A Picture Book of Practice Sketches (Keiko ehon)
A Picture Book of Practice Sketches (Keiko ehon) is a Japanese illustrated instruction book by Rinsai Ōkubo, active in the nineteenth century, dated 1810, made for beginning artists and apprentices to copy. The pages show loosely drawn figures of children and adults in everyday poses, painted in ink and light colour on paper. A designer could take from them the economical brush outline, the flat washes of grey and indigo on patterned robes, and the open, unfussy placement of figures on blank ground.
