Apoctober

Table of Contents

2020
2021
2022
2023

2020

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Prompt List created by Subjectively.

Drawing of a pond full of algae, lit by a flashlight. The algae is full of eyes.
Day 1 - Algae
Drawing of a large skeletal spine sticking out of the ocean. A three-mast sailing ship is approaching it. Scene takes place at sunset.
Day 2 - Corpse
Drawing of a glowing cauldron in a dark room. Several types of herbs hang from overhead.
Day 3 - Cauldron
Drawing of the Tantabus from MLP:FiM, which is a dark, starry, pony-shaped cloud. It has several extra eyes, which are glowing.
Day 4 - Nightmare
Drawing of a person in a diving suit looking up at a whale swimming overhead. The whale has a glowing eye embedded in it's chest.
Day 5 - Abyss
Drawing of a Changeling Queen inside a pod-like machine that resembles a uterus, with accompanying fallopian tubes and ovaries. The machine is decorated with insect and ladybug-themed imagery, in varying shades of red, orange, and yellow.
Day 6 - Womb
Drawing of the climactic moment of the Winter Moon Festival, where Luna - or someone representing her - appears to raise the moon. A large crowd is in the foreground.
Day 7 - Moon
Drawing of a large iridescent half-white half-black creature with wings and horns, named Concordia, looking out over the molten landscapes she was born from.
Day 8 - Primal
Drawing of Luna wearing a lab coat, spattered in blood, standing next to a blood-soaked table. She's writing in a book.
Day 9 - Research
Drawing of the Flying Spaghetti Monster being summoned by a few loyal Pastafarians.
Day 10 - Worship
Drawing of a human brain, but it's standing on six tentacle legs in a manner like the Hanar from Mass Effect.
Day 11 - Brain
Drawing of still water under a colorful starry sky. There’s a tiny figure sitting on top of the water.
Day 12 - Dream
Drawing of a gigantic snow-capped mountain. The peak has several rings of clouds around it.
Day 13 - Giant
Drawing of a looming thunderstorm. The bottom of the cloud is littered with eyes.
Day 14 - Clouds
Drawing of a three-mast sailing ship passing over a gigantic glowing eye.
Day 15 - Sea
Drawing of a Changeling Queen holding a sword, posing for a portrait painting. There's text in the upper right corner that says 'Harmonia Quadripunctata, 21st Queen of the Ladybird Hive.'
Day 16 - Insect
Drawing of a scientific diagram showing early development of a Changeling Queen embryo. Header reads 'Changeling Queen Ovoviviparity'. Boxes under first drawing read 'Egg' 'The Queen will insert the fertilized egg with her ovipositor. The egg contains enough yolk to support the embryo until the placenta fully develops.' Second box set reads '1-6 weeks' 'After implantation, the placenta starts developing. It will take over from the yolk eventually, becoming the sole source of nutrition once the yolk has been depleted.' Final box set reads '6-7 weeks' 'What exactly takes over from the yolk depends on the incubator's species. In a pony a placenta will develop, while in a dragon the egg will gain a harder outer shell and have to rely on the initial yolk.'
Day 17 - Egg
Drawing of an iridescent white skeletal horse-like creature with asymmetrical horns. It is facing forwards, staring directly at the viewer.
Day 18 - Death
Drawing of a swimming pool mimic. There’s an eye on the bottom, and it’s littered with teeth.
Day 19 - Dive
Drawing of a large tentacle with an eyeball in the end. It's peering over the railing of a ship.
Day 20 - Tentacle
Drawing of a black book under large text. Text reads ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. The book has a skull on the cover, and the spine reads ‘Necromancy 101’.
Day 21 - Treasure
Drawing of a tuna-like fish. It has too many eyes, and extra mouths down the side.
Day 22 - Fish
Drawing of four varieties of Terran demon. Top left, the Wight, looks like a hunched over person with very long arms, empty black eyes, and a wide grin, looking directly at the camera. Top right, the Mud-puppy, looking like a wet soggy dog, chewing on a garbage can. Bottom left, the Ceiling Cling, an indiscint blob, clinging to the ceiling. Bottom right, the Wisp, a tiny wispy mouse-like thing, hissing at the person who found it.
Day 23 - Demon
Drawing of a person lost in the woods. They only have a flashlight. Several shadows have the shape of inhuman hands or figures in the dark.
Day 24 - Lost
Drawing of someone wearing a plague mask. The mask has several decorative elements on it. The person is walking away from a flaming village.
Day 25 - Plague
Drawing of a pendant necklace. The pendant has a 20-sided die, with the 1 side facing the viewer, on top of a four leaf clover.
Day 26 - Curse
Drawing of a silver-steel dagger. Runes are written into the crossguard. Text across the bottom reads 'Lumerian Silvered-Steel'.
Day 27 - Dagger
Drawing of Luna, wearing the same lab coat from Day 9, standing next to a cauldron. In one hand she's holding a dagger, which has golden blood along one edge. Her other arm is out over the cauldron, clenching her hand tightly as it bleeds into whatever substance is inside.
Day 28 - Blood
Drawing of a man standing inside a massive cave. At the very back there’s a few glints of light.
Day 29 - Cave
Drawing of a graveyard with a building in it. There's a cutaway so the viewer can see underground, where the catacombs are. The visible walls of the tunnel are covered in burial plaques, and we can see into other tunnels which look much the same, suggesting there are a great many people buried here.
Day 30 - Grave
Drawing of a demonic summoning ritual. There's a cloaked figure standing behind an altar, which has a body on it. Glowing green portal appearing over the body, with something crawling out of the portal.
Day 31 - Sacrifice

