Virus!

Hi!

Here's a page with a virus! I made it by adding a thin coat of acrylic gesso followed by layers of airbrushed transparent colors.  The line work was added using acrylic paint markers followed by some more transparent colors.

Big New Sketchbook, page 48. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing and have a great day!

-Steve

Cut Paper Collage, Writing & Spiral

Hi.
Here are a couple of pages from my current sketchbook.

Big New Sketchbook, pages 46 & 47. Steve Franklin, 2016.

On the left, I cut out black construction paper shapes to arrange, rearrange and glue down on the page. Sometimes the figures and the empty spaces reverse roles.  I always consider the empty (negative) space when composing.  Both the figures and the ground is of equal importance.

On the right, I sprayed a simple spiral design over a paged that I had filled with writing. I used an airbrush with transparent acrylic paint (Golden High Flow mixed with Transparent Airbrush Extender).

Hope you enjoy the page, and I hope it inspires you to do your own collages in your sketchbook.  Sometimes a simple black on white scheme enables you to study shape to space relationship. Most of the time, overall simple shape greatly enhances your compositions no mater how complex your details are.

Thanks for viewing and have a great day!

-Steve

Forms and Noses

Hi.
Here are a couple of pages. On the left, I used acrylic paint to demonstrate simple forms.  For the bubble, I mixed clear acrylic with white. On the right, I covered up a page of demonstration noses using airbrush.  The airbrush needed cleaning, so after using it, I had to break it down to scrub it.

Big New Sketchbook, pages 44 and 45. Steve Franklin, 2016.

Thanks for viewing!

-Steve

Twirls and eyes

Hey,
It's been awhile since my last post. I took a break.

New Sketchbook pages 42 &43. Steve Franklin, 2016.

Here are a couple of pages.  On the left, I simply doodled some twirls to fill the page.  The page on the right consists of eyes on a demonstration page that I completed by adding color.  On the blue eye, I collaged a bit of handmade paper I found in a box. Hope you like it.
Thanks for viewing.
-Steve

What the hell is it?

Hi.
I mashed some foamy clay (Model Magic) into a simple organic form, took a picture with my phone then mashed the clay again.  Here are some sketches from the pics on my phone.

Big New Sketchbook, page 37. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Big New Sketchbook, page 39. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Big New Sketchbook, page 41. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing, and have a great day!

-Steve Franklin

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I just write.
It may be nonsense.  That's okay.  Just so long as something flows from me.

Big New Sketchbook, page 34. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Big New Sketchbook, page 36. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Are You Trolling Me?

This is a silly page. Yes, I like to do humorous pages now and again.

This is in reference to a speaker at an event who was asked questions repeatedly by a student, got flustered and asked, "Are you trolling me?" After the event, everyone was asking each other, "Are you trolling me?" all day long and laughing. Trolling means acting like a troll.

How did I do this page? Well, I did the line work with a fountain pen followed by airbrushing acrylic colors, brushing some thin acrylic colors followed by a thin coat of acrylic gloss to seal the page:

Airbrush colors: Golden High Flow Acrylics mixed with Golden Airbrush Transparent Extender
Brushed colors: Golden Liquid Acrylics mixed with Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid
Are you trolling me? : Molotow acrylic paint marker
Topcoat: Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid followed by beeswax so the pages don't stick together

Are You Trolling Me? Big New Sketchbook, page 33. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Hope you enjoy this page.

Have a great day!

-Steve

Messing With Color

Hi.
Here I'm just messing around with cheap acrylic paints.

Basically, this is what I call a "quick fill page".  I like to fill all my sketchbook pages, so some days, I go back to the blank pages in my sketchbook and quickly fill them up with something.  Or some days, I go back to pages that somehow look incomplete, and I'll just touch them up enough to look complete.  Sometimes this means just applying a fancy border to a page.  Other times, this involves completely transforming a bland page into something beautiful. I just have a need to make my sketchbooks worth looking at from beginning to end.

Well, this is just a quick fill page, so I just started with a thin coat of acrylic gesso followed by some quick sketching with a color loaded brush.  In this instance, like when I start many paintings, I used a big brush.  When I paint, I always have a dampened cloth and a bowl of water ready.  I tell my students that to paint, one must always be aware of what is on the brush.

