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 1: Apple
You probably expected Steve Jobs and some predictable trivia about phone books and Atari. Way too boring.
Today's face is Jef Raskin, Apple's 31st employee and the unsung mastermind behind the Macintosh project. Raskin named the device after his favorite apple, the McIntosh. A perfectly harmonious fit.
Then things got wonderfully tangled. When Steve Jobs took over the project, he decided the name wasn't cutting it. He tried to rename the Macintosh “Bicycle,” inspired by the idea that computers could be bicycles for the mind.
The team wasn't exactly enthusiastic. They kept calling it Macintosh. And somehow, the name survived.
Think about that alternate timeline for a second. If they had failed, you could be reading this on your shiny new Apple Bikebook Pro!
Day 2: Relic
COMING SOON!
Day 3: Miniature
COMING SOON!
Day 4: Cactus
COMING SOON!