Beneath.....

A bit of pin-up flavour ;-)

Illustration Friday - Breakfast......

.........at Tiffany's

Rescue

A bit of pop culture for this weeks challenge.... Dr. Gregory House from the TV show House MD.
Cause there quite a few ways that rescue could apply to that show, and I don't draw enough guys:)

Subterranean

Persephone the queen on the underworld in Greek mythology. The is drawing straight from my sketchbook.... don't have time for anything more this week, but maybe I'll come back to it later as I love drawing her....check her out in her previous fashionable incarnation.

Perspective

Adrift

Creepy Chic

Done for A Fashionable Challenge.....the prompt was creepy chic and since I'm busy reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels a vampire was the obvious choice!

What I Wore Today

I'm a bit of a Flickr addict and one of my newest obsessions over there is the awesome What I wore Today(drawings only) group. It's packed with absolutely gorgeous illustrations and great fashion inspiration. It's so fascinating checking out what the members from all over the world is wearing and what they have to say about their clothing and the day their having, and the BEST part is that it's all drawings....which I think is so much more evocative than taking a piccie of yourself in the bathroom mirror. You can really create a mood/feeling in a drawing that's hard to capture in a photograph when your not a professional photographer and have only yourself and your limited wardrobe to work with.

Also I have never in my life been able to keep a journal or diary, I just struggle to keep to a routine like that.....but I find this is working for me so far. It combines two of my passions - drawing and clothing, and I think it will be interesting to page through the book in the future and look back at what you wore.

Pattern

This just proves that I'll use any excuse to draw a girl with loads of hair;)

Austere vs Party Girl

Two polar opposites.....both done for A Fashionable Challenge

Austere by

I went for a bit of revolutionary chic with the Austere prompt....he he he

nothing bad by danettemaree featuring

and a bit of frothy pink fun for the Party Girl prompt.

Magnify

Done for Illustration Friday, the theme is Magnify......which gives me a brilliant excuse to draw a pirate chick with a spyglass;)

Caution

Sailors have caution......

The scanner kinda messed up her nice gold and silver jewellery.... ah well

The Little Black Dress

Done for A Fashionable Challenge. I think the little black dress is such an enduring favorite because of it's amazing versatility. You can dress it up diffrently each time you wear it.

Tango for Illustration Friday

EDM 229_Draw a summer joy

Okay so maybe not......I'm in the middle of the S.hemisphere winter, so no ice cream, cold beer, flip flops, peaches or any of the other wonderful summer joys everybody have been drawing.

So here is my WINTER joy.......wait for it......scarfs!!! I have loads, I wear one every day, I knit them myself. I'm NOT a winter person.....hate being cold, but scarfs take the edge of the suckiest season of the year.

The drawing was coloured in Photoshop.....I had a quiet afternoon at work;)

the pencil drawing.....before I made it purty!

Drifting

Flash back to the 80's

Another prompt from A fashionable Challenge, this one was a lot of fun to draw. Fashion in the 80's was so over the top and out there, you can really go crazy when illustrating it. This look was inspired by Madonna's look in Desperately Seeking Susan. I know the clothing in that movie is more black, but for some reason I struggle when colouring some thing black..... it's either to light and ends up looking grey or this to dark and it just looks flat. I also drew a little ra-ra skirt instead of those horrible men's style 80's pants........and I did some white lace tights for fun, although you can't really see the lace pattern on the computer screen. I remember my Barbie doll had a pair of pink lace tights that I loved!!

Craving

When I read this weeks prompt, the first thing that came to mind was cake, then I thought of Marie Antoinette and that led me to all the things that she craved. I suppose she got a lot of the things she craved for......diamonds, shoes, dresses. But I also imagine she craved some things that she could never have... privacy for example. I can't even begin to imagine giving birth in a room so full of people that you pass out from lack of air.

I heart Shweshwe

I was busy this week with a drawing for A Fashionable Challenge with the theme 'home girl'. The prompt was to draw something that represent your town/neighbourhood. Well of course I had to draw some Shweshwe....... the perfect fabric to represent South Africa.

Photo from Da Gama Textiles

Shweshwe has a looong history in South Africa, it was first brought here by European missionaries some where in the 1800's and has been popular with ordinary South Africans for about just as long.

It's still made in much the same way, only the indigo dye has since become synthetic. The distinctive delicate patterns are produced through an acid discharge method. The fabric is fed through copper rollers with the design etched onto it. These allow a weak acid solution to seep into the fabric and bleach out the design.

Another of the fabrics distinctive characteristics also dates form it's early travels to our shores. Shweshwe is the only fabric I can identify just by smell! To protect the bolts of fabric on the long sea passages to Africa it was heavily starched, giving it the smell that we know it by. Today it is manufactured in South Africa but for traditional reasons it is still starched. Cause that's how we know and love it!

A few years back it South African fashion designers suddenly noticed it and it had it's 15 minutes on catwalks around the country. But it's vintage production methods means it can only be produced in a very narrow width, making it unsuitable for mass production in clothing factories. Which means it remains kinda under the radar only being made into fab outfits by loving hands.

I've made my fare share of shweshwe skirts and I LOVE the fabric. After washing the starch out it is a lovely soft cotton, perfect for summer skirts. Which brings me to it's name........it comes from the sound of the skirt swishing around your legs. Gotta love that.

Da Gama Textile is the biggest manufacturer of traditional Shweshwe fabrics in South Africa, for more on the fabric check out their website here. And check out this cool blog for South Africans wearing their fav fabric.

Roll up, Roll up!!

Hurrah! for the first post! I think some colourful balloons are in order. I did this drawing especially to celebrate the occasion ;)