down to business. “So I heard this used to be an apartment building for magic folk back in the day. When did you guys take over?” The ghost scoffed, ‘Well young lady, it’s been over a thousand years since it was an apartment! The Robot Geisha Collective bought the building back sometime around 2020, tore it down completely, and left the lot empty for years. In 2090 they built the building that stands here today, and in 2094 we started renting and opened up The Spookeasy.”
The bartender left the group, attending to other spirits. “The Robot Geisha Collective?” Mitsuki wondered aloud. “Could they have something to do with the suspected robot geisha memory thieves??” Dots were starting to connect, but there was still so much left unknown.
Follow me @deadwolfmakes for more magic.