Asperkid's Charitable Fashion Coloring Book

A few months ago I was asked to contribute fashion history illustrations for a wonderful new charitable coloring book that has just been released; The Asperkid's Not-Your-Average-Coloring-Book written by Jennifer Cook O'Toole. This unique coloring book covers topics that appeal to kids on the autism spectrum by encouraging them to try new things and showing spectrum kids the potential career value of their natural talents through artwork based on science, nature, history, math and myths.

It was great to work on these historical fashion sketches and solely focus on the designs through line drawing. I have to mention that while the 1960's mod look (at the top) is probably my favorite of the group due to the strong pose and bold accessories, the 1970's illustration was inspired by one of my favorite photo's from the 1970's of my grandma (which I also featured here on Fabulous Doodles a while back.) As for the other two line drawings,  they gave me a great excuse to whip out my art and fashion history books and seek out some primary resources for inspiration. 

I'm honored to be a part of this coloring book and encourage you to show your support for Asperkids and order a copy for the little artist in your life, whether or not they are on the spectrum. A portion of the proceeds will go towards supporting art programs for children on the autism spectrum. Although I'm only one of the contributing illustrators featured in the book, I've added The Asperkids's Not-Your-Average-Coloring-Book to my Amazon shop under titles I've illustrated, to make it easy to find and order. Happy coloring!  

Teaching Fashion Illustration at Stitched Fashion Camp

A few weeks ago I spent a day out in East Hampton teaching fashion illustration to the adorable campers of Stitched Fashion Camp. Stitched is the brainchild of Elle's creative director Joe Zee and Parsons adjunct professor Rob Yonkers. Its a week long summer fashion day camp that encompasses all the elements of the fashion industry and I had the honor of being asked to join as the industry expert on fashion illustration!

I prepared a handful of lessons including croquis (aka. fashion figures, its taken from French, the literal translation is "sketch." Its pronounced crow-key) development and various fabric and pattern rendering techniques, many of which were taken directly from archived Fabulous Doodles posts. I gave the fashion campers a lesson in fashion figures and poses and demonstrated rendering fabrics including sequins and beading, leopard, zebra, and denim. We also worked together one-on-one and I gave mini tutorials on drawing elements like faces, hair, hands and feet, just about anything the kids said they were struggling with drawing.

Throughout the day the kids tried the fabric rendering techniques I taught them and worked on illustrations of looks from their own mini collections. Many used the ditto's I handed out as a guideline, one of which is the photo-to-croquis example shown above (for more fashion figure info you can click over to my pose tutorial post.) And others created original fashion figures of their own from photo inspiration. Below is a picture of some their fabulous illustrations fresh from their sketchbooks.

Spending a day out in Hamptons and getting to work with these 12 kids ranging in age from about 10 to 15 was truly fantastic. The kids were so adorable, and so eager to learn and improve their illustrations. I have to admit I was a little nervous going in, as I had only ever tutored before one-on-one and this was my first real classroom setting but I have a feeling it won't be my last! It was such a wonderful and fulfilling experience, especially seeing the excitement in the kids eyes and the pride they exuded when they saw what they could achieve.

Click here for more about Joe Zee and Rob Yonkers Stitched Fashion Camp and if you're interested in my private tutoring and located in NYC you can email me at FabulousDoodles@gmail.com for rates.

Child Fashion Illustrations {Sadie Yanks}

How insanely adorable are these little girl fashion illustrations inspired by the lovely Sadie, daughter of Editor in Chief of Hamptons Magazine and Editor at Large of Gotham Magazine Samantha Yanks!? I met Samantha about a year and a half ago at New York Fashion Week. We had great chat about her love of fashion illustration, discussed possible custom sketches, and soon after started following one another on Instagram.

Aside from the recent book I illustrated (which I just posted about this weekend) and the occasional bat-mitzvah girl, I haven't actually drawn many children. Well, cut to this summer and Samantha posting all these amazing photo's of Sadie and her adorable Hampton's-chic looks that I continually "like" on Instagram, and the conversation of custom sketching her fabulous little daughter started up again. 

I chose my three favorite looks from Sadie, which turned out to be Samantha's favorites as well! I tried to capture not only her style but also attitude and personality, which certainly shine through in her photos. I have to admit, I'm sort of obsessed with how these sketches came out! Samantha loves them too and we're making them into large prints to frame and hang in Sadie's room. I can't wait to see how they look blown up and in her space. 

To commission a custom illustration of the little one in your life simply click over to my Etsy shop where you can see more examples of my custom work, read about the process and purchase a custom listing of your own. Also be sure and follow Samantha through her site, twitter and instagram for all her chic and "#spyLUXE" finds.