2021

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Prompt list, created by Subjectively. I chose to interpret the Pokémon type prompts as regular prompts fitting the theme, except for 'Normal' on Day 14, which I replaced with 'Hunters'.

Drawing of a wildfire at night. View is looking down from a hill, with a lone tree in the foreground. The tree is being eaten by three fire spirits. In the background there are several more spirits like this, feeding on the trees caught in the blaze.
Day 1 - Glutton
Drawing of a path winding through a dark forest. The darkness is interrupted by three glowing spirits walking along the path towards the foreground. They’re composed of swirling blobs, with humanoid bones in their centers.
Day 2 - Undead
Drawing of a titanic creature lounging over the peak a mountain. It’s half white with black markings, and half black with white markings. It resembles a cat-like dragon - paws, feathered wings, and two horns on its head. Its tail is draped over a few mountain peaks behind it, fading into the distance.
Day 3 - Titan
Drawing of a large monster resting underground. Spines along its back take up most of the space inside a large mountain. The entire image is in browns and tan sepia tones.
Day 4 - Spine
Drawing of a purple crab. The shell is colored like a large eye staring directly at the viewer. There’s text under the crab, reading ‘Oculus Piscinae’.
Day 5 - Decapod
Drawing of a person walking through a dark forest. Multiple magpies are perched in the trees. A faint silhouette of four gigantic birds is visible through the trees - a female terror-bird and her three chicks. The chicks are the same height as the person, while their mother is easily twice as tall.
Day 6 - Coven
Drawing of a ruined stone building on a dark moonlit night. Trees and tall rocks interrupt the shape of the galaxy in the sky. The ground is covered in a thick river of fog, while three ghosts wander around the building.
Day 7 - Ghost
Drawing of a person standing at the railing of a ship, looking at the shore they're sailing past. The blade of their dagger is glowing. It’s nighttime, with a full moon hanging in the sky. There's a strange, bright fog clinging to the shoreline.
Day 8 - Dagger
Drawing of a woman peering into a well. At the bottom is the silhouette of a grinning face, staring up at her. The woman has purple skin and pink hair. Behind her is a halo-like moon, and a glowing white crown sits atop her head.
Day 9 - Well
Drawing of three spirits biting into water pipes inside a wall. They're eyeless, and resemble a worm outside of their small arms.
Day 10 - Imp
Drawing of a grey, sandy beach. Multiple of the purple crabs from Day 5 dot the shore. One person stands mostly off-screen, preparing to grab one of them with a pair of tongs.
Day 11 - Tide
Drawing of an underground dig site. There's a large fossilized alien skeleton embedded in the wall, lit by two bright lights.
Day 12 - Fossil
Drawing of three gourds in different shapes. The gourd on the left is white with green stripes, shaped into a bowl. The middle gourd is splotched in two shades of green, and was carved shaped like a cup. The gourd on the right is brown, with a string around it and a tan cap in the top like a bottle. The text along the bottom reads ‘Lumerian Hunter uses for gourds’.
Day 13 - Gourd
Drawing of three characters, split along two time periods. The one on the left is from the distant past, in a dark forest. He’s preparing to shoot a nearby monster with his bow. On the right are two characters in the modern day, standing next to each other in a sunlit clearing. One is the same pink woman from Day 9. She's equipped with a sword. The other is a taller blue man holding a shotgun.
Day 14 - Hunters
Drawing of a winged blue woman standing in the ocean with her back to us. She’s staring at the full moon. Her hair resembles the night sky, floating against the wind. A crescent moon and a splotch of darker blue are visible on her back.
Day 15 - Sea
Drawing of an alien building partially covered in rock. It stands tall enough to reach the clouds. The surrounding landscape is rolling rocky hills.
