Gentleman's Relish

I moustache you a question...

...What's the best new web site to tell you all the best fashion, 

beauty, food and shopping tips?

It's EDITER

a while ago I created a few illustrations for this fabulous new website 

the above being one of them for a section on male grooming

and how to groom the perfect moustashe

You can see it HERE

It's been a while since my last post as I've been busy,

and stressed, moving house! I wouldn't recommend it to anyone!

But I'm finally all settled in, so expect some updates soon!

xXx

M

The perfect Valentines Day gift...

                          

Seriously, is this just not the cutest scarf you have ever seen!

My three great loves all rolled into one:

Bunnies,

Scarves,

AND illustration! (Sigh)

Fifi Lapin scarf for Juicy Couture!

It's just $68 which is...!..Less £'s.

I dunno like £40?

I'm going to start dropping major hints to the BF this week, 

and if all else fails I'll just show him this post and put the idea out there!

I have nothing to lose, except the possibility of owning this scarf!

Wishing everyone a love filled day in advance! <3

xXx

M

Progress: 001:002

I've recently had some people ask me about how to keep the fine lines and lighter tones 

in a drawing when transferring it to a digital medium.

Often people (including myself) want the backgrounds to be white, 

but can't get this effect without sacrificing much of the finer tones and lines. 

For me, as my drawing style tends to be very delicate and light, it's very important not to loose any of this.

I find that the best way is to start off scanning your image on a good quality scanner. 

I recently got a Cannon Lide 210 A4 scanner which is brilliant for picking up image quality 

and was a vast improvement from the one attached to my boyfriends old printer which I was previously using!

After that I'll bring my image onto Photoshop and adjust the levels.

However, I'll only do this as far as I can push it without losing too much detail.

If I still have any dark tones that I don't want, I'll use the burn tool and only focus on the problem areas.

Sometimes there's still that stubborn part which I will have to zoom right up to and rub out carefully.

It also helps to have a graphics tablet for better control of the tools.

Above I've posted some progress pics of some illustrations I'm currently working on.

The second one is Kate Moss wearing Lois Vuitton, sitting on THAT CAROUSEL

xXx

M

Ophelia

So this piece entitle Ophelia, I did as a christmas present to my boyfriend's parents.

I had it printed out and we framed it in a nice gold coloured frame.

I was heavily influenced by artist Alfonse Mucha.

I've been really wanting to do some large scale paintings recently,

 as I haven't really done any since college

and I think that something like this would be great.

However I am a lover of photoshop and the undo tool!

This piece was a mixture of pencil drawing and digital colouring.

xXx

M

Secret 7" Compettition Voting

VOTING HAS OPENED!

 It would mean a lot if everyone could show their support for me 

and this great cause by voting fro my entry!

Just click HERE and get voting!

Thanks People! 

xXx

M

Secret 7 competition

As part of the Secret 7 competition in support of the 

Teenage cancer trust  I've entered an illustration for Florence + the machine 

vinyl cover of the song "only if for a night"

Follow the link below and please give my entry a vote! 

The more votes I get the more chance I have of getting through! 

Also It's for a great cause so, show your support for the Teenage cancer trust

Voting starts tomorrow!

Thanks everyone!

http://www.talenthouse.com/creativeinvites/preview/add64bedf984bb2bbdfa5992a578cbe9/383

xXx

M

Bee sting

The beautiful Lana del Rey for Interview mag.

HAD to draw this!

Also recently came across the work of John Paul Thurlow 

who draws some lovely magazine front covers.

Sort of did it in the same way but i got bored of 

trying to write words that I didn't understand

so I only sketched part of the text that was on this cover.

xXx

M

Fresh start

Of late, I have been enjoying drawing in a much quicker, 

sketchy-er kind of way. 

It not only makes me work faster and produce more work, 

but it makes me less hung up about something being 

completely perfect.

I've recently been working in my new A3 moleskine 

which seems massive compared to the A5 

one I used to work in.

However I'm still finding that I end up 

running out of space to draw on,

 no matter how big a surface I work on!

xXx

M

Amethyst

This hair took me aaaages to draw,

but I was proud of the final outcome in the end.