(Instagram photos by Samantha Yanks and illustrations by Brooke Hagel) 

My Third Illustrated Book, The DREAM BIG Academy

I'm so excited to share that the third book I've illustrated is now available! The DREAM BIG Academy Rosie Wants to be a Fireman is written by Marissa Klein and illustrated by yours truly, Brooke Hagel. This was such a fun project to work on and quite different from my previous two books, which are drawing tutorials as opposed to a story-based children's book about a single character.   

The DREAM BIG Academy Rosie Wants to be a Fireman is a wonderful little book in what will hopefully become a full children's book series about a little girl named Rosie who goes to bed at night and dreams big dreams of the places she could go and what she could become when she grows up. I think Rosie will truly touch both little girls as well as their moms. I'm not yet a mom but I can tell you she resonated with me, my inner girl, and the big dreams I had and still have for myself. (Rosie even has a stuffed elephant named Ellie, which was the name of my favorite childhood stuffed animal! Mine was light gray and about ten times the size of Rosie's but it's a fun coincidence nonetheless.)  

This book is in the process of being self published by the author Marissa Klein, through a fundraising site called Indiegogo. By clicking on over to The DREAM BIG Academy page on Indiegogo you can help Marissa reach her goal of self publishing this book while getting yourself a signed copy of the limited first-run! If you chip in a little more you can also get a signed print of Rosie to frame and hang in your home. I have my fingers crossed that Marissa raises all the seed money she needs to publish this wonderful little book and I can soon hold a printed copy in my hands. 

Giveaway! {Fashion Illustration Books}

I have two exciting Fabulous Doodles giveaways! Enter to win one of the fashion illustration books I recently worked on: Girly Girl Style and Harajuku Style, both illustrated by moi, Brooke Hagel. I posted about both books a few weeks ago when they were first released, sharing peeks inside as well as little descriptions and insights, which you can check out here.

Two winners will be chosen, one for each book. To enter simply click on the link below and follow the instructions. Easy peasy! You can enter multiple ways to earn more entries, so make sure to enter your email, tweet and give a Facebook like. The winners will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fashion Illustration Books {Brooke Hagel}

I'd like to share the first two fashion illustration books I've illustrated! They are part of a new instructional series by Capstone Publishing called "Fun Fashions You Can Sketch" and as of February 1st they're out and available on Amazon for purchase.

Harajuku Style: Fun Fashions You Can Sketch, showcases Tokyo's Harajuku culture and style. Sketching and learning about Harajuku girls and their style was something completely new for me. Harajuku girls are all about themeing out an outfit and piling on layers and accessories to complete a look from head to toe. They made for some really fun illustrations including Mixed Traditions (shown above) my favorite illustration of them all, Take it to the Street, and Tokyo Punk, amoung others.

The second book, Girly Girl Style: Fun Fashions You Can Sketch, showcases ultra girly and feminine designs. Similar to the Harajuku book, I was given precise outfit design direction for each look, such as On the Runway, Crocheted Cutie, Style at Sea and Radiant Romper (all shown above) and drew detailed illustrations building a sketch from a loose gesture drawing to polished final illustration.

As I was only hired to illustrate these books and not write or consult as to how to actually build a illustration, I do have a difference of opinion regarding how to render some fabrics and build an illustration. In actuality I don't really draw this way, with this many steps and layers, however these books are for beginners, focused primarily towards tweens, so the illustrations are broken down and made clear. They are fun little books and would make a great gift for any fashion loving tween. The books are being marketed to school libraries, however they're also available on Amazon.

It has been a interesting experience illustrating my first two books. Like many projects it was really a learning process, with ups and downs along the way. Deciding how I wanted my name to appear in the Library of Congress was pretty cool and debating some of the design direction was a challenge, but I'm excited they're out there now. I hope kids enjoy them and hopefully they're the first of many more books throughout my career. Check back next week for a giveaway and your chance to win one!

Mommy Illustrations {A Baby Affair}

Moms, babys and kids don't come across my sketchbook too often (unlike my staple brides) so working on these sketches of mommies and their tiny tots for A Baby Affair was fun change. This illustration of a chic mom on-the-go with her bugaboo stroller is the main one chosen for web and branding, but for this luxury expo focused toward the modern mom and moms-to-be I sketched a whole bunch of moms and thier little ones. All the illustrations will be used on signage throughout the event but here's a peek at a few of my faves.

The best element of these illustrations, in my humble opinion, is the adorable little girl peeking out from behind her moms leg. I mean, a big pink skirt, wild curls, and patterned tights?! Cutie-pie perfection. For more information about this Washington D.C. luxury expos, you can click here: A Baby Affair or A Chic Affair for its bridal expo "sister" I feaured yesterday.

(Illustrations by Brooke Hagel)