Day 16 - Monolith
Drawing of a tentacle-faced alien creature looking at a holographic planet. The creature has one large eye, and four small tendrils adorned with glowing fronds on its head.
Day 17 - Space
Drawing of the entrance to a rocky pit. The perspective is in the bottom looking up at the entrance, which vaguely resembles a fanged mouth. Three figures are silhouetted against the lighter sky. The middle figure is hunched over, being supported by the other two.
Day 18 - Maw
Drawing of Princess Celestia and a re-designed Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon, now more of a puddle of night sky than a person, is gripping Celestia’s arm, leaning forward with a toothy grin while Celestia leans back.
Day 19 - Madness
Drawing of a window in a stone tower. Vines creep up the walls, with hand-shaped clumps reaching for the window. Inside the tower is lit by faint candlelight, revealing a figure sitting at a desk. Their back is facing the window.
Day 20 - Vines
Drawing of a woman peeking around a corner into a hallway while holding a gun. At the end of the hallway, a monster lurks behind another corner. The scene is dark except for moonlight through the window, and a flashlight from behind the woman.
Day 21 - Steel
Drawing of Princess Luna, wearing the same blood-stained outfit from 2020's Apoctober, standing while facing the camera. She’s looking down at her hands, held up in front of her chest. Her hands are turning dark and starry, and are also covered in blood. A halo of the full moon is behind her head, cracking to pieces.
Day 22 - Mutate
Drawing of a scythe in front of two figures. The figures are facing away from each other, only visible from the shoulders up, the scythe forming the border between them. On the left, the scene is a sunny day over a wheat field. On the right, a dark moonlit night in a graveyard. The left figure is a dark brown peahen, the spirit of Life, and the right one is a pale, skeletal deer, the spirit of Death. Both have an iridescent effect to them.
Day 23 - Scythe
Drawing of a forest at night, rendered in monochrome purple. The ground is covered in a thick layer of glowing fog. There’s a cluster of mushrooms on the ground, as well as on two of the trees.
Day 24 - Smog
Drawing of Princess Celestia with a raven perched on her outstretched arm. The background is a blue gradient, with a large sun behind Celestia’s head.
Day 25 - Raven
Drawing of a bald woman in armor and a fur cloak staring at a strange object in her hand. The object is shaped almost like a human, dotted with holes, and has a swirling darkness on its back. The woman’s expression is one of tired reflection. An iron crown sits atop her head.
Day 26 - Effigy
Drawing of a museum exhibit case. Inside the case floats a glowing ball, with lightning-like energy crackling inside it. Reflected on the case’s glass is the silhouette of a person with glowing eyes.
Day 27 - Artifact
Drawing of a blue woman standing in front of the moon on a black background. The woman is wearing a dark red waistcoat and a light-colored blouse with puffy sleeves. Her eyes are gold, with vertical pupils. A moon-themed crown floats in front of her forehead.
Day 28 - Psychic
Drawing of a dark brown room. In the center there’s a large stone column behind a stone coffin. There are two lit braziers beside the coffin. Two wind chimes hang overhead. Behind the stone column a waterfall runs down the back wall, flowing into two streams of water around the column and coffin, like a moat.
Day 29 - Tomb
Drawing of a river at sunset. The river runs toward distant mountains, with the sun almost touching their peaks. A few clouds float in the sky.
Day 30 - Wild
Drawing of a snake coiled around an orange pumpkin. The background is the silhouette of a large tree against a sepia-tone sky. The snake is a solid brown color, with glowing gold eyes.
Day 31 - Sacrifice

2022

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No official prompt list this year, so I made my own. Only finished 8 of the pieces this year.