Anyway, here it is:

Big New Sketchbook, page 32. Acrylic. Steve Franklin, 2016.

As you can see, I like messing around with color.

Thanks for viewing, and have a wonderful day!

-Steve

No. 2 Pencil Portrait

I made an example of a No. 2 Pencil portrait in my sketchbook. I started by sketching someone with pencil then began filling it with pencils, conforming them to the shape of the face. Some pencils were really distorted and abstracted.

Next, I colored using watercolors followed by outlining with different micron pens.  I sealed the page with a thin coat of gloss acrylic.

Carla Warla, Big New Sketchbook, page 31, watercolor and pen. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing and have a great day!

-Steve

Strange Finger Thingy

Hey!

Here's a weird, spur-of-the-moment abstraction. How did I do it?
Well, I started with a thin layer of gesso followed line work with a black Molotow acrylic paint marker then transparent layers of airbrush colors, mixing Golden High Flow colors with Golden Transparent Extender.  I completed it with the line work using the black then white acrylic marker.

Thanks for viewing, and have a wonderful day!

-Steve

Big New Sketchbook page 28, Steve Franklin, 2015.

Construction Paper Collage

Well, what can I say.

I like making simple cut paper collage. Sometimes I limit myself to certain proportions of each color then force myself to use every bit of each color.  It helps me to focus on relationships between simple shapes and other shapes, the ever changing empty spaces newly created while arranging and rearranging (figure to ground relationship), each color, and just composition in general.

The other fun thing I like to do is interpret shapes. I see the following: a worm or a razor blade, a one-toothed witch, a bird perched on a branch, the side view of a horse's head, etc.

Mostly, making a simple collage just helps to relax me and relieve stress.  When my arrangement is complete, I just take a photo of it with my phone to use as a reference when I glue each piece down with regular school glue (Elmer's).

Big New Sketchbook, page 26. Collage. Steve Franklin, 2016.

Thanks for viewing, and have a wonderful evening!

-Steve

Me Again

Hi.
Here I started with the purple background then started a self portrait with airbrush.  I quickly realized that I needed to clean the airbrush, and the portrait was not coming out as planned.  Since I certainly not up to the task of breaking down then cleaning my airbrush, I decided to try out the Molotow acrylic paint markers to finish the portrait. It worked out okay.

I have the Molotow marker colors in the 2mm size: signal black, traffic red, currant, cool gray pastel, true blue, signal white, hazelnut brown, neon pink, grasshopper, zinc yellow, [ocher] brown light, shock blue middle, DARE orange, neon yellow fluorescent, and KA077 green. I ordered some, but most I bought each day at Michael's art store using a 50% off coupon (nowadays, I can only get 40% off coupons.) I was waiting until I collected a bunch to use them.  I would say that the most useful color I have is the signal white one.  If you can't afford to collect a big set, then I recommend you just get the white one.  I did find that once you lay these down, you should brush over them with a thin coat of clear acrylic because they partly rub off.  Perhaps after drying overnight they form a better bond, but I usually like to play it on the safe side and add the clear coat on top.  I believe your art should be as permanent as you can make it--within reason.

Me. Acrylic on paper, Big New Sketchbook, Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing!

-Steve

Cleopatra, my dog

Hello.
I've been working towards my goal to complete a painting per week.  The last painting that I completed yesterday gave me a hard time.  I had to take several breaks, and finally completed it Sunday eventing. By the time I was finished, I thought: Finally, I can get the struggle is over and out of my life. Now I can move on to something new.

Today, after work, I just feel so tired.  My next panel is primed and ready to start the next image.  I'm disappointed with myself because my body is sore all over, and I don't have the energy to start just yet. Hopefully, I'll be able to start something before the evening is over.

In the meantime, here's a portrait I did of Cleopatra, my dog.

Cleopatra. Big New Sketchbook, page 22. Acrylic. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Starting with a thin coat of gesso then airbrushing the phthalo blue and quinacridone magenta (Golden High Flow Acrylics) for the purple background.  Next, I blocked in most of the image using gesso with a flat 1 inch wide brush. Next, using liquid acrylics, I layered the colors with round and filbert brushes.  All this was sealed with a thin coat of acrylic gloss using a small fan brush. Note: when doing glossy acrylic pages in your sketchbook, you must consider one important thing: the opposing page should not be glossy, or the pages might stick together.  To solve this, I either sketch with pencil or watercolor on the opposite page, or use matte medium followed by a layer of beeswax on the surface of the page to avoid having to peel the pages apart.

