I try to do a couple of birds a week (obviously don't post them all). This is based on an on-line photo reference drawn with a "soft" Palomino Blackwing pencil and a 4B Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth Progress woodless pencil. Hence the dark velvety black.
For the past two months ive been participating on the #drawthisinyourstyle challege at instagram. Here are some of the ones i made. Many more on my instagram account @mjdaluz_illustration
Due to financial/logistical reasons, I can't do literal linocuts as often as I'd like, so I draw my illustrations in reverse, flip them digitally, have them printed, and then color them in by hand. The result is basically an "artist's print". I only make one of each. These were watercolor, but I've recently discovered gouache, so keep an eye out for future pieces that incorporate that.
Watercolor and India Ink on Yupo paper. If there is any single way to let go of detail and think simply, it is by using watercolor on Yupo paper. You basically have to surrender control and just see what happens.