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!  

New Bride Fashion Illustration Prints

Last week I finally added some new bridal fashion illustration prints to Brooklit Bride, my etsy wedding illustration shop. Often when I'm stuck in a creative rut or have come to a roadblock on a project I'll take a break and sketch something different to inspire me and get the pencil moving. Last week I went through my sketchbook and realized I had a bunch of new brides in there ready to be scanned at added to the shop. Molly (shown above) is my favorite of the new girls. She was inspired by a recent New York Magazine Weddings cover I admired where the bride was wearing a cozy sweater. Adding to the casual and sexy off the shoulder sweater I gave her a messy bun and nerd-chic glasses, then juxtaposed her look with a sleek skirt and pretty bouquet.

The next bride is drawn in a classic a-line tulle gown with a beaded waistband and draped sweetheart neckline. She ended up looking so poised and regal that I gave her the name Grace after Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco.

Penny here (shown above) is a Pinterest inspired bridal illustration. I recently started a "Sketchable Headshots" board featuring women with beautiful faces and sketch worthy hair styling and accessories. Penny, with her floral headband and pretty pout were taken right from this inspiration board. For her dress I kept it simple and modern with floral lace details to compliment the bohemian vibe of her headband and named her Penny after one of my favorite boho movie characters, Penny Lane from Almost Famous.

And last but not least is an elegant bride I've named Mia wearing a dropped waist tiered gown with lace applique trim at the neckline, waist and tier hems. Her hair is in a traditional updo with a chunky bangs for a modern (and First Lady) twist.

All these new bridal prints are available in my bridal shop, Brooklit Bride and the wallpapers featured are all from Graham & Brown.

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!

Holiday in Paris

(Top: In my Parisian stripes and beret enjoying our view, the Arc de Triomphe early morning, Place de la Concorde. Middle: Louve ceiling, Eiffel Tower, my Paris visual packing list.* Bottom: The Seine, Versailles, Musee d'Orsay.) 

Bonjour! I'm back from a much needed vacation, a holiday trip to Paris, France with two of my best girlfriends. The trip was so wonderful and Paris is so beautiful and picturesque that I had to post some of my photos here on Fabulous Doodles. Within five minutes of arriving from the airport I could see why this city has inspired so many artists, designers and writers. At every turn, around every corner, is another incredibly charming street, building, shop and lamppost.

(Top: Van Gogh's apartment building door, beautiful Montmartre street, "tourist pic" at the Eiffel Tower. Middle: Versailles, Arc de Triomphe with my girls, pyramids of the Louve.  Bottom: entranced by Renior at the Musee d'Orsay, chocolate eclair, the Artist's Bridge.) 

Being there just a week we saw most of the sights, strolled along the beautiful Seine and enjoy our fair share of Parisian delicacies but I can't wait to return, perhaps in the spring next time to relax and take in more of the lovely city. Merci for a wonderful week Paris, I'll be revisting these pictures often. Au revoir!

*Visual Packing List- Every trip I pack for thats more than a few days I sketch up a what call my "visual packing list," a quick visual reference in the form of little thumbnail sketches of all the outfits I've packed. This way I can easily see what I've worn, what I have left, and what I can mix and match. Here's another I posted from a trip to Israel and Egypt years ago.

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)

Instagram Addict

As my friends can attest to I'm a bit of a picture taking fanatic, therefore my favorite iPhone app has quickly become Instagram. In the past few months I've become a little obsessed and have been sharing everything from sneak peaks at projects I'm working on and quick sketchbook doodles, to my diy's, glimpses into my apartment and the occasional shot while out and about in the city. Shown here are a bunch of my recent favorites, but you can check out more of my pictures by following me, Brooklit. (I often share my photo's from Instragram through twitter too, which I also go by Brooklit.)

Instagram has many wonderful aspects to it but a favorite of mine is the ease of editing your images with color effects, brightness and adding a blur which you can easily adjust the size and focus of. Its so much quicker and easier than importing to photoshop. Its also fun to see what your friends are up to and "like" and/or comment on images that they post. (Here's a peak of my latest Instagram pic of a new Tuesday Tip I'm working on.)

You can now turn your Instagram photo's into something more; prints, books, magnets, even iphone cases. My friend Holly Becker of Decor8 recently did a wonderful round up of printing options for your Instagram shots, which you can check out here. I'll certainly be placing orders from a site or two from her list soon.

