Despair and Plum scroll

Sold at the Sakura-Con Art Show.

I have two sizes of pre-mounted scrolls. The bigger one, shown, is ~15″ x 41″ (38 x 105 cm) and the rice paper is ~12″ x 24″ (30 x 60 cm). That working area is already bigger than the largest size I usually work at (11″ x 17″), but the added scroll flops over the top of my drafting table, lol.

This one did not have a pre-planned sketch or concept. There was no lightbox crutch. I used actual sumi ink and Chinese watercolor. All very traditional, except I drew this dumb monster again. (I also worked at an angle; traditional is flat horizontal surface.)

I need to get better sumi brushes — the ones I have are pretty old and were poorly stored over the years, so they were frustrating to work with and kept shedding loose hairs eveyrwhere. They’re supposed to be stored point-down (that’s why they all have the loop on the back), but I don’t have a great way to do that right now.

I also don’t have a good way to photograph a scroll this big! Hopefully its new owner has more space.