Help with border, color, anything!

[demotlj]

I’m trying to do some line and wash in the style of E.H. Shepherd (Winnie the Pooh) and am not sure about the colors or the best way to frame it.

1. I wanted old fashioned colors and something that would let the ink work do most of the work. Are these colors succeeding? Any suggestions?
2. When I make it a full framed picture, it looks like it needs more background but I don’t know if the vignette works either. Opinions?
3. The color Winnie the Pooh illustrations I saw were full framed whereas the vignettes were all monochrome pen and ink. Would that be a standard approach?

So many questions

[theprairiefox]

@demotlj I love inks and colors! I think you are definitely accomplishing a Winnie-the-Pooh feel.

I had a couple thoughts on the full framing. I have been doing a bunch of lino-prints and drypoints. These end up all being framed kind of like the vignette style.

First, you will want to pay close attention to the kind of paper you are using if you plan on framing the vignette. The paper will be the first 'frame' or 'mat' around the picture. So, make sure the paper fits the piece. Probably a nice slightly cream or tanned paper would look nice with this piece. But you will want to test print because any coloration in the paper will affect the colors of the print.

Second, if you plan on using the vignette make sure you bleed the edges very well so you don't get any straight edges. In your vignette above I can see the image edges and you don't want that to be the case. You may want to test print these as well.

[demotlj]

@theprairiefox I never thought of creating a vignette on anything but white paper which just shows how my brain gets stuck on wrong assumptions. I'll definitely play with that. (You are right about the edges being visible -- I did a quick and dirty vignette game to see if I even liked it.)

[theprairiefox]

@demotlj you can print it on white paper as well... but one thing I have learned it there are 100s of white papers! If you decide to stick with white I would suggest you put this piece on some paper with a nice texture. Not a smooth copier paper. It will make a big difference in the finished appearance.