Little traveler - personal piece, need feedback :-)

Rachel Horne

@xin-li thank you I've been loving your instagram pencil sketches. It's important to get some art in, even if it's just a small amount. It's definitely a strange time and even though it's great to spend some time with family, it's a little bittersweet too but art will see us through, I'm sure. xx

MelissaJacie

@xin-li Look forward to seeing where you take this idea! Love the sweetness in it. Please do keep us updated on your progress!

xin li

@MelissaJacie I can not decide which media to use.
I made a quick ink wash test on my sketch book. I like the texture and the feel of the environment, but I never know what to do with the character when painting with inkwash. If I go with ink, I have to figure out how to paint the main characters somehow

eriberart

I love the energy that your ink washes have! You should check out Becky Cameron's work. She combines ink, watercolour, pencil texture and photoshop I think. I've always loved how she does her characters. She has more great stuff on her instagram

xin li

@eriberart I love becky Cameron's work. thanks for the tip.

burvantill

@xin-li i think that you could get away with really simplifying the shape of the characters. I just did a search and found Jon Klassen on Pinterest. I found a couple of ink wash illustrations that were simple but still conveyed the story.
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xin li

@burvantill yeah. Jon Klassen and Benji davis are good reference. I think I need to work a lot with getting good silhouttes. I love Becky Cameron's work. But I do not have a very graceful lines. My art look better without visible line work currently. I also like to work without much lines around the main characters at this moment. So I will be working more with shapes, silhouttes, and patterns. This came out this afternoon. I wonder if I can draw the little traveller in this style. ----

burvantill

@xin-li Nice. Loose but still has detail.

MelissaJacie

@xin-li Thanks so much for sharing this!! Nice work on the environment! On the character--maybe use inspiration from your digital work--create a character for the scene digitally and then use it as a sort of reference photo for your inkwash?

xin li

@MelissaJacie thank you for the feedback. Yes. I plan to trace the character I did digitally into a piece of watercolor paper and paint traditionally.