Monday Sketches

I've decided to start a segment every Monday and bring back the "Illustration" portion of my blog more into light. I don't always go out and paint or draw, and sometimes the only work I might do all week would be content related to my Graduate Studies. Whatever may be the case, the artwork from the week will (hopefully) be shared every Monday starting today. 

The first image you see here is from my current Graduate class, Digital Painting. Our projects explore developing technique and understanding how to utilize programs like Photoshop and Corel Painter. This picture was done in Photoshop, using many layers and lots of time spent on smoothing, painting, and developing the shadows, light, and other aspects of the image. 

The second image is also for Digital Painting class, and has been worked on in Corel Painter. It's a different program, one I had never used before. It takes a lot of getting used to the different brushes and figuring out how to build up the colors to get a good blending and painterly feel. This one is still a work in progress. 

The next two are sketches from early last week. School's been rough, and working on something looser, freer, and more fun helps to get over those tough humps. It started out with the first sketch, a made-up design on a tall sinuous woman. Then I decided to draw the same design on a plus-sized woman (the stuff I live for!) and found the result to be just as elegant. 

So for those who think a design won't work on a larger person, think a little harder! Plus sized women love good fitting clothing and stylish options too.

Later in the week I got a chance to go out and actually sit in a Starbucks and paint (hadn't been able to do that in what feels like months!) and it felt so good! I painted a slightly larger but not quite plus-sized girl in a pin-up styled pose wearing a jumpsuit. In my Graduate Studies I'm taking a Fashion History class and had just learned about the importance of Loungewear in the 1930s. This image almost directly stems from that inspiration. 

Here's a better look at the completed image. 

The final image of this post features an Outfit of the Day I wore to an event last Thursday! I didn't get a chance to get a snapshot of the outfit, so I decided to paint it instead. It features a vintage skirt I bought from the Lone Star Vintage trunk show (you can read all about that here). 

All in all, I hope to make Monday Sketches a habit to keep me blogging and to keep me drawing outside of just school!

Until next time!