
Madonna & Qilin process:
Nothing too fancy, standard thumbs to sketch to ink to digital color. I’ve been inking primarily with FW acrylic ink using cheap Chinese calligraphy brushes and a WN Series 7 No. 2 sable on Stonehenge white. I like FW ink because everything is really nice and flat, including washes. The only downside is that I think it’ll really mess up brushes if you’re not on top of it.
I don’t light table or transfer sketches anymore, just draw it straight up. For this one, I masked off the background qilin with a sheet of tracing paper to keep the halo and radiating lines clean.
The wonkiest part for me is starting inks. I always draw the ‘hardest’ part first when possible, so I get over any weird hang ups. Once it gets rolling it just feels like location drawing to me, which is what I’ve been trying to go for lately.