Thanks for viewing and have a great evening!

-Steve

Consumption?

Hi.

I don't know why, but I guess at the time I was thinking about consumption while I was doing this page. It seems I was using watercolor, ink pen, acrylic markers,  and a white Gelly Roll pen to complete this page. For some reason, this reminds me that the other day, while using pen and ink and decided to try this: I made different bold watercolor washes and dipped the pen nib into them to see if it works--and it does! I thought: "Now, why didn't I think of that before?"

Thanks for viewing, and have a wonderful day!

Steve

New Big Sketchbook, page 18. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Random Nose Page

Hi.

Here is a page filled with noses, drawn from direct observation. There are so many noses out there. Have you ever thought of filling a page with just noses?  I've seen my share of pages filled with eyes and lips before.  These are all sketched with a mechanical pencil.  I usually prefer to sketch with either a colored pencil, or a drawing pencil, but at the time, I wanted to just use a mechanical pencil.  It's a 9mm lead pencil.  I prefer to use the 09mm, if I'm going to sketch, because I tend to break the 05's.

i

Big New Sketchbook, page 17. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing. I appreciate you.
-Steve

Glazing Color Squares

Hello.  I've been working on paintings lately, and it takes up a lot of my spare time.  In fact, painting takes up most of my spare time.  Here's a page that show my love for color.  In the past, I've done paintings of just squares of color.  Whenever I have a color squares painting on the wall in front of my bed, or a comfortable couch, I can spend time relaxing, just viewing the different squares of color and the relationship between each.

How did I make this page? After adding a thin coat of acrylic gesso to the page, I began the structure with a square stamp which I filled the page with its marks using a red ink pad.  Next, I simply made colored glazes by mixing Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid with drops of Golden Liquid Acrylic. I make just enough of each glaze to fill a square or two.  Some of the squares are glazed once with a single color. Others are glazed with two or three layers of different colors.  I always enjoy this.  Try it yourself. It's easer to make a glaze with a transparent color.  Most artist colors show the transparency rating on the bottle, or you can research this online. Did you know that there is a transparent white? Well, compared with titanium white, zinc white is transparent.  I did not use zinc white on this page, though.  I usually like to use zinc white when doing portraits. What's your favorite color?

Big New Sketchbook, page 16. Steve Franklin, 2015

I hope you enjoyed this page.  Thanks for viewing, and take care!

-Steve

Self Portrait & Observational Sketches

Hi.

Here are pages 14 & 15 of my current sketchbook. On the left, I began a self portrait, which somehow makes me look 25 years older--oh well.  How did I do it? Well, I started with a thin coat of gesso on the page followed by the violet mixture of fluid acrylic followed by a light coat of matte medium. I then used gesso with a flat brush to do the portrait, adding layers of color using fluid acrylics, a thin coat of gloss acrylic to complete. I had initially planned to do more layers, but never returned to the page.

On the right are just observational sketches of people with some light watercolor washes and pen.

Big New Sketchbook, pages 14 & 15. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing.

_Steve

Doodles

Hey,
Here are a couple of doodle pages.

Big New Sketchbook, pages 12 & 13. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Somedays, I go back and add borders and touchups to make an earlier page look more complete.  This is what I did to page 12.  I used a stamp to make the little box shapes on the border. I also add some pen detail using my fountain pen (Noodler's Ahab), and watercolor washes.  Page 13 was a pen doodle with ink pencil and watercolor washes.

Have a great day!

-Steve

Pure Contour and Color

Hi.
I'm resting from a long week of work.  Ugh!
Here are pages from my latest book.
These are pure contour drawings (single line; don't look at the paper). I added watercolor washes to add color. On page 7, I marbled the page by using the shaving cream and watercolor technique. What's that, you say? You spray cheap foamy shaving cream onto a table and smooth out the surface with a big piece of mat board or cardboard so it's flat, drip different colors of watercolor from a brush, twirl the colored drops around in the shaving cream with the handle of the brush, place the paper face down onto the image, lift it off the shaving cream then scrape it off with the cardboard then allow to dry (or use a hair dryer).
I used handmade stamps for the boarders of the pages. On the marbled page, I used brush strokes of watercolor.

