Sketchbook covers

Here are 3 recent home-made sketchbooks I noticed laying around my studio. Each were home-made from whatever paper I have in store and I usually fill up each one within a month. But what caught my attention today were the covers. The covers are something I don't worry much about. Sometimes I do them last. I usually try to decorate them somehow just so it would be easier for me to tell them apart. And I enjoy just trying some daring experiment on them. I don't worry about spoiling it. If I do, I found that I can always paint over it again with acrylic, or paste something over it. Thoughts like these free me to create without worry. I like creating with no pressure. It makes exploring fun. 

In July, I made stencils but cutting out photocopy paper and stamping acylic paint through them with a gelli plate. I orginally wrote the words with a ballpoint but it didn't look good. I used correction fluid to do the white lettering over.

In the first part of August, I decided I should use some gouache paint I've not used in awhile. I didn't have anything in mind to paint. So I just painted some shapes and textures. It didn't matter. Then I added some stamping. I'd not used stamps in awhile too! I find that when a composition has it's colours skewed a little warmer or cooler and also has some dark, midtone and highlight areas, it starts to shape up. So I do aim for that. Randomly throwing paint and texture on paper, hoping for a pleasing result doesn't really work (I used to do that when I was still a student!). 

In the 2nd part of August (Part 2), I was having an online meeting with a work client. I was being briefed on an illustration in which I had to draw robots. We were discussing possible looks for the illustration and I drew/painted this robot on my sketchbook cover during the meeting. I was using the Artxx markers I reviewed some time back, together with a little bit of white chalk. Have you ever tried doodling or drawing while speaking on the phone? It's a great way to take the pressure off drawing because I find that when my logical mind is locked in a conversation, my visual senses seem to go off to play. Here I show you the original drawing on my sketchbook cover, and the drawing after minor edits in Photoshop.