Fabulous Doodles Fashion Illustration blog by Brooke Hagel: September 2016

Custom Sketch for Heather & Terry Dubrow's Book

Being a fan of nearly all things Bravo I was excited to be asked to illustrate Heather and Terry Dubrow for their book Dr. & Mrs. Guinea Pig Present The Only Guide You'll Ever Need to the Best Anit-Aging Treatments. I previously worked closely with the publisher on a fashion illustration style guide for another book so when the idea of doing an illustration in the Dubrows came up they thought of me. When I initially sent the sketch Heather and Terry loved it and almost immediately Instagrammed it, (they asked permission first) which was wonderful! But it was still not 100% the illustration would make it into the book. Months later I was backstage at Watch What Happens Live with my cousin who was a guest on the show, when Andy Cohen mentioned the following nights guest would be Terry Dubrow. I went home and emailed the publisher to see if my sketch made it in after all. It had been months and I had forgotten about it, but to my delight she told me it was! They used it as the image on the books title page.

They kindly sent me an advance copy and we even attempted to meet up when they were in New York on their book tour but couldn't get it to work out with their crazy schedule and being crazed with New York fashion week events. The Dubrow's book is insightful and fun and I'm thrilled to have my artwork in it. (Fun fact for you: its actually my 18th book! Which happens to be a very lucky number in my religion. Too bad for me, this one was without royalties. Ha.)

Similar posts to check out featuring books including my illustrations:

You're Invited: Sketching Clinique Mix and Matte Event with Saks and Glamour

Today I will be live-sketching custom fashion illustrations for Clinique. This is now my third consecutive year working with Clinique on their fall beauty events! This year we've teamed up with Glamour magazine and will be doing something slightly different to coincide with the launch of their new Pop Matte lipstick. Each customers custom illustration will be sketched in black and the only color will be on the lips, as I did with the illustration on the invitation shown above. I also drew a digital example on the plane last night (with Apple Pencil and iPad) which you can watch an actual sketch-in-progress video of on my Instagram today, here. The custom sketches at the event will be drawn with real art supplies on paper so guests can take them home, but its fun to see the whole sketch take shape from beginning to end. Appointments are encouraged but not required so you can pop by at anytime, but from experience of years past I suggest you come on the early side if you want to be sketched, as the last hour tends to be busiest.

Thursday, Sept. 22nd

4:30-7:30

Saks 5th Avenue, Clinique Counter

5th & 50th Street New York, NY

RSVP: 212-940-2034

I do apologize for the short notice! It's been a crazy week with multiple sketching jobs in multiple cities. But if you can't make this one there will be two more similar Clinique events coming up as well, one of which will also be in NYC and the other as of now is Connecticut I believe. I've also sketched a special gift for customers who can't get their custom sketch drawn! I'll share what that is on my social media at the event!

Hope to see and sketch you there! And if you can't make it be sure to follow along on my Insta-story and Snapchat (@brooklit) to see sketches and behind the scenes from the event.

Custom iPad Illustrations | Macys Front Row NYFW

I kicked off this New York Fashion Week by live-sketching Macy's Front Row party for the second consecutive year. This season however I used an Apple Pencil and iPad to draw custom fashion illustrations of party guests. Digital sketching is quite different from my traditional live-sketching with my actual art supplies on paper. I have to admit its a lot more challenging especially when trying to complete each sketch quickly and not make the illustrations not look too cartoony. The guests (and clients) loved them though and it certainly makes posting to social media quick and easy since digital files of the completed sketches are sent instantly.

Macy's upped the entertainment wow factor this year with surprise guest performances by Spinderella and Salt-n-Pepa! Sketching party go-ers while these women rocked the stage was incredible, and certainly took me back. (Salt-n-Pepa's Let's Talk About Sex was actually one of my very first CDs!) Their performance, along with spotting fashion icon Betsy Johnson, who I snapped a quick pic of and had to draw (shown above, bottom left) and meeting and drawing loads lovely guests, some of which were even sketched by me last year and came to find me again, made for a fun night and great start to my fashion week. You can check out Macy's Front Row fashion show which airs tonight at 8pm on E!

New Illustrated Books | Chloe by Design Vol.3

This past Labor Day weekend marked another "published day" for me with the release of the third volume in the young adult series Chloe by Design, Measuring Up! In this volume Chloe is visiting and applying to colleges and with that comes portfolio prep and college application art tests. My illustrations throughout this young adult series represent the main character Chloe's sketches. Being I myself was a fashion design student, having applied and attended New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, I also consulted on the story outline in the development phase of these books, speaking with the writer Margaret Gurevich, as well as the editor and publishers about my application experiences, art tests and the overall college search for a young student interested in fashion design. I even tutored high school students and helped them prepare their portfolios and fashion art tests for college applications and interviews before I became a full time fashion illustrator!

Chloe by Design Measuring Up is the "bind up" book, as the publisher calls it, containing four books of volume three of the series. But as with the previous volumes the publisher has also printed four smaller books for the school library market. Books 9-12 of the Chloe by Design series are: Back to Basics, Made to Measure, All or Nothing and The Final Cut. I have to admit its exciting to have the books come out and see my sketches on multiple covers. The cute curly haired girl in the yellow jumpsuit on the cover of Made to Measure (shown above) and the redheaded sassy girl in a floral body con dress on the cover of The Final Cut are my two favorite cover girls.

In this third volume of the series I incorporated many ethnicities as well as tried to illustrate many different fabrications, patterns, and design styles. Another fun fact and personal twist is since the author follows me on Instagram and has has seen the "visual packing lists" I often draw for myself when I travel she incorporated them into the books and made Chloe do the same thing! The image below is one of Chloe's casual-chic "airport looks."

Volume 3 was released about 10 days ago and I've already heard glowing feedback from avid Chloe by Design readers in person and through my social media platforms! It's truly so touching to have my work resonate with young girls and feel their enthusiasm for this series I've spent so much time sketching. As of now I'm told this is the final volume, but you never know. As I've been told that before!

Since the bind up and library market books can be very confusing I'm listing the books here clearly for you with links to Amazon to purchase. First up are the bigger hardcover "bind up" books of the three Chloe by Design volumes:

Volume 1 - Making the Cut

Volume 2 - Balancing Act

Volume 3 - Measuring Up

Here are the smaller hardcover "library edition" books:

Book 1 - Design Diva

Book 2 - The First Cut

Book 3 - Unraveling

Book 4 - Design Destiny

Book 5 - Intern Ambition

Book 6 - Design Disaster

Book 7 - Runway Rundown

Book 8 - Fashion Week Finale