A few years ago I took some fashion illustration classes at Portland Fashion Institute. It was an all day weekend class with day one being learning to draw the actual fashion figure and day two learning to color, shade and make textures and patterns. I actually took the class twice… because the first time I had food poisoning and didn’t last the whole weekend… it was miserable.
But the second time around, it was fabulous. The teacher was a head designer for the Fred Meyer (Kroger) house brands. Her style was very realistic and reminded me of Barbie illustrations – they were all glamorous and beautiful.
One of the things she said throughout the weekend was how important it is to PRACTICE drawing every day. EVERY DAY. I certainly don’t get enough practice, but I am trying to be better about sketching as much as possible. I liken it to journaling. I tend to pour my emotions out into my fashion sketches, and the most cathartic drawings are the ones that I take the time to color with my special fashion markers that I had bought for the class. They are pretty amazing because they blend really well, and the color can layer to create shading effects. The ones I have are Prismacolor brand. I also have their colored pencils which are also a delight to color with – I just haven’t perfected the blending of the pencils yet… more practice needed!
For tonight’s cold, rainy, Fake It Friday, I decided to curl up under a blanket and practice illustrating by copying one of my favorite fashion illustrators, Holly Nichols.
Holly’s style is amazing. I love how both realistic and clearly illustrated are all her girls. And I LOVE her faces – especially her eyes. I constantly practice trying to attain her beautiful, long lashed eyes. I also love the clothes she illustrates – they are mostly all things I would love to wear, or admire from designers I like. Holly is also an amazing businesswoman, who is active on social media, and seeks opportunities to help fellow aspiring illustrators with honest advice and by providing platforms for collaboration, learning and inspiration. I recently joined her Facebook group and have learned so much about the fashion illustrated industry.
For tonight’s sketch I picked this relatively simple fall-winter look. I love this – perhaps this will need to be an actual make sometime this fall…!
I had fun sketching it out – first in pencil. I use a mechanical pencil for sketching because I like my strokes to be consistently the same size.
Then I add the outlines. Holly outlines LAST after all the color has been applied. I haven’t been successful in erasing my pencil marks after I color the illustration. Holly uses Copic markers, so maybe they work differently than my Prismacolor markers??? I use different size black pens – smaller on the facial features, larger on the garment outlines. After I complete all my outlines, I erase all the remaining pencil marks.
Then I add my color! I need to add to my marker collection to get more colors, but I can manipulate my colors to look differently by layering them. I love how the color of the fur on this turned out.
Why copy another illustrator? I like to copy illustrations purely for practice. It gives me ideas for different ways to create details, different ways to shade and outline and create texture on the garments. By trying to copy/emulate another illustrator, it helps me get the basics down, so I can then add my own style and flair for my own designs. I will never sell or distribute in any way the illustrations I copy – they remain in my sketch book. It is important to honor the original artists and ensure their retain all their rights to their original artwork.
Until I really get in my own sketch style groove, I like to Fake It and try my best to emulate the most interesting illustrations I can find. Another illustrator I love and follow on Instagram is Megan Hess – and she has an adorable new children’s book out.
Happy Friday Friends! Enjoy your weekend!
