When I make a new cane – one that I haven’t done so often my fingers remember by themselves – I tend to draw a sketch first. I mark where the lines will go and which direction the shading will be. Sometimes I even colour it in. And occasionally I scan it in and then shrink or enlarge it to the size I will cane it at so that I can have a more accurate idea of how to build the design. I know I’m not the only one who maps their canes this way. Meg Newberg approaches making picture canes in a similar method here.
The simple designs are the best way to go about picture caning. If you only have to do block colours, that makes things much simpler. I may have to give the penguin a try from her chart. I’ve also found that cleaned up colouring book pages are great for cane plans. And, given how popular the adult ones have been the last few years, there’s lots of variety around.