Big New Sketchbook, pages 6 & 7. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Big New Sketchbook, pages 8 & 9. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing.

Take care.

-Steve

Latest Sketchbook

Hello.
Here are some pages from my current sketchbook. How did I make the pattern on the left? Simply using a compass, I drew a circle, added a mark on the edge of the circle then placed the point on that mark and drew another circle then placed the point wherever the last circle crossed the first circle, and so on.  Making patterns can be therapeutic.

Big New Sketchbook pages 2 & 3, Steve Franklin, 2015 & 2016.

Big New Sketchbook pages 4 & 5, Steve Franklin, 2015.

On the above pages, I'm just doodling and jotting down thoughts.  I like to play around with color on doodles, considering composition once I have enough doodling helps.  I used Derwent Intense blocks and watercolors.

Thanks for Viewing!

-Steve

Silent Viewer

Hello, dear silent viewer!
Here's another portrait of my dog Cleopatra. I wonder if it's just a machine viewing my blog.  No one comments. Oh well, I will persist.  I glued newspaper text onto the page then sketched my dog.  The white is gesso. Thanks for viewing.

Big Old Sketchbook, page 151. Steve Franklin 2014.

I appreciate you.

-Steve Franklin

Sleeping Dog Dreams

Here are some more old pages. I'm trying to catch up with myself. My goal is to show old sketchbook pages and get up to date where I will post pages as I make them.  The only problem is that I keep filling up journal pages.  I really want to share.

Below are sketches of my Great Pyrenees dog "Cleopatra" sleeping and an abstract design with letters and shapes.

Big Old Sketchbook, pages 135 &136, Steve Franklin, 2014.

Big Old Sketchbook page 150. Steve Franklin, 2014.

Above is a sort of landscape looking abstract design using a pen.  I love to scribble abstract designs. It's really therapeutic to do.

Thanks for viewing.

-Steve

Doodles and Watercolor Pages

Hey,

Here are four more sketchbook pages.  I sketched people at a table during a conference.  I used watercolors.

Big Old Sketchbook pages 131 & 132, Steve Franklin, 2014.

Big Old Sketchbook, pages 129 & 130. Steve Franklin, 2014

Here is a page of doodles using pen & ink, abstract designs for the sake of exploring color, a made up ancient alphabet and other doodles.

Thanks for viewing.

-Steve

Observational Sketches

Hi.
Here are observational sketches of people in art class. I like to draw with a light brown colored pencil when I am sketching people much better than using a pencil.  I think this is because I can't really erase with colored pencil. Then I add color.  Sometimes, I color with colored pencils, but I prefer to use a paintbrush.  The page on the right is colored with Derwent Inktense pencils.  I like the colors available in these pencil sets, plus all I have to do is use a wet brush to create a watercolor effect.  The difference is that ink is supposed to be permanent and shouldn't lift if rewetting is necessary for layered washes.

Big Old Sketchbook, pages 101 & 102, Steve Franklin, 2014.

Big Old Sketchbook, pages 107 & 108, Steve Franklin, 2014.

In the above pages, I did blind contour, also known as pure contour portraits then colored them using Intense and watercolors.  Pure contour drawing occurs when you use a single long line without looking at the paper.  They are really fun to do in a sketchbook.
Yay!
Take care,
-Steve

I've Been Painting

Hello,

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile.  I've been painting.

From inside the painting booth.  Steve Franklin, 2016.

Here is a view inside the spray booth that I made with PVC pipe and large 4mil plastic sheeting.  I ended up making a small bench with two lower shelves to fit in the booth.  I can place a small easel (that I built) onto the table.  There's not much space for much of anything else, but next to this is a taboret. By the time I had a couple of layers of varnish on the tabletop, it looked so good, I covered it with plastic sheeting to protect it. I've been making the panels using ripped 2X4 frame onto which I glue and nail an oversized sheet of hardboard. I used a jigsaw to cut the hardboard, so the cut is rough.  Once the glue is dry, I use a small trim router with a straight bearing bit, which rubs against the wooden frame to cut it flush with the edge of the frame.  Then I putty, sand and put three coats of gesso on the board, lightly sanding between coats. Onto the face, I then brush a coat of Golden Absorbent Ground.  This makes it receptive to ballpoint pen, pencil, watercolors, and High Flow acrylics.  Making the panels is pretty cheap, because I can get a 4 x 8 foot sheet of hardboard for a little more than eight dollars, It takes less than one 2x4 to make each panel.