I decided to add an amethyst crystal head piece 

as I'm a bit obsessed with them at the moment!

xXx

M

Look what Santa brought...

So, these are some of my favourite Christmas

 presents I received this year!

I got some great books, my fav being The Vintage Tea Party Book!

It's full of cool things to make and do in order to throw 

your own vintage tea party. things like;

How to make a vintage style apron, 

how to style your hair and make-up

And it's also got some beautiful illustrations throughout 

which make it a visual treat to read.

I also got some killer chunky heel ankle boots 

(which I'm scared to wear in case I break my ankle!),

a tiger plate from urban outfitters,

a burnout silk Kimono and

some amethyst crystal jewellery!

Over all, a good haul I believe!

Let me know what  your favourite gifts are!

xXx

M

Lana Del Rey

Just a little video post here of Lana Del Rey's 

new single 'Born to die' 

I can't get over how beautiful she is and how 

haunting her voice can be.

I would so love to go and see her live!

So, merry Christmas eve everybody...

Have a good one what ever you do!

xXx

M

Hello there....

It's been a while since my last post

so I'm breaking the fast with a pretty quick sketch that I did recently.

It's not that i've not been drawing, but more that I'm 

not loving anything I'm coming up with at the moment. (sad face)

I'm already looking to the new year with a few resolutions.

Here goes:

1. Do a drawing a day..and post it!

2. enter as many illustration competitions as is physically possible.

3. Improve my etsy store.

4. get up early!!! (like seven)

I'm sure to come up with more things but I think this will do for now!

Also I just want to say thank you to anyone who posts comments to me!

I love reading them.

Love you all <3

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xXx

M

Happy Halloween!!

I'm sooo excited as tonight I'm hosting a Halloween Party!

My theme is Mexican day of the dead,

or El dia de los muertos!

I will no doubt post some pictures of all the outfits and the decorations.

I'm in the middle of preparing margaritas and some mini food for my guests.

The illustrations above are from last year

But I thought as to get everyone into the halloween spirit, here they are again.

If anyone has any other interesting themed H parties 

Let me hear about them!

I'm already planning next year!

xXx

That Voodoo you do...

This is a drawing I did ages ago and have only recently coloured.

I've went through stages of not liking it but now that I've had the chance 

to play around with it I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

It was originally meant to go with a previous illustration which 

I've decided to redo as I like this style better. 

It's based on a photo of Abbey Lee Kershaw 

which had a very tribal theme.

xXx

PFW

Check out Brown's web site HERE,

featuring some of my work again.

This will be the last in the series, and this time it's 

the turn of Paris!

I've missed out Milan but will post some pics of it on here soon, 

so look out!

I really enjoyed creating all of these maps,

and would like to give a big thank you to all the people 

at Browns again!

xXx

LFW

It's London's turn for fashion week 

so check out my new illustration on The Brown's Fashion 

web site!

And while your there take a look at some of

 the best designers London has to offer.

My illustration highlights London's landmarks 

and was created using a mix of pencil, pen, watercolour 

and digital.

There's still more to come so watch this space!

xXx

The Browns Blog

Check out the Browns blog here

Where there is a lovely post about me, 

amongst other wonderful, fashion related articles!

xXx

NYFW Map

It's New York Fashion Week!

And this means that I get to show you this!

An illustrated map of NYC that I did recently for BrownsFashion.com

I'm very pleased with how it looks and was very excited when i first saw it.

So, check it out HERE

Also, big thanks to all the lovely people at Browns Fashion

xXx

Kight in shining armour

This beaut arrived in the post for me today!

It turned a miserable english summer day into an awesome one.

I bought it from Etsy from a shop called Hinic1

I have wanted a ring like this for ages but didn't want an overpriced one

or a cheap one that would just tarnish.

This ring is a vintage piece and looks and feels pretty sturdy.

I want MORE!!

xXx

The Sunday Times Style Magazine- The Power of love

If you haven't seen This week's issue of Style magazine then here it is!

And behold! My illustrations are featured within!!

The Article I illustrated is called "the power of love"

And is about various womens' experiences of sex.

Now believe me, getting reference material for this one was tough.

One does not enjoy spending the day googling the words

"people having sex" and "dry humping" which is what I did.

Enjoy!

xXx