Eva Mendes Sketches for Vogue Eyewear Party

A little over a week ago I flew to LA to live sketch at Vogue Eyewear's party celebrating Eva Mendes as the new face of their campaign. Before heading out west I sketched a bunch of fashion illustrations of Eva in various frames based off campaign shots that the lovely group at Luxottica, Vogue Eyewear's parent company, had sent me. I drew Eva in about six different eyewear looks, scanned the art and emailed them off to Luxottica in Milan and their PR company in New York. Then I crossed my fingers that all parties involved would like them.

Well, like them they did, because when I arrived at the event in Beverly Hills the space was filled with large framed prints of my illustrations. I even overheard some of the Luxottica ladies talking about shipping them back to Milan for their offices! Since Eva was hosting the soiree I decided to bring signed mini prints of the sketches for her, and was told she loved them too.

I'm still editing photo's of the event which I'll share later in the week, including some live-sketches I drew of the party guests and photo's of the sexy venue but in the mean time I wanted to post a few of my favorites of the beautiful Eva Mendes.

Fashion Illustrations of Party Guests {Part 1}

Last week I participated in a fabulous party/event where I sat and live sketched quickie fashion illustrations of party guests. My illustration table turned out to be quite the hit of the party and resulted in some fun and fashionable new sketches, like the one shown above of Kimberly, the lovely author of Eat.Sleep.Wear. I did share (via Twitter & Instagram) a few pictures of illustrations fresh off my sketchbook that night but thought I'd feature some more of my favorites here on Fabulous Doodles.

This "Midsummer Soiree" was thrown by Cameo PR as thank to the NY based editors and fashion bloggers whom they work with on a daily basis. I was only signed on to draw guests for 1.5-2 hours but my table got so crowded and I had such a long list of party guests wanting an illustration that I ended up staying and sketching just over 3 hours without getting up even once! It was a challenge to capture each guest in a such a small time frame but I tried to zero in on something that made them unique and made their personality and style shine through. For some it was their edgy summer party frocks and rocking attitude, like Kim's cheetah print silk shorts and dark shades, or Dawn's classic LBD and giant quilted Chanel bag.

 As for other guests/models it was their demeanor and pose witch made their personality come through in the drawings. The top two friends wanted to be drawn together and I loved how their two summer dress looks complimented one another as well their stance. Sarah (in the middle above) was adorable in her preppy "anchor pants" and I tried to capture her preppy-chic style in a comparable fun and flirty pose.

My live party guest sketching station was certainly a success, guests were thrilled with their illustrations and I plan share more sketches from the event later in the week. For rates to sketch at your event you can email me at FabulousDoodles@gmail.com.

(All images and illustrations: Brooke Hagel)

Head Shot Illustrations for Polka Dot Bride

Years ago I was commissioned by Ms. Polka Dot Bride to create a "head shot" illustration for her popular site as well as an original bridal fashion illustration of a retro polka dot bride to adorn her office.

Since that first commission, Ms. Polka Dot Bride has expanded her Australian based website and taken on a new staff of bridal bloggers, who of course now need illustrations as well. The girls reached out to me for a new batch of head shot sketches. Each fashion illustration resembles the writer behind the blog in hair color, eyes, hair style and wedding dress silhouette.

I think the bridal bloggers are pretty happy with their new sketches, Ms. Floral recently tweeted that "They all look fantastic. If only my hair stayed that perfect in real life!" This was such a fun little project, as I absolutely love illustrating head shots, making them brides, well that was just the icing on the cake.

Happy Birthday Fabulous Doodles

It's my first "Blog Birthday"! I can hardly believe I've been authoring a blog for a year now. I'd like to say a big thank you to you, all my wonderful readers! I'm so grateful for your support, encouragement, questions and comments.

I was extremely intimidated to start writing and putting myself out in the blogsphere for all to see, but its been such a positive experience. When I started Fabulous Doodles I thought I would simply share new products added to my Etsy shop and the occasional fashion illustration from designers. I had no idea people would contact me for advise and that my blog would turn into sharing not only my illustrations and current projects but books, tools and tips for others to use and learn from.

One year has past, 135 posts, numerous freelance projects, features, press, and Fabulous Doodles continues to grow. You can check out my first post, by clicking here, and see how I timidly started. Once again, I thank you and look forward to your comments, tweets, and facebook fan page messages in the next year.

Showerific

As if getting packages in the mail wasn't exciting enough, its ten times more so when it's a surprise package you weren't expecting! I came home to find a box at my door from River Cottage Farm. At first glance I thought maybe I had ordered something from etsy late night and forgotten about it (which does happen on occasion), but when I picked up the box I instantly knew some sweet handmade body products were awaiting me because the return label had my fancy farmgirl sketch on it! As do all the yummy shower scrubs, sugar cubes and lip balms that were inside. It's such a thrill to see my illustrations on actual products, and amazingly smelling ones are even better. Here's an old post about working on this project.

Step 3: Ta da!

Well as you may have guessed by the title of this post, step 3 in the custom order process is completing the final artwork. Once the line drawing is perfected and approved by the client, (Adam, who's name I can now share with you because he gave it to his wife Heather this past weekend for their first anniversary so it's no longer her surprise 1 year anniversary paper gift) I then get to work on the coloring and fabric rendering.

I love this step. This is where the illustration comes to life, the make it or break it moment (well, hours really). Some bridal illustrations take only one to two hours to render in color, like Heather here. But some take much longer, when the dress is head to toe lace or a ornate vintage gown. So here she is, I hope you liked seeing and reading about my process and getting a peak at my messy desk here.

I got an email from Adam last night telling the gift went over really well: "Heather loved it! It literally brought tears to her eyes!" I couldn't ask for anything more, I looooove a happy client! It was also such a pleasure to work with Adam, so thank you for that Adam, and thank you for letting me share it all here on my blog. Happy 1st Anniversary!