PICTURE BOOK DESIGN: TRIAL ART, PART 5

The last step for this piece of trial art---adding the color.  I used Winsor & Newton watercolors for this. After working on the color for a while, I decided I needed to add more pen & ink texture and pattern.  But how much, and where?  India ink can't be erased!

I did what I often do---I laid a piece of clear film over the art and did some quick pen work---some on the grass in the upper piece of film, some on the figures in the slower piece.

When I laid the inked piece of film over the art, I could see how the additional pen-work might look.  Did it need work on just the grass and background?

Or---laying down both pieces of film over the art---on the figures as well?

 As a result of this check, I decided to add pen & ink texture to figures, grass, and tree---to everything, in fact.  I worked more on the color as well.

 More texture, more color...

 Finally---a finished piece of trial art.  And by the time I completed the piece, I wasn't sure I liked this style for my project after all.  Better to find this out by doing a trial piece, rather than discovering it when I'm half-way through the actual finished art!