(All images taken by me on Instragram, @Brooklit)

Secret Weapons {Part 3}

I am continually asked what tools I use most in my fashion illustrations so I thought it was time for another installment of Secret Weapons. First up, is my sketchbook and paper of choice. This may come as a surprise, being that I make a living as an artist you may think I'd use something fancy and expensive from an art supply store, but I do not. For years I've been using these Barnes & Noble exclusive sketchbooks. The reason I like them so much is that the paper is thick, almost a card stock, and super bright white. The whiteness is important to me because I scan most of my work. They have a spiral binding, which I prefer so the book can lay flat, thick hardcovers that protect the pages well, should I decide to throw in my bag, and the piece de resistance is they have perforated pages for easy tearing out. They also come in different sizes, so I have small ones (above) for quick thumbnail sketches and traveling, and larger ones for my more polished sketches. (Keep in mind however that these are not the best choice for a beginners because, as I mentioned, the paper is thick, and not conducive to tracing. It also soaks up the marker, which means you have to move fast. When I was in college, and learning, my paper of choice was Bienfang marker paper.)

Next I'd like to share the white charcoal pencil. These are fantastic for creating highlights over marker, even better than white pencils because of how dense and opaque they are. If you take a look at my last post about my new print Miriam, you can see that I used a log of the white charcoal pencil to render the large brimmed hat and create texture and highlights within it. I also use it to add shine and highlights to hair in almost all my illustrations.

Lastly is something I absolutely cannot live without when sketching, the amazing kneaded eraser. It picks up everything from the faintest smudge to heavy thick lines. Its pliable and can be molded to easily into a sharp point or stretched out for easily self cleaning and it doesn't leave marks. The kneaded eraser is a must have. (I realize I sound like a infomercial here, but its true!)

For more of my secret weapons you can check out part 1 and part 2 here.

Back to Basics

Lately I've felt I needed a little jolt in the creativity department and these drawings may be it. I dusted off my sketchbook and am really excited to share my latest sketches. These are not the usual fashion illustrations I share here on Fabulous Doodles but they're a well needed breath of fresh air for me and my Etsy shop, Brooklit. I haven't drawn like this years and its such a nice thing to revisit.

It started about a few weeks ago when I decided to dig out my watercolors and paint some little mermaids for my bathroom (shown below). Then continuing my obsession with Pinterest, I found some fantastic photos, like this beautiful ballerina (above,) that inspired me to start drawing again. I used to be so opposed to drawing from a picture, that it wasn't really drawing if you were working off a 2D image. (I guess I've gotten over that one since building my custom bridal illustration business!)

Drawing, shading, and texturizing my subject with only pencil and using brushes and paints again has been like visiting an old friend I haven't seen in a decade. (I feel like I sound crazy, I realize this, but its true!)

So for the summer I've decided to keep this sketching momentum going by adding these sketches, starting with Brooklyn Ballerina to my etsy shop available as $6 mini prints. I think this will be a nice little summer project to reinvigorate me and the shop. Are you trying anything new for summer?

She's a Sketch {Louise}

Living in Manhattan its hard to miss all the beautiful girls abound. Within the group, there are a select few that can only be described, at least to this fashion illustrator, as "A Sketch." Its girls who have that je ne sais quoi. A combination of the modelesque physique paired with a flawlessly chic fashion sense. Louise here, who I spotted on the roof-deck of the Met, is surely one of them!

Louise was kind enough to take a picture of my friend Sarah and I. As she was taking our photo I couldn't help but notice how adorable she was and asked if I could take a pic of her for my "she's a sketch" series here on Fabulous Doodles.

It was a brutally hot city day yet she looked so calm, cool and collected in her linen shorts, wrap tank, and ballet flats. I came home inspired by Louise (who told us she was from Holland!) and all the amazing pencil drawings I saw at the Metropolitan Museum that day that I decided to pick up my sketchbook and draw.

Click here for my previous She's a Sketch post.

Inside the Sketchbook: Club Monaco

I happen to live a few blocks away from a Club Monaco store that I pass by multiple times everyday. The window displays and merchandising are always superb but this week they literally stopped me in my tracks. The entire window consists of fashion illustrations that look like they're ripped right from a designers sketchbook! The first time I walked by was evening and the store was closed so I had to settle for taking some pictures and letting my mind wander; are they student work, are they the interns, or are they from the Club Monaco design team?

Well I went back during store hours, spoke with the manager, and after she did a little research she called me with the answer! All the illustrations are by one woman: Caroline Belhumeur, Club Monaco's Vice President of Women's Design Apparel and Accessories.

I adore Caroline's technique and the way she uses simple contouring without loosing any design details. I also love that the croquis are so well-styled and complete with glasses, handbags, and even jewelry. The original illustrations can be seen in the 57th street store and all the other stores display copies. I absolutely love this concept for store displays. You get to see how the designer intended for the clothing to look, get styling ideas, and see the fabulous fashion illustrations that started it all.

These sketches inspire me to pick up my sketchbook and a pencil and let the idea's flow. Lately my sketches are solely for clients and have a distinct direction, such as a "profile of a bride." Its