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

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