Three new apparel graphics just in time for the summer! Soak up the rays, the love and the waves. | Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
Summer Love | Buy shirt and more
Surf Play Love | Buy shirt and more
Palm Trees | Buy shirt and more
I’ve been playing around with psychedelic and painterly styles, fun fun! | Adobe Photoshop
Celestial | Buy shirt and more
Tie Dye | Buy print and more
For my latest designs, I drew inspiration from nature! Tribal feel, woodsy ephemera and the great outdoors all came into play. A great precursor to summer! Click each image to get it as a print, tshirt, iPhone accessories etc. | Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator
Tribal Mushroom | Buy print and more
Tribal Deer | Buy shirt and more
Camping | Buy shirt and more
Mountains | Buy shirt and more
True North | Buy shirt and more
I’ve teamed up with Humber College in Toronto, Canada to teach an 8-week class on Digital Drawing and Painting with a Tablet. The course focuses on using a tablet and stylus pen to create fun images in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop (my tools of the trade). Beginners will enjoy the ease of use of the tablet and experienced artists will become more familiar and possibly replace the mouse with a tablet for everyday use.
Classes run Saturdays 9am – 12pm from May 11 – June 29, 2013 at the Lakeshore campus. See the curriculum and sign up!
The Toronto Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2013 collection took place two weeks ago and it did not disappoint! Last year, I was invited to two shows and did live runway sketching. This year, instead of live sketching I chose five of my favourite looks and illustrated them after. This was partially due to having standing-room only in the audience (I had a seat last year which made it easier to sketch) and also because I can render the drawings better after the fact.
It was no easy feat picking just five looks from all the amazing creations. I’m very proud of the talent presented by Canadian fashion designers and these looks were my fave five:
Look 1: Pink Tartan. Love the headband, strong brows, pink fur and frock! | Adobe Photoshop
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Look 2: Caitlin Power. Modern lines in a deep berry / coffee hue. | Adobe Photoshop
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Look 3: Pavoni. Little black dress with beautiful lace accent. | Adobe Photoshop
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Look 4: Lucian Matis. Long dress with abstract earth tone pattern. | Adobe Photoshop
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Look 5: Joe Fresh. Ruffles and rhinestone embellished pants – say no more! | Adobe Photoshop
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Whenever I listen to Lana Del Rey’s “Born to Die” album, my mind is painted over with the retro imagery and tense mood evoked in her lyrics. The themes are sweet with a dark undertone and her life sounds like a constant struggle between romance and danger. This presented a fun artistic challenge as my work is usually bright and cheery, so I wanted to try a more melancholy emotion with this illustration. I captured her as a sad songstress in a world of heartbreak as reflected by the themes, motifs and lyrics from her album. And it doesn’t hurt that her style is pin-up / vintage, something we both agree with! | Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
Above: close-up of the details.
Above: the pattern items are based on lyrics from her “Born to Die” album. Can you spot them all? “Summertime sadness”, “Bambi eyes”, “got my hair up real big beauty queen style”, “fall like dominoes”, “do you think you’ll buy me lots of diamonds?”, “open up a beer…play a video game”, “drinkin’ cherry schnapps”, “dark paradise”, “born to die”, “facing time again at Riker’s Island”, “put your red dress on, put your lipstick on”, “eating soft ice cream…liquor’s top shelf”, “on the radio”, “perfume”, “baby put on heart shaped sunglasses”, “put my favorite record on”, “kiss me hard before you go”.
Above: pencil rough of how I envisioned the illustration. Not all items made it into the final pattern. The pattern started as a geometric tile repeat but looked too rigid so I went with an organic and flowing mixture.
Above: pencil rough of Lana’s cry-face.
Above: I went through many compositional changes and this is a chronology of Lana vs heart position. Initially, I planned to have her centered but eventually decided she “sat” better with the heart on an angle and more to one side. | View more progress
Sketching at Luminato’s Big Bang Bash 2013
Above: a few of my favourites from Dolls by Victor&Rolf, on now for FREE til June 30, 2013 at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
I had a wonderful time at the 2013 Luminato Festival’s Big Bang Bash gala last Saturday June 8! The event celebrated the launch of special art installation Dolls by Victor&Rolf at the Royal Ontario Museum, where numerous porcelain dolls donned miniature versions of their haute couture dresses. Along with fashion illustrator Danielle Meder, I sketched guests while they mingled, nibbled, and danced while decked out in the prettiest frocks and chicest suits.
This was a dream event since it featured plenty of my three fave F’s: fashion, fun and food. I’m so honoured to have sketched alongside Danielle, who is a key inspiration for my foray into fashion illustration and live sketching. And it was through her that I met Tatiana Read of Knot PR who ultimately suggested me for this fabulous event. Thanks ladies!
My highlights from the night: seeing actor William Dafoe in the crowd (he was performing in a play in town), sketching blogger Jay Strut, Fashion magazine editor-in-chief Bernadette Mora, and many many more! More photos on Luminato’s Facebook page and Flare magazine.