Inspiration: Iris Van Herpen

Yesterday I came across this absolutely mind bogglingly

 amazing dress by Iris Van Herpen, called "the cathedral dress".

Reminiscent of an old gothic cathedral, the dress is made out of wood.

I find anything with such incredible detail and symmetrical pattern 

so fascinating from an illustrators point of view.

If I had the patience (and time) I would love to draw this accurately. 

But for now, I have drawn a rougher version. 

I decided to draw it on brown paper to give the feel of the wood 

while highlighting the skin with white chalk.

Watch out for more similar drawings of the Van Herpen couture,

 because I am seriously obsessed with this stuff!

xXx

M 

Bluebell...Aida in the dark.

This illustration, that I call "Bluebell", was created as part of a 

recent commission that I did recently for the lovely Victoria Sugden, for her 

Publishing degree at Stirling University.

It was a really great project to work on as I was to illustrate a 

fashion fairy tale!

This illustration was my favourite of all the ones I came up with 

and I was really happy with the way it turned out.

It was based on how a character perceived other people 

in the story and how their true colours show through!

More on the way soon

xXx

M

Mademoiselle Chat

A brand new illustration is available in my Etsy store.

It is an A3 print/ mixed media piece.

The original was a pencil and watercolour illustration, 

I digitally enhanced it, printed it out and then worked over the top of it 

with marker pen and pencil

xXx

M

Progress: 005

A new piece I'm currently working on 

soon to be a new A2 print which will be available in my Etsy store.

Keep a look out as there'll be some new things arriving in it soon

xXx

M

Progress:004

Progress 004: Watercolour inspired by Bluemarine.

Soon to be available as a print, 

and also original for sale.

So keep a lookout over at my Etsy store

xXx

M

Amethyst Moon

A new print is available over in my Etsy store.

I've applied pencil and silver paint over the top, 

making it truly unique.

Just clicke HERE to view it!

xXx

M

Leopard skin hat

After looking through a load of files on my computer, 

I came across this drawing which I drew ages ago. 

Normally I hate anything that Ive created in the past 

 but I still quite liked this one. 

I like how rough it looks.

xXx

M

Flower Maiden

I'm very excited to show everyone this one!

and now "Flower Maiden" is available to buy from my Etsy store.

This is a mixed media piece, The main drawing is a print which I have 

then worked over with pencil and gold ink. 

The original is a pencil drawing.

I've been inspired very heavily by the Art Nouveau movement.

In particular by some of my two favourite artists, Mucha and Klimt.

This was my "prototype" version to see how it would look 

before committing to getting it printed out larger.

There will be larger versions of this available to buy 

within the coming week hopefully, 

so keep your eyes peeled!

xXx

M

Perfume

Some new perfume bottle illustrations here,

I created them using pencil ink and water colours.

They are all now available as prints form my Etsy store!

I sometimes wish I had my own powder room 

and I would have stuff like this all over the walls!

xXx

M

Progress 003:

The current illustration I'm working on,

based on a Valentino couture show.

Hopefully, soon to be a print.

xXx

M

Sketches

Here are some more sketches I have done today.

My it's been a very productive day indeed!

The top image is based on a picture from the 

Spell and the Gypsy look book.

And the other is from a random pic I came across 

and have been meaning to draw for a while!

xXx

M

Givenchy SS/12

This is just a quick sketch I did today which I coloured digitally.

It's from the Givenchy SS/12 haute couture collection which is 

absolutely stunning!

I so want to draw this image in a lot more detail and with much 

finer lines to get a real sense of what the dress is like.

However I know that will probably take me a whole week,

 so I've just done this one for now!

I felt quite annoyed with myself today as I literally 

have a whole mental list of about a hundred things I need/want to

draw and never get round to doing.

So the answer is...stop taking to long and being so precious

 about every little thing I draw...and just sketch them!

xXx

M

Feather and Lace

Another one here that I drew last year.

I mixed structured lingerie with soft pencil work and colouring.

I also scanned in some antique lace to use ase then underwear pattern.

xXx

M

Crochet dream.

Here's a piece I did a while ago.

I thought I'd share it as it seems to fit the current summery 

weather we've been having lately!

I created it using pencil and digital colouring.

Enjoy! 

xXx

M

My new home

1. 

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I decided to share some pics from inside my new flat!

It's mainly all of the random objects that I seem to have collected recently 

that I am most fond of.

I'm a real sucker for anything vintage or unique and also love it when I can get a bargain!
So here they are...

1.First is a signed photograph from the 1920's which reads 

"all my love, Yeavette" (my flatmates hate it)

2. My beloved books and a phrenology head used as a book end

3. A sheep skull 

4. The only plant that I haven't killed in a vintage teacup

5. Vintage brass deer 

6. Metronome from my Nana

7. Vintage framed butterfly

8. A collage I created using old sheet music covers and magazines

9. Pics printed using our polaroid inkless printer

10. Framed artwork on my bedroom wall

11. My Guitar!

12. And finally me!

xXx
M

Carousel: Green/Pink

Here is the Green and pink version of my carousel illustration 

Now available at my ETSY STORE as an A3 print!

xXx

M

Carousel A3 print

Finally I can reveal my Carousel illustration, 

inspired by the Louis Vuitton Paris fashion week show...

which was FABULOUS

I was particularly enamoured with the visual treat which was Kate Moss 

perched delicately on one of the white horses!

I have lots of prints available over in my Etsy Shop 

The illustration is available in three different colours:

Green, yellow and purple.

Purple being my personal favourite!

Happy Spring!

M

xXx

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