Inktober 2026
Welcome to Portrait Paradox.
This Inktober, I'm taking you on a journey through stories hiding behind recognizable, and sometimes not-so-recognizable, face. Each official Inktober prompt starts a trail. The clue leads to a face, the face leads to a story, and the story can lead almost anywhere. Sometimes it's a straight line. Sometimes it's a detour. And sometimes... down the rabbit hole we go.
To keep the visual challenge interesting, I'm experimenting with the Zorn Palette, limiting myself to Ivory Black, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre and Vermilion. Fewer colors means more attention to value, expression and character, while the stories take the portraits somewhere the colors can't.
31 faces. Restricted Color Palette. Infinite rabbit holes.
The face isn't always who you expect.
The portrait is just the beginning.
Day 5: Smack
You probably expected a slap. Maybe a boxer. Or someone with a very unfortunate temper. After all, “smack” sounds like something that hits hard. But did you know a group of jellyfish is also called a “smack”?
Today’s face is Shin Kubota, a Japanese marine biologist who studies the so-called immortal jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii.
When stressed or injured, this tiny creature can reverse its life cycle, transforming from an adult back into a juvenile stage and potentially starting over. Kubota has spent years raising them, even feeding them microscopic pieces of shrimp.
Outside the lab, Kubota becomes “Mr. Immortal Jellyfish Man,” writing and performing songs about his subjects, sometimes in jellyfish costume.
Most scientists study their subjects. Kubota gave his a soundtrack. Because when your research subject might live forever, you might as well write the karaoke anthem.
Day 6: Ogre
You probably expected Shrek. Maybe a fairy-tale monster. Or someone with terrible table manners.
Today's face is Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. As a child, Huxley was nicknamed “Ogie”, short for Ogre, apparently because of his imposing appearance.
At 16, a severe eye infection left him almost blind for nearly two years. He had planned to become a doctor, but his damaged eyesight sent him toward literature instead.
He later taught George Orwell, and the two imagined very different dystopias. Orwell feared control through force. Huxley feared something more seductive: people surrendering freedom willingly, distracted by comfort and pleasure.
His fascination with how people experience reality didn't stop at dystopian fiction. Huxley later experimented with psychedelics himself, documenting his mescaline experience in The Doors of Perception.
The man who could barely see ended up seeing the future rather clearly.
Day 7: Panic
You probably expected a screaming face. Maybe a stock market in freefall. Or someone running from a monster.
Today's face is Orson Welles, the 23-year-old actor and director who supposedly sent America into a panic with a Martian invasion.
On October 30, 1938, Welles staged The War of the Worlds as realistic news bulletins. Some listeners believed it was real, and the story became legendary.
But here's where it gets strange: the mass hysteria was mostly a myth. Only about 2% of households were listening, and most knew it was fiction. Yet newspapers, competing with radio for audiences, reported a nation gripped by hysteria, helping turn a small scare into a national panic.
The publicity propelled Welles into Hollywood, where RKO Radio Pictures handed the 24-year-old near-total creative control. The result? Citizen Kane, which he co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in.
The invasion was fictional. The panic was real. But the legend? That was the biggest story of all.
Day 8: Stinky
COMING SOON
Day 9: Ram
COMING SOON
Day 10: Mystical
COMING SOON
Day 11: Rescue
COMING SOON