Head Shot Illustrations for Polka Dot Bride

Years ago I was commissioned by Ms. Polka Dot Bride to create a "head shot" illustration for her popular site as well as an original bridal fashion illustration of a retro polka dot bride to adorn her office.

Since that first commission, Ms. Polka Dot Bride has expanded her Australian based website and taken on a new staff of bridal bloggers, who of course now need illustrations as well. The girls reached out to me for a new batch of head shot sketches. Each fashion illustration resembles the writer behind the blog in hair color, eyes, hair style and wedding dress silhouette.

I think the bridal bloggers are pretty happy with their new sketches, Ms. Floral recently tweeted that "They all look fantastic. If only my hair stayed that perfect in real life!" This was such a fun little project, as I absolutely love illustrating head shots, making them brides, well that was just the icing on the cake.

Secret Weapons {Part 3}

I am continually asked what tools I use most in my fashion illustrations so I thought it was time for another installment of Secret Weapons. First up, is my sketchbook and paper of choice. This may come as a surprise, being that I make a living as an artist you may think I'd use something fancy and expensive from an art supply store, but I do not. For years I've been using these Barnes & Noble exclusive sketchbooks. The reason I like them so much is that the paper is thick, almost a card stock, and super bright white. The whiteness is important to me because I scan most of my work. They have a spiral binding, which I prefer so the book can lay flat, thick hardcovers that protect the pages well, should I decide to throw in my bag, and the piece de resistance is they have perforated pages for easy tearing out. They also come in different sizes, so I have small ones (above) for quick thumbnail sketches and traveling, and larger ones for my more polished sketches. (Keep in mind however that these are not the best choice for a beginners because, as I mentioned, the paper is thick, and not conducive to tracing. It also soaks up the marker, which means you have to move fast. When I was in college, and learning, my paper of choice was Bienfang marker paper.)

Next I'd like to share the white charcoal pencil. These are fantastic for creating highlights over marker, even better than white pencils because of how dense and opaque they are. If you take a look at my last post about my new print Miriam, you can see that I used a log of the white charcoal pencil to render the large brimmed hat and create texture and highlights within it. I also use it to add shine and highlights to hair in almost all my illustrations.

Lastly is something I absolutely cannot live without when sketching, the amazing kneaded eraser. It picks up everything from the faintest smudge to heavy thick lines. Its pliable and can be molded to easily into a sharp point or stretched out for easily self cleaning and it doesn't leave marks. The kneaded eraser is a must have. (I realize I sound like a infomercial here, but its true!)

For more of my secret weapons you can check out part 1 and part 2 here.

New Brooklit Print: Miriam

Last night I sketched this new fashion illustration for my Etsy shop inspired by a photo I pinned to my "She's A Sketch" board, and I have to say, at the risk of tooting my own horn here, she's one of my favorites. Her monochromatic white ensemble of a long sleeve T and white wide leg pants paired with an oversized black straw sun hat, is my ideal simple casual chic look. Its as though she's sitting peacefully on the beach, looking out at the serene landscape pondering life beneath her fabulous hat.

Because I identify and love this sketch so much, (although my life is no where near as tranquil as the scenario I described,) I named her Miriam, which is a special name to me. Hope you enjoy her as much as I do. For more info on Miriam or to purchase a signed print, click here.

Brooke Hagel Illustrations on VH1's House of Consignment

If you've caught VH1's new show, House of Consignment, you may have spotted my sketches blown up as giant wall decals all around the offices of E-Drop Off, the home of the new fashion focused reality show. I was commissioned by Corri McFadden and her right hand woman Nicole Guarascio about 2 years ago to come up with a bunch of custom illustrations for their website relaunch. To my pleasant surprise since they purchased the full usage rights to the custom sketches, they've used them not only on their website, but as large wall decals to adorn their office walls, which is now the "set" of their VH1 show. (For a closer look check out the post I wrote at that time here.)

The E-Drop Off girls reached out to me again to create some sketches for the holidays and their holiday party, which I believe was actually the party show in episode 2 of House of Consignment. For the holiday project I drew a bunch of new girls for their windows, holiday garlands with designer ornaments, logo snowflakes and even sketched jewelry that was made into temporary tattoos for party guests, which they briefly showed on the show! (My previous post on the holiday project is here.)

VH1's House of Consignment has 7 episodes left to their season so you have a few more weeks to tune in. Not all the sketches shown throughout the show are mine, but see if you can spot my work. My first TV moment was The Nate Berkus Show on NBC, now VH1, I wonder who will be next!?!

Bridal Illustration Wedding Gifts

My custom bridal illustration orders keep rolling in and I realized its been a while since I shared some of them here on Fabulous Doodles.

(Kristina in Vera Wang gown)

This first bridal sketch was a gift for the bride from her bridesmaids! For her bridal shower they gave her a gift certificate for a custom sketch, then after her wedding I worked with Kristina to pick the pose and style she liked best to come up with this illustration. This goes without saying, but its always great hearing from my brides after they receive the artwork and I got the most lovely email from Kristina here saying "I received your illustration today and I absolutely love it!!!! Thank you for your beautiful work! I cannot wait to show my bridesmaids, who gave me the best shower gift ever! I will truly cherish your illustration always."

(Bridget in Mori Lee gown)

Next up here is bride Bridget. Not to toot my own horn here but I just absolutely love the way her dress came out in this illustration. I love the angle of the satin draping, the heavily beaded bodice and her heart shaped neckline. (And as you can tell from my blog header, I also love a red head sketch!)

(Sari)

Last but certainly not least is my friend Sari! Ironically enough the sketch is not actually a gift from me though. One of our mutual friends commissioned me to sketch Sari as her wedding gift. I love getting to illustrate to occasional modest wedding gown, with sleeves and high necklines. They're few and far between and make for such beautiful fashion illustrations. To me they have that sophisticated Grace Kelly/Dutchess Kate vibe, which I adore.

If you would like to commission a custom bridal illustration to give as gift, or to treat yourself check out the custom listings in my Etsy bridal shop, Brooklit Bride or purchase a gift certificate.

College Sketches: Val & Bridget

I'm excited to share these sketches I drew years ago in a college model drawing class (at FIT) as well as offer them as new prints in my shop. What made me want to revisit some of my college class work was something that someone recently posted on my Facebook fan page. They asked if I was ever going to draw "real women" who were not a size zero. Although I myself am no where near that size, it is my illustrative style to draw very elongated, albeit unrealistic, fashion figures.

These two fashion illustrations however were drawn from plus size models. The models posed for us for the overall stance and attitude of the sketch, then we drew garments on them based off images of our choosing. I went with two Valentino designs from a magazine editorial. The little black dress drawn on "Val" (aptly named after Valentino;) is from a 1997 collection and the elaborate taupe mini dress and feathered bag on "Bridget" are from a 2002 collection. (Luckily I had made notes besides the sketches so I can share the source info with you.) Hope you like these illustrations from my college archives.