Dress full of flowers

After my first experiments on photo-shop yesterday to make my bouquet surrealism pieces, I have continued this evening to create two more.

I think these illustrations work really well with black and white images as it really makes the floral detail stand out. Compared to the last two samples, I have used more posed models to try and create a more realistic image. This makes it slightly more difficult as I have to shape the image so it doesn't look as though the image is just copy and pasted together



In my opinion the above has worked particularly well as the background of the image makes a much more interesting image. I think to improve further I should try adding font and maybe printing out and adding more media, possibly embroidery.

New Brief !!

Started off with a new brief this week, this time based on illustration and the ways in which Fashion is communicated.

To start with I have decided to create a time-line of fashion communication, starting at 1892 and the first copy of Vogue in the USA, ... so far I am up to 1971, but I do a proper post on my time-line when I've finish the next 40 years !

For this project we have to create 2 promotion boards for our collection to each of the 4 market levels FAD, High Street, R-T-W and Couture. To gather ideas for these boards I have started to research fashion illustrators both past and present.

I have started by re-visiting Laura Laine, who I blogged about last year. Yet this time I'm trying to re-create her work, which she obtains with charcoal pencil and the miracles of photo-shop.

I started by trying to copy one of her original drawings.

Because I took the picture using my blackberry camera the brightness has been effected. Therefore when editing in photo-shop, I adjusted the colour and shadow to define the drawn details as well as filling in the background with white to give the clean bright contrast that Laine achieves.
I am really please with my effort to achieve a Laine style drawing and thing the photo-shop really helped, using the contrast setting has given her effect of dark and light really well, however I think Laine must use very small tools to define tiny details for example in the hair as I was not able to gain the same toned effect.

I think her style of drawing would be great for my Couture boards, as its quirky Tim Burton-esque feel would really compliment that style of clothing.

That was fun !

After completing my photo-shopped images, and all the research for the study, I can say that this unit has been my favourite since starting college.
I've seen so many friends and artists use photo-shop, I also to some extent in high school, but through this brief I have learnt to use it in different ways. For example, I only ever used the programme to edit photographs, yet now I know how to improve my drawings using simple tools within this programme.
My "Bridgets Back" piece was my favourite as I used layering effects to add a variety of textures to my piece, and it was the one piece of work I created that clearly used traditional and contemporary styles together.

Photo-shop has hundreds of tools, therefore to improve further I need to practice using it more often to further my skills, also by taking more time with the pieces I edit, I'd achieve a more professional finish.
I also really enjoyed the research part of this unit, as I was able to look into a mixture of areas in the fashion industry and see how widely used computers are in every job.
The best thing of all about this unit, was using the blog. It makes things very easy to stay on track of, and is very easy to add too. Using my blog for this unit has definitely made me see how much more practical it is as opposed to a hand kept journal. And I now want to keep on top of my blogging and post more regularly.

Bridgets Back

This is my own fashion illustration, again inspired by my shoe theme. I took an image from Hello magazine of Victoria Beckham and drew a rough version I then also added a drawing of my favourite Louboutin shoe " Bridgets Back" (taken from the kylie video).
I have again cleaned the image up by correcting colour levels, with this image I needed the white to be bright as, i wanted the sketch of Victoria to stand out.

I have used the Clone stamp again to take the effect of gold mirror, for the platform and heel of the shoe, I also used a a simple fill tool to give the Louboutin it's crimson soul.
Again using the Clone stamp tool, I copied the pattern from the real shoe to fill in my drawing. I'am really happy with the overall look of the shoe as it looks quite realistic... but not as beautiful as the real thing.

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Finally, I added a background behind my sketch, I did this by making a transparent layer and cloning a picture of The Eiffel Tower into it. I chose the Eiffel Tower as its iconic to Paris, which is where Louboutin originated.


I'am really pleased with the final outcome on this piece as i think the layered effect works really well, my favourite part is the shoe as the cloning worked really well.
I'am also pleased that i managed to combine the drawing with photography, which is what interested me most when researching artists earlier in the brief. I think this is my one piece that really shows both Traditional and Contemporary art. As the sketch of Mrs Beckham is a simple drawing yet the shoe is mainly digitally produced.

Gary Fernandez

The complete opposite to Blahnik, Gary Fernandez uses mainly digital techniques in his work. He is a very modern artists who uses a wide variety in every piece of his work to create really eye catching pieces.

Although Fernandez probably plans his work by hand drawings initially, the lines, curvature and colour in his work just don't seem achievable by hand. Therefore I believe he uses not only Photo-shop to enhance his work, but also probably a programme such as Illustrator to create the starting image.


Although this can't be classed as natural talent, I think Fernandez is a very talented artist because just as it takes huge talent to create beautiful hand drawn illustrations, you have to be very skilled to use Photo-shop to this level and it would still be a very time consuming process.
I lurveee the gold colour used in this piece, this is definitely something that would be hard to achieve with a set of watercolours !

Christian David Moore

I LOVE THESE PIECES !!!

The reason I like Moore's work so much is because, both the style of his drawings and what he actually draws really relate to my own interests, for example many of his works include famous brands, as well as shoes and make-up !!!

Some of his pieces are very traditional in the way they look like very simple water colour paintings, but at a closer look it is noticeable how clean the images are and how smooth the brush strokes are. Which hints at the aid of photo-shop to make his look just a little more professional.
Watercolours paints and inks are also prone to run and spread when added to a paper surface, which adds a slightly more naturally drawn effect, however it is very clear to see that Moore's backgrounds are bright white. This is probably also achieved by adjusting contrast levels via photo-shop.
This Chanel No.5 drawing I found in Victoria Beckham's book " The extra half an inch", is a good example of how he edits his work digitally for example the text on the drawing has been layered on top of the drawing, as well as the image itself being sharpened to give a more realistic image.

