Linework
I flipped through my sketchbooks with the thoughts "people, joy, warmth" in mind, and chose examples of reference drawings. These are mostly fairly rough scans, not prepared for print. I've also included some linework examples I've done for clients.
I've sorted them by the tool I used to draw. For ease of comparison, I've made them all greyscale, although, in reality, my watercolor drawings are usually in a single color. You can click on examples to see them bigger, or use arrows keys to toggle through each gallery.
I hope you find these samples helpful!
My favorite line drawing tool is a soft pencil. Drawings range from slightly sketchy to very clean. Mistakes are somewhat visible because soft pencil doesn't erase cleanly, especially when you are a heavy-handed drawer like me! I can also Photoshop those erasing traces away, if you prefer.
I also frequently draw in watercolor. Like the pencil drawings, these are usually freehand, so mistakes and imperfections are visible. If there are too many mistakes, I simply start over from scratch, which means it's a poor choice for *very* complex illustrations.
Sometimes I draw in pen. These often have underdrawings, which is where I work out any mistakes or imperfections. I can leave the underdrawings visible as more or less faint sketchy lines, or make them invisible, depending on what color I use for the underdrawing and how I scan the image.
Sometimes I draw with a stick. These always have a sketchy look to them. I can draw freehand, like I do with pencil or watercolor, or work out the composition using an underdrawing, like in pen.
Pencil
Watercolor
Pen
Stick
I can share many more examples of these, if you don't mind most of them being kids or horses.
