New Etsy Fashion Illustrations

I've finally added new fashion illustration prints to my Brooklit Etsy shop and I'm excited to share them all! Although I'm constantly illustrating and creating new work for clients, Casetify and Instagram I honestly can't remember the last time I posted new prints to Etsy. These new prints are groups of three girls, like mini fashion collections. I'm really happy with them and hope my customers so as well. The first new print (shown above) is three designs inspired by Rachel Zoe. Originally there were five illustrations in this group but I played around in photoshop and edited it down to three. Of all the new prints this is my favorite, as its the most my style fashion wise. I also love the stylized nature of the illustration not being too detailed in the faces and elongated bodies.

Next up is Lady Gaga in a white Brandon Maxwell jumpsuit at this years Oscars. As anyone who follows me on social media knows I often live sketch award show red carpet looks to share my favorite fashion of the night. Gaga outdid herself with this look and I think I captured the moment and look well. Its a fairly simple but strong sketch since the look was elegant and not overly embellished. I primarily used marker and pen with a few touches of white gouache to highlight the hair and earrings. I made a print of her solo, as originally drawn, then also grouped Gaga together with two other sketches of favorite looks from the night, Priyanka Chopra in Zuhair Murad and Olivia Wilde in Valentino couture. The sketches of Priyanka and Olivia are a little less polished and more stylized with unfinished faces, but I think the grouping works well and it makes a strong print.

And lastly I have three lovely ladies inspired by Giambattista Valli couture (shown below.) This collection, and the styling of this collection with oversized bow headbands and dramatic swiss dot veils was a fashion illustration dream. The looks were so beautifully embellished, girly and simply couture at its best. They're also a wonderful color palette with tiny floral details in pale pink and peach with pops of black.

My goal is to revamp the contents of both my shops Brooklit and Brooklit Bride over the next month or two starting with these four new prints.

Similar posts to check out:

• Framed Fashion Prints | If Only & American Express 
• Sketches Inspired by Resort Collections
• Red Carpet Fashion Sketches Oscars 2015

Inspired Weekend: Spring

Yesterday was the first official day of spring and although it was actually snowing here in NYC I had quite the spring inspired weekend. So much so I thought I'd write a new "Inspired Weekend" post, which I haven't done in ages!

1. Flower crowns have been on my mind the past few since live-sketching a Beverly Hills party where half the girls I drew were wearing them from the on-site florist. They were so pretty and really added to the illustrations and when I returned home I found myself drawing them over and over again. 

2. Saturday afternoon I celebrated my friend Joanna's birthday. Each guest was asked to bring a bouquet or two of blooms for a flower arranging party. To my surprise not only did we learn how to arrange flowers in antique teacups but we also learned to make our own flower crowns! I rarely post selfies but I couldn't resist once I had mine on! 

3. Last week Woops bakery reached out to me to share that in addition to being the first day of spring, Sunday was National Macaron Day and they wanted to print a box of custom macarons for me. I immediately thought portraits of some of my flower crown girls could be adorable on a set of french macarons. They came out even better than expected, tasted delish and although I wasn't sure at first, I ended up loving the sketch assortment I sent them of portraits from previous instagrams and client projects. (Modified this Dreamdry x Teen Vogue sketch with a flower crown, a Viktor and Rolf bowed beauty, and two Naeem Kahn/Frida Khalo inspired illustrations.) 

4. Last but not least, I finally added a bevy of new beauties to my long neglected Etsy shops! Even though I sketch new work constantly it had been forever since I added new prints to the shops. I decided to list some new prints with groups of three looks, like these pink, black and white embellished designs inspired by Giambattista Valli Couture.

Honest x Ladurée | Apple Pencil Party Sketching

Last week I flew back early from LA to join Jessica Alba and live-sketch custom fashion illustrations at her intimate affair for "Honest in Paris" at Ladurée Soho. The event was for select journalists and bloggers to give them a sneak peek at Honest's new Parisian themed products. It was my very first time drawing on an iPad Pro and trying out the new Apple pencil. I was quite nervous about it so I arrived an hour early in the hopes of getting some practice in and getting a feel for the program but the new iPad wouldn't acknowledge the new pencil! I ran to Apple and they got it working but it didn't leave me much time to get back and experiment before the doors opened. Jessica was my first sketch of the day (shown below) but in all honesty here, it took two tries before I felt I could share it with her!

Beautiful pastries and petals filled the party and both the clients and guests were trilled with their custom illustrations but being my own worst critic I do wish I had the opportunity to practice using the Apple pencil beforehand so my digital sketches were on par with my traditional pencil-to-paper fashion illustrations. If clients are going to insist on digital sketches I think its time I bit the bullet and invested in a tablet and stylus but now the question is Apple or Samsung? I'd love to hear opinions from those of you who have used them for creative work. Have you been able to achieve the same effects as with actual art tools and which brands and programs have you used?

Similar posts to check out:

• Live-Sketching at New York Fashion Week with Samsung Galaxy
• Stylus Sketching with Samsung & Macys 
• Party Sketching Golden Portraits for La Prairie