My favourite piece ...Mascara...can save a girls life.

Bec Winnel

Bec Winnel is a artist who I believe uses both traditional and contemporary techniques in her work, which is mainly based upon women with a very feminine girlie feel.


The traditional elements I see in her work is the highly detailed drawing. The drawings look like they would take hours as there is so much attention to detail and tonal shading to show a more life like look. I like this about her work because she is showing how talented she is as her drawing is a main part of her work.

To make her work more current however she also uses digital techniques. It is easy to see this by how smoothly blurred and blended the lines and colours are in the drawing. This creates even more life like structure in her artwork.

The Above is my favourite piece as it almost looks like a photograph that has been faded, the detail in the face is really defined and I especially like the shaded area under the face as it looks really realistic.

Tall, dark and handsome ... Christian Louboutin Thigh High Boots

These are the gorgeous Christian Louboutin thigh high boots a gaze longingly at all day at work... they are beautiful and frankly my TOPSHOP ones just dot measure up.
Argghh well Tabbi ... keep saving !!!

My drawing does not do them justice !!!

Again I have cleaned up the images by adjusting the contrast colour levels to make it look sharper, brighter and more defined.
The finished image this time has both pros and cons. On the positive side I think the plastic wrap effect I used gave quite a similar effect to that of a shiny leather. Therefore it is a technique I may come back to for mark making techniques on initial design ideas.
However the outline I tried to achieve to emphasise the red of the sole, actually took the attention away from the red sole and the paintbrush tool I used to draw it with didn't give a smooth enough effect.

All in all ... I prefer the real thing !

Akari Inoguchi

Inoguchi is another artist who uses digital processes on their work. This artist uses a huge variety of colours that would be very difficult to achieve my hand. She also manages to achieve very smooth textures in her work, which would be hard to do using materials that look like they have been used such as the spray paint effect. Therefore using tools on photo-shop such as a spray can or a blending wand would make this look a lot more achievable

Inoguchi has worked for clients such as Vogue, Brutus, ELLE Girl, Trace, Elite Traveller, Mavi, Diesel, and Aussie Hair care amongst many other.
The below piece is my preferred of work, as again its combines the drawings with photography which I think is a really lovely effect as it adds even more texture. Also the heavily airbrushed photography gives a more highly polished look.

Miss Led

Miss Led is a fashion illustrator who's work is very modern. In my opinion it combines Japanese anime and Roy Lichtenstein.

It is easy to see where and how these images have been edited digitally. The colours are very smooth and vibrant, as well as the black lines being very clean and sharp. Again the background is white and dosn't look like its a straight drawing on to paper. Some shapes have also been filled with block colour to give a smoother finish.

(below) This is my favourite piece of Miss Leds work as it reminds me of Cruella De Vil from 101 dalmatians. Also like previously stated the style in which the girl is drawn in has aspects of Lichtenstein's work. The final reason i like this piece ... " everything looks better in Black & White " :)

Nadia Flower

Nadia Flower is a illustrator/textile designer that I came across during projects last year. She uses subtle pastel colours and curved patterns to create gentle, delicate images.

She has worked with magazines such as Glamour, Nylon and Company as well as creating web layouts for companies such as ASOS.


I believe Flower's uses digital techniques in her work to achieve the beautiful colours she uses as well as achieving the crisp clean lines in the patterns she draws in her work. In pieces like her web layout for ASOS she also included photography layered with her drawings which is another technique that a photo-shop programme is able to do.
She also achieves very clean finishings to block colour which i think may be done by using a filling tool on a design programme.
The below is my favourite piece if Nadia Flowers work. I find it a very interesting piece to look at because evry time you look you notice something different. For example the first time I looked at this image I didn't notice the leopards head or the snake. Also the amount of shapes, lines and colours throughout the image make the drawing look a lot more complex.

Laura Laine

The new college brief is all about how digital techniques can be used within the fashion industry and how they can create different outcomes to what can be achieved by hand.
For example Fashion illustration: modern day Illustrators are now using techniques such as photo-shop to enhance and vary their work as well as being able to layer drawings with photography and create a more interesting piece.
By the end of this brief, the aim is to have a collection of images that we have used CAD with. Therefore I am starting by looking at other fashion illustrators to gather ideas.

Laura Laine is a Finnish fashion illustrator, who uses both hand drawn images, photography and digital techniques to create her beautifully elegant final pieces.

Laura Laine has created many drawings for magazine advertisements such as : GQ, Elle Girl,The New Yorker, NY Times T Magazine and Pap Magazine. As well as creating images for designers such as: Tommy Hilfiger, H&M, ZARA and Escada.

One aspect I think it definitely changed digitally is the background as they are so clean and brightly white, that I don't believe this could be achieved by drawings straight to paper . Also the black lines are very sharp and clean, this could also be achieved through photo-shop.

The above and below are my two favourite images I came across. I think the shades and tones used and the clean lines make the drawings look very elegant and girly. With the above image I also really like how it combines the photograph of the bag with one of Laines characters as it makes you look twice to realize what is actually in the image. The colours from the pencil shading also really compliment the colours in the bag.
My reasons for liking the below image is the style of girls. The elongated legs and long blowing hair makes it look quite fairy-tail-esque. However the burlesque/Jessica Rabbit styling changes the feel of the image completely and gives it a more sexy edge.

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