Greyscale drawing of a forest. The trees get progressively lighter and closer together as they get further away. In the far distance is a strangely curved tree, with a figure standing next to it. In the bottom left is white handwriting that says 'Day 1 - Forest. Starnight. @starn1ght.'
Day 1 - Forest
Drawing of an anthro unicorn woman, the same from some of 2021's drawings, wearing a bird skull as a mask. She’s facing the right at a three-quarters angle. Her skin is purple, her eyes are blue, and her hair is pink. She’s also wearing a dark brown cloak. The background is a simple blue gradient. In the bottom right is handwriting that says 'Day 2: Mask. Starnight.'
Day 2 - Mask
Drawing of three crystals with various types of rune carved into them. One is diamond-shaped and pink, one is a blue sphere with white swirls, and one is a long quartz-like shape, colored purple. The background is a blue gradient. In the top left is handwritten text saying ‘Day 3 - Crystal. Starnight.’
Day 3 - Crystal
Drawing of a horned skull. Both horns are stained with blood. One is broken. There are multiple flowing lines, stars, and moons carved into the bone. In the bottom right is handwritten text saying, “Day 4 - Bone. Starnight.”
Day 4 - Bone
Drawing of multiple weapons on a table. In the middle is a spear, to the right is a dagger, and on the left are shutgun shells. A shotgun is mounted to the wall. In the bottom left is handwritten text reading “Day 5 - Steel. Starnight.”
Day 5 - Steel
Drawing of a photo ID card. It’s labeled ‘Hunter’s Permit’, and contains information about a young woman named Radiant Aegis. In her photo she’s wearing a simple black t-shirt. The background of the card is a sun and moon symbol. In the bottom right of the full image is text reading 'Day 6 - Hunters. Starnight.'
Day 6 - Hunters
Drawing of a demon with several eyes staring at the camera through a gap in some wooden floorboards. The image is very dark, in a monochrome purple. In the bottom left is handwritten text reading 'Day 7 - Eyes. Starnight.'
Day 7 - Eyes
Drawing of a still lake on a starry night. The water is dark; the sky is filled with stars and a purple nebula. The full moon is visible in the top right. In the bottom right is text reading 'Day 8 - Dream. Starnight.'
Day 8 - Dream

2023

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Tried a different approach to this year's Apoctober. I took four prompts from the list, and tried a slower multi-month approach to this challenge. Never made it past the sketch phase.

Greyscale sketch of a cave. There are veins of ore visible in the walls, rendered in pink and purple to stand out. A lamp hangs from a wall to the left. Small puddles of water dot the ground. In the top right is handwritten text reading, 'Prompt 1 - Quicksilver'.
Prompt 1 - Quicksilver
Sketch of a storybook-style illustration of a monster being burned by four hunters. There are several decorative elements like knives, stars, and moons. There are a few blocks of handwritten notes. The first reads, 'Find some of those storybook illustrations I'm thinking of with this for reference.' The second reads, 'Align everything properly in Affinity before lining'. The final one reads, 'I kind of envision something dark and inky, with light coming from the bonfire. Sinister/dark/ominous, not a serene sacrifice.'
Prompt 2 - Cremated
Monochrome red sketch of a village in a forest. Three sets of eyes are visible in the trees, with three distorted music notes floating overhead. Blood seeps into the ground below the houses. In the top right is text reading 'Prompt 3 - Chorus'
Prompt 3 - Chorus
Sketch of the royal sisters, Celestia and Luna. They're posed in the middle, back to back, with a border between them. Both sisters are labeled with their names above their heads. Celestia is on the left, with the sun haloed behind her head. Bottom left note reads 'Fire Air'. Luna is on the right, moon and stars haloed behind her head. Bottom right note reads 'Earth Water'.
Prompt 4 - Royalty

2024

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My plans for this year's Apoctober are to try and salvage the last two year's efforts. I had some interesting things planned, and I'd like to see if I can pull them off.