Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking art skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.

October's here, and we decided to run our own version of the challenge.

31 Days - 31 Maps!

Maptober Rules

1) Make a map in Inkarnate according to the theme of the daily prompt
2) Share it on social media, or our discord server in the ⁠🖼map-gallery channel with the tag EVENTS)
3) Use the hashtags #maptober and #maptober2025 for social media posts
4) Repeat!

You can do that daily, every other day, or even once a week. Just try to be consistent with it. Maptober is a challenge for improving your Inkarnate skills.
 
We are looking forward to seeing your maps!

Also, here's the schedule for Inkarnate streams this October. 🎥

Today Friday, November 8th, at 3 pm PST we will be doing our "Creating an Epic World Part 3" stream on Twitch.

In today's stream, we will continue adding mountain ranges via the tectonic plate method. We will be adding more cliffs and we will be showing users how to use the edgy brush when adding textures. Come join us!

After the stream, it will be uploaded to our YouTube channel. 

If you're part of our Discord server don't forget to add yourself to the attendance list.
 

Ready to create your own world map from scratch? Join Philipp on our Discord server as he hosts a brand-new workshop series focused on world-building! In these sessions, you’ll learn step-by-step techniques to design an intricate world map using our Fantasy World style. Whether you're just starting or looking to refine your map-making skills, this is for you!

Workshops Overview:

• Continent shape
• Defining mountain ranges & tectonic plates
• Adding islands
• Defining biomes with wind and water flow
• Adding mountains
• Adding forests
• Details
• Brushing
• Finishing touches & filters

(Depending on how far we come)

This series is designed for all skill levels and will be hands-on, letting you create alongside Philipp. We'll be using our Fantasy World style, but the same process can be applied with our Parchment World style, so feel free to use either!

You’re welcome to actively participate in the map creation process or simply watch and enjoy the process.

Dates & Details:

The first two workshops are planned, with more to come based on interest.

• Workshop 1: Wed, Nov 6th, 3 PM CST (UTC-6) – Approx. 2-3 hours
• Workshop 2: Wed, Nov 13th, 3 PM CST (UTC-6) – Approx. 2-3 hours

Both workshops will be hosted live on our Discord server. 

Make sure to join us for this interactive and creative journey!

PS: Want to get a taste of Philipp’s work? Check out these sample maps to see the kind of creations you’ll be making together.

We’re excited to bring you some major updates, including new ways to showcase achievements and opportunities for early access. These changes are designed to reward our most active users and offer even more ways to get involved in shaping the future of Inkarnate.

Introducing Achievements and Badges!

We’re rolling out a new badges feature that highlights special achievements on your profile. We're launching the following achievements / badges now:

• Champions: For our top users who help shape Inkarnate.
• Explorers: For those participating in early access testing and feedback.
• Contest Winner: Awarded to users who win our map-making contests.
• Featured: Given to users with a map featured on our explore page.

We will be adding even more exciting achievements and badges in the future, so stay tuned for more!

Join the Inkarnate Explorers!

Many of you have asked for early access to new features and art—now’s your chance! We’re forming the Explorers group, a team of active users who will gain early access to new tools, features, and art, and provide valuable feedback in exclusive Explorers channels on our Discord.

Explorers will be selected for each season. There will be 4 seasons per year:

• Winter: Dec 1
• Spring: Mar 1
• Summer: Jun 1
• Fall: Sep 1 (this starts today)

At the beginning of each season we will select the new members based on activity.

As an Explorer:

• Get early access to new features and art
• Receive a badge on your profile
• Provide feedback that helps shape features and art before public release

We’re looking for users who are active in the community, regularly publish their work on their Inkarnate profile, and are engaged with the community on Discord. You should be open to exploring all the styles and features Inkarnate offers.

How to Apply?

Fill out this form: https://forms.gle/tZh6o2kNXnfH6QJZ7

Introducing Champions!

The existing Early Access group is evolving—meet the Champions, a handpicked selection of the most skilled and active Inkarnate users. Champions are chosen based on their exceptional contributions to the community and their ability to help shape Inkarnate’s future. Like the Explorers, Champions will follow a 4-season system.

