mental note

I'm going through the stores of other artists on Etsy to find a solution to my art block about backgrounds, I had a thought; miscellaneous doodles either all in one solid marker color with a plain white background or some parts filled in.

   I really like this background by Chole Lee

It reminds me of an illustration I did last October

I'm so drawn to the simplicity of a stylized ink drawing.

I guess another solution to my problem would be to create a faux frame like many artists on Etsy do when painting solo portraits, it feels like a cheap escape but the option is always there.

Once again I could utilize my colored pencils for a change and stitch some gradients together. I only know of one artist who does this successfully and she's very skilled. I'd have to practice a bit to get the hang of it. 

Normally I don't like colored pencils because (at least the cheap ones i have) color doesn't stand up very well compared to all my other medias, but as a background I can see myself settling with it.