Here is a doodle (in Xara Xtreme) of a thing in a hat that I ran through the Woodcut filter in Corel Painter with interesting results. I like the way it interprets the gradient information. Maybe one day I’ll get to use the technique on a real job.

Actually the ‘Doodle’ technique I used is quite interesting. It is all done in the vector drawing software with no roughs. I simply draw a shape and try and make something from it. The hard part is resisting the temptation to junk the drawing when nothing is happening. I find that if I push through that pain barrier  I can surprise myself with the results and mostly nice surprises at that. I think the secret is to let go and not worry if it doesn’t work. Not something I find easy to do with commercial work so it is good to practice.