Selection criteria for Champions:

• Exceptional map quality: Creating and publishing maps of the highest level of quality.
• Community involvement: Staying active on platforms like Discord, Reddit, or social media.
• Professionalism: Maintaining a positive and constructive attitude in all interactions.

Champions will also receive alpha access to in-development features and art, allowing them to be part of the creative process early on.

To help Champions give back to the wider community, we’ll host events like live streams and interviews, where everyone can engage with Champions, learn from them, and connect more closely—helping everyone to level up their skills.

v1.41.0

We've released some new features, and quality-of-life improvements!

New Features

• Unsubscribe Feedback Survey: We've introduced a voluntary survey to collect feedback from users who choose to unsubscribe. These insights will help us continue improving the platform and enhancing your experience
• Added new [stroke] and [cap] meta to automatically create stroke assets on upload. Both filenames need to be the same, otherwise the assets will not link correctly (e.g., my_stroke[stroke].png and my_stroke[cap].png)

Bug Fixes

• Fixed pasting into text tool not working
• Fixed pasting to minimize the select tool
• Fixed bulk editing in the Art Manager to uncheck „Hide in Catalog“ for assets linked to stroke assets
• Fixed being able to click outside the asset upload modal which caused the modal to close

Jake Parker created Inktober in 2009 as a challenge to improve his inking art skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.

October's here, and we decided to run our own version of the challenge.

31 Days - 31 Maps!

Maptober Rules

1) Make a map in Inkarnate according to the theme of the daily prompt
2) Share it on social media, or our discord server in the ⁠🖼map-gallery channel with the tag EVENTS)
3) Use the hashtags #maptober and #maptober2024 for social media posts
4) Repeat!

You can do that daily, every other day, or even once a week. Just try to be consistent with it. Maptober is a challenge for improving your Inkarnate skills.
 
We are looking forward to seeing your maps!

Also, here's the schedule for Inkarnate streams this October. 🎥

We’re thrilled to unveil our newly updated Inkarnate Discord server, designed to supercharge your creative experience and bring a fun, fresh and welcoming atmosphere to your favorite map-making community!

This revamp not only introduces a host of exciting Discord Community features, but also brings a fresh focus on fostering a warm and welcoming space. We’re making sure that everyone, from mapmaking veterans to first-time creators, feels right at home. We’ve structured the server to be both engaging and easy to navigate, with a more playful and supportive vibe at its core. From enhanced channels to interactive polls and events, we aim to create an atmosphere that’s as dynamic and collaborative as your imagination.

We’ve poured our hearts into creating a space that’s not just about mapping, but about building connections and having fun.

Don’t miss out—join the conversation and become part of the adventure today!

Join our Discord

We're currently working on some big improvements to our catalog system to make finding and using assets easier and smoother. During this time, you may notice a few temporary disruptions, but hang tight—great things are on the way!

To make the wait a bit sweeter, we've just released some new aquatic assets! 🦀 These have been added to the existing "Sea: Ocean & Life" pack (formerly Water pack) in the Fantasy Battlemaps style.

Dive in and explore the new art while we continue to refine your experience.

New Stamps

Thank you for your patience and support!

v1.40.0

We've released some exciting new features, fixes, and quality-of-life improvements!

New Features

• Flip text and groups.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed stamp preview not showing when accessing the catalog via the F hotkey.
• Fixed global layer shadow resetting after reloading a scene.
• Fixed exiting the active group when double-clicking an object in the object list.
• Fixed bulk editing in Art Manager changing custom object shadows.
• Fixed stroke assets using the wrong cap. Selecting a stroke with no cap from “Recently Used” applied the cap from a later stroke.
• Stamps now use the correct default shadow settings (based on their style, not the scene’s style).
• Removed delay when Ctrl-selecting assets in Art Manager.
• Fixed stroke assets being expandable in the catalog.

Adventurers and map makers, we have some fantastic news!

Upon popular request from our amazing community, we're thrilled to announce that all of our holiday art — Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day — is now available permanently!

No more waiting for the right time of year. Whether you want to create a spooky Halloween dungeon, a festive winter wonderland, or a romantic Valentine's Day retreat, you can now access these stamps any time you want.

We can’t wait to see the incredible maps you’ll create with this expanded collection.

Thank you for your continued support and creativity!