Pinktober 2025

Ready for the 2025 Pinktober challenge?

Last October, I participated in the annual Inktober challenge for the first time you can read more about it here. In short, it's a month-long challenge that artists undertake starting with a series of prompts, based either on the original inktober prompts, or using their own theme.

Of course I went with the badass goddesses theme, in keeping with my personal brand LOL and although it was definitely a challenge to create a new drawing every single day for an entire month, I quickly found myself delighted with my creative output and the excuse to get back into a daily art practice.

You can see my drawings from last Pinktober in the archives below:

Pinktober 2024
Week one
Week two
Week three
Week four
Week five

I had so much fun last October, in fact, that I also did a daily drawing challenge in December called Drawcember. You can see my drawings from that month in the archives below:

Drawcember 2024
Week one
Week two
Week three
Week four
Week five

So this October, I will be doing the Pinktober challenge again, and inviting you, my dear readers, to play along. Download the prompts and create something everyday to go with the corresponding goddess. It doesn't have to be any particular style, although traditionally it is done in ink , but however you interpret it is more than okay.

If you're not familiar with a certain goddess, I suggest doing a quick Google search for reference and inspiration. I'm no doubt going to have to do the same. While some of the goddesses are better known than others, I always like to mine the depths of the world's mythologies for some truly obscure goddesses and female mythical creatures.

If figurative drawing isn't your thing, you can still participate in this challenge using my prompts. If don't want to draw an entire character, try to distill each concept to a symbolic image or a single prop.

For example, if it's a warrior goddess you could simply draw a sword, or if it's a weather goddess, a cloud with lightning bolts. Be creative and have fun with it.

My mother took up the challenge last year and, since she's not a visual artist but a dancer, she choreographed a 5-minute dance for each goddess prompt. Aphrodite inspired a romantic, soft, flowing dance honoring love, beauty and grace.

Oya, the Yoruba weather spirit, inspired a desert rain dance, honoring the primordial powers of thunder, wind, rain and lightning, drenching the earth and prompting growth and renewal.

Artistic License

I would love to see a tattoo artist designing a different tattoo for every Pinktober prompt, creating beautiful designs inspired by badass goddesses from around the world. Or a makeup artist creating a beautiful look in vibrant colors based on each prompt.

Come to think of it, even though it's ostensibly an artist challenge, you don't need to be an artist or even a performer to participate. It would be fun to research the perfect song to go with each goddess.

If you love to cook, investigate the culinary traditions of the nation of origin for each of the prompts and come up with an incredible dish inspired by the goddess of the day. The possibilities are endless.

If you’re interested in doing the challenge, but not inspired by badass goddesses, you can check out my podcast partner Alison’s AHAtober challenge.

Here’s a detailed list of the prompts for Pinktober 2025:

1. Kali – Hindu destroyer and liberator

2. Morrígan – Irish battle crow

3. Coatlicue – Aztec mother of gods

4. Izanami – Japanese queen of the dead

5. Baba Yaga – Slavic forest witch

6. Hecate – Greek triple goddess of magic

7. Ala – Igbo earth and morality goddess

8. Rangda – Balinese demon queen

9. Papatuanuku – Māori earth mother

10. Nemain – Irish battlefield spirit

11. Tlazolteotl – Aztec purifier of sins

12. Chamunda – Hindu skeletal war goddess

13. Skadi – Norse winter huntress

14. Angrboda – Norse mother of wolves

15. Ixchel – Maya moon and medicine goddess

16. Erzulie Dantor – Haitian Vodou protector

17. Nu Wa – Chinese creator goddess

18. Anahita – Persian river goddess

19. Chinnamasta – Hindu self-decapitating paradox goddess

20. Nana Buluku – Fon primordial mother

21. Aine – Irish summer/sovereignty goddess

22. Manananggal – Philippine flying night demon

23. Lilith – Mesopotamian night wind demon

24. Pombagira – Brazilian spirit of love and crossroads

25. Iara – Amazonian river siren

26. Nüba – Chinese drought demoness

27. Itzpapalotl – Aztec “Obsidian Butterfly”

28. Taraka – Hindu demoness of chaos

29. La Llorona – Mexican weeping ghost mother

30. Pomaremea – Tahitian goddess of black pearls and ocean storms

31. Menhit – Egyptian goddess of war and protection

Whatever you decide to do, leave me a comment and let me lnow how you’re channeling the energies of this collection of badass goddesses in Pinktober. And if you do create beautiful artworks, be sure to post them on Instagram using the hashtags below.

#Inktober
#Pinktober
#Inktober2025
#Pinktober2025

I’ll be posting a roundup of my daily drawings here every Saturday throughout the month of October along with the stories of the goddesses that inspired them. So I’ve got some research ahead of me as well as a daily drawing challenge…

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week!