If you follow my work on instagram, you might have noticed multiple drawings with swift black ink strokes recently. When I was in Japan a few years ago, I bought Japanese paintbrushes but I didn’t use them a lot until recently. I really like the effect these brushes give me when I use them with black ink, although they’re actually watercolor brushes. I used a brush and ink for the hairstyles in the picture below while I used a fineliner for the thin lines.

The rough strokes give a playful effect and can add the suggestion of movement to the illustrations. Also I like the contrast between the strong opaque black and lighter pastel colors, like the pink and blue shoes in the drawing below.


Love,
Anna