Renaldo Barnette for Maggy London

Tonight I had the pleasure of catching up with my good friend Renaldo. While chatting about life, love, our mothers and fashion, Renaldo shared the latest designs from his sketchbook with me, and let me photograph them to feature here on Fabulous Doodles.

One of Renaldo's designs for Maggy London was recently featured in a Macy's ad in the New York Times! It's so impressive to see a published design next to the illustration that created it in the middle of a sketchbook.

I just love Renaldo's sketches, and don't these newest girls seem to ooze confidence with their edgy short hair styles.

Next week I'll share some more sketches from Ren's book, but in the mean time you can check out my previous posts I wrote about him last year here and here.

Yellow Bridesmaid Dresses

Do you ever get completely consumed by searching for something that it starts to become the only thing you see? Every store I go into, every website I'm on, I'm searching for a yellow bridesmaid dress for a wedding I'm in this coming August. Its like my eyes glaze over into the green x-ray "scanner vision" that you see in thriller/spy movies zeroing in on their targets.

I've decided that maybe like in the movie Field of Dreams, "if I build it, it will come." I've drawn a few sketches of yellow dresses that I would love to find for this wedding. Something simple, loose, short, and yellow (being the brides color of choice). It's in August, so it would be great if it was strapless and a light weight material, and something that would look cute with flats or espadrilles, because its outdoors and I'll be walking in grass, so heels are out.

Clearly I have a serious case of "yellow bridesmaid dress" on the brain. But I've drawn it, and now written about it, so fingers crossed this does the trick and my dress "will come!" It's now officially out there in the universe! :)

New to my shop: Magnets

I've added three new magnets to my shop. Vogue, Carrie, and Catherine are the three illustrations I've chose to brighten up my fridge and my shop. I had them printed on smooth vinyl with a magnetic backing, so they're vibrant and super durable. Click here to see more photo's of them and purchase some for yourself.

Tuesday Tip: Denim

Back by popular demand, here is a new Tuesday Tip! A few people have asked me about how I render denim and jeans, so I've put together this little tutorial. To start you need to choose your denim color. The two colors that I use most frequently for denim are the Pantone 652-T (which I used in these examples) for lighter denim and the Copic marker in Agate B99 for dark denim.

1. Take your chosen color and fill in the garment with a solid wash.
2. With the same color, draw thin diagonal stripes. This can be with the fine tip end of the marker (this Pantone marker has 3 tips) or with a colored pencil in the same color.
3. Draw diagonal lines with a white pencil. *This is the key step to rendering denim effectively!
4. Using Cool Gray 90% pencil draw the seam lines. Then you have the option of taking a yellow/orange pencil to draw stitch lines parallel to each seam line. (This is not a must)

Something to keep in mind is that you can also add shadows and highlights within that first step. If you leave some white streaks, they will act as your highlights. And by applying a second layer of the marker to select edges and folds you can create shadows. This is exactly what I did to render the jeans shown in my "doodle" at the top of this post. For older posts with more of my illustrations of denim click here, here, or here.

I know everyone really enjoys the Tuesday Tip posts, therefore I've brought them back, however I can't promise to write one every tuesday. They are extremely time consuming so for now I'm going to shoot for one every 2 or 3 weeks. Enjoy!

New to my shop: Pocket Mirrors

I'm thrilled to share my new pocket mirrors. I'm always trying to think of products to adorn with "my girls" and expand my shop selections. If my customers are anything like me then you don't leave home without a handful of essentials, one being a mini mirror for lip gloss application, contact lens adjustment or the occasional teeth check. ;)

Each mirror is 2 1/4" and features a cropped "head shot" of my fashion illustrations. I've chosen ten of my favorite girls with varying hair colors, and fashion styles so hopefully there's one for everyone and you can chose the one that resembles you or friends the most. (As they'd make a great little gift!)

Click here to view and purchase all the new pocket mirrors available in my shop.

(All the beautiful papers used as a "backdrop" in these shots are wallpaper samples from Graham & Brown.)

Ugg Love {and Discount}

A great new website has launched that is all about my favorite boots, Uggs. As my friends can attest to, I love my Uggs! They are without a doubt the warmest and coziest option in a my closet. I have the "classic" in both chestnut and black so I can wear them with any outfit. They're also super light weight which makes them great to travel with. (I couldn't have lived without them during my vacation in Iceland last year.)

I not only outfit myself in Uggs, but "my girls" as well. Here you can see some of my notebook doodles sporting them. (Back in my school days every page of class notes was framed in little doodles like these girls.) I even drew Uggs in my recent holiday card designs here.

(Clockwise from top left: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Moss, Rachel Bilson, Jennifer Aniston, Hayden Pantettier, Avril Lavigne, and Gisele Bundchen.)

Magazines keep claiming "they're out" and they may not be the sexiest shoe choice, but when a chill hits the air girls grab their Uggs. Most of my favorite Hollywood stars regularly sport Australia's best export.

For the next month my readers can receive $30 off Uggs by entering the coupon code "221FAB" on BuyItRightHere. Through the site you can also learn about everything Ugg; care and maintenance, history of the brand, styling suggestions, and buy them of corse! Have I sparked your interest in getting yourself a pair? Happy shopping!