Instagram Addict

As my friends can attest to I'm a bit of a picture taking fanatic, therefore my favorite iPhone app has quickly become Instagram. In the past few months I've become a little obsessed and have been sharing everything from sneak peaks at projects I'm working on and quick sketchbook doodles, to my diy's, glimpses into my apartment and the occasional shot while out and about in the city. Shown here are a bunch of my recent favorites, but you can check out more of my pictures by following me, Brooklit. (I often share my photo's from Instragram through twitter too, which I also go by Brooklit.)

Instagram has many wonderful aspects to it but a favorite of mine is the ease of editing your images with color effects, brightness and adding a blur which you can easily adjust the size and focus of. Its so much quicker and easier than importing to photoshop. Its also fun to see what your friends are up to and "like" and/or comment on images that they post. (Here's a peak of my latest Instagram pic of a new Tuesday Tip I'm working on.)

You can now turn your Instagram photo's into something more; prints, books, magnets, even iphone cases. My friend Holly Becker of Decor8 recently did a wonderful round up of printing options for your Instagram shots, which you can check out here. I'll certainly be placing orders from a site or two from her list soon.

(All images taken by me on Instragram, @Brooklit)

Copic Marker Guest & New Print

As you probably know from reading Fabulous Doodles I love my Copic Markers, so needless to say I was thrilled when they contacted me and asked me to write a guest post of a bridal illustration tutorial for their blog. Instead of featuring one of my custom bridal illustration client projects I decided to create a new, and more stylized, bridal print. If you'd like to read about my process from start to finish you can check out the guest post I wrote on the Copic Marker site.

I like this new sketch so much that I decided to add her to Brooklit Bride, my Etsy bride shop. I rarely alter my sketches once they're completed but I did tweak this print in photoshop so its slightly different than the one Copic featured. I elongating the black sash to just beyond the gown's train. Proportionally it just seems to work better. Hope you like the newest Brooklit Bride print, sultry, sophisticated and sexy Victoria.

New Print: Meet Mae

Meet Mae, the latest print added to my Brooklit Etsy shop. This look was inspired by a uniquely draped Zac Posen dress I spotted on Shopbop. The detail I found most enticing about the dress is gathered rounded godets along a dropped waistline that form a full skirt. Rounding out the godet tops is something I've never seen before and was inspired to incorporate it into one of "my girls."

I named her Mae because it just seemed to fit her soft and coy demeanor. Doesn't she look like she's just standing in a corner daydreaming about her future first love? To purchase a print or to see Mae in more detail, click here for the full listing in my shop.

Italy Textile Design

 Not long ago I was commissioned for a unique project by Italian handbag designer Alexandra de Curtis to sketch an Italy themed print for a textile. The fabric will be used to line the interior of her collection of fine leather tote bags and clutches. In addition to a couple of stylish Italian girl fashion illustrations, her logo and sketches of some of the bags, Alexandra provided me with a list of iconic-ally Italian things that she wanted me to add to the design. In the "swatches" shown here you can see a cup of cappuccino, wine, designer shoes and sunglasses, art, the coliseum and even a Vespa were all drawn in along with key phrases and cities.

Hopefully this is the first of many more countries I will illustrate for Alexandra's line but in the mean time I'm thinking I need to book a trip to Italia asap. (I've been twice before, but Italy is just one of those places that never gets old.) The bags with my illustrations inside are due out next year, I'll keep you posted once they're available. Ciao bella!

Armani Costume Designs for Lady Gaga

Georgio Armani recently released the latest costume design sketches for Lady Gaga's next world tour, and I couldn't wait to share the avant garde illustrations with you here on Fabulous Doodles! In Gaga's first tour, The Monsters Ball (perviously featured here) the wardrobe, which I actually had the thrill of seeing in person when I attended the HBO taped concert at Madison Square Garden, was simply spectacular and this next round of costumes looks like it will not disappoint.

I don't know about you but the sketches really remind me of the work of Bob Mackie. Aside from the obvious reasons that they're whimsical and sparkly costume sketches that are full of personality and attitude, the figure proportions, rendering techniques, and overall look of the artwork is just so similar to the work of Mackie. It really adds to the shock factor for me that they're by Armani, whom I completely have pigeon holed in my brain as being the go-to tailored suit design master.

One idea to take note of, for you aspiring designers, is that the illustrator has used the same figure to build upon for the more than one look. You can clearly see that these sketches, although drastically different from one another in the costume design, are the same exact pose and most likely drawn over the same figure. This is a sketching shortcut when your working to focus yourself on the designs and not get overly involved in sketching new poses and figures for each look.

Thank you to Armani for releasing the sketches and fingers crossed in a few months I'll be thanking Gaga for putting on another incredible show! Anyone have tickets, feel free to send them my way. ;)

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.