Once I finish working in the pen work and staining (not unlike watercolor technique). I have to seal the image.  I use my airbrush for this. I mix Golden Airbrush Extender with Golden GAC 500 to use as the sealing layer to spray using airbrush.  This is when I close the booth and dawn a mask.  When I'm done, I turn on a box fan that I put in the window to blow out the foggy mist.  Once dry, I can brush a thin coat of gloss acrylic.  Finally, using a large pallet knife, I apply a thick coat of Golden Heavy Gel Medium.  At this point, the image is lost in the thick milky coat of gel which takes about three days to clear.

Since this blog is more about my sketchbook, I don't think I will put up photos of my paintings.  I'm waiting to accumulate enough new work for an art exhibit before I show them.  I'm working on a series, so I've been spending much of my free time building panels, sanding, puttying, priming, drawing, painting, spraying, etc.

I have been filling up another sketchbook.  I just need to take photos of the journal pages.

Anyway,

That's what I've been up to--working on a series of paintings.  I've only completed three paintings, the first of which I need to rework.  This is the fourth one.

Take care of yourself,

-Steve

Crazy Pen & Ink Page

Hi.
Here's a pen & ink page from my Big Old sketchbook.  I spent some time adding plenty of marks before completing this page back in 2014.

Big Old Sketchbook page 100. Pen & Ink. Steve Franklin, 2014

I find marking patterns can be very therapeutic. It's just some strange form I made up.  Thanks for viewing.

-Steve

Snapshot sketches

Hello.
On this page I used a stamp of the shape of a polaroid picture and filled each with a sketch. It's fun to fill each with a sketch.  On the top, left, I drew my "Angel Bunny" Cleopatra. She's a Great Pyrenees.

Old Zeta page 17, Steve Franklin, 2014.

Below the sketches are stamps I carved out of "Easy Cut" normally used (the rubbery white stuff) for relief printmaking.

Forms

Hi again!
Here's a page in my old Zeta sketchbook where I painted forms. I used really cheap craft acrylic paint.

Forms, Old Zeta Sketchbook page 9, Acrylic. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Thanks for viewing.

-Steve

Hand

Hi.
Here's a sketch I did of my hand. I used drawing pencils. Thanks for viewing.

Hand Sketch, Old Zeta Sketchbook, pencil. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Have a great day!

-Steve

Cleo: a linoleum print.

Hi.
Here's a linoleum print of my dog, Cleopatra.

"Cleo". Old Zeta Sketchbook, page 6. Linoleum proof. Steve Franklin, 2014.

-Steve

Colored Pencil: Hand Killers.

Hey.
Here's a sketchbook page with a Prismacolor colored pencil design. I don't really like to do much colored pencil work anymore, because it takes a lot of force to blend like paint.  Painting takes a much more delicate touch, using a brush.  Since I like the colored pencil marks to show vivid colors, I hold them vertically and apply great pressure to blend different layers of color.  After awhile, my hand gets sore.  I have had long painting sessions that makes my hands feel like they fall asleep (all tingly), but after a long session of using colored pencils, my hand could be sore for days afterwards.

Old Zeta Sketchbook, page 7, colored pencil, Steve Franklin, 2014.

Take care,

-Steve

Me

Inside Back Cover, Old Zeta Sketchbook, Airbrush, Steve Franklin, 2015.

Have a Great Day!

-Steve

Three Different Compositions.

Hello and welcome.
Sometimes, when applying color, I like to use a big, flat brush.  I am interested in the subtle variations created when layering transparent glazes. At the same time, to provide unity and structure, I like to emphasize simple shapes, like rectangles--like the ones in these three separate compositions on this page.

Box 3. Old Zeta Sketchbook Page 2. Steve Franklin. 2014.

Old Zeta Sketchbook pages 14 and 15. Steve Franklin, 2014.

New Zeta Sketchbook pages 14 and 16. Steve Franklin, 2015.

Well, take care for now.

Thanks.

-Steve