Adept at charcoal, tempera, and watercolors, Lin was hailed as a "young painter of genius" by the newspapers of the time.
他變成了木炭、粉彩、水彩畫像的行腳畫家，還被當時的報紙稱為極富霸氣的「天才少年畫家」、「畫界的麒麟兒」。這些繪畫的潛能與經驗，幫助了他日後拍攝人像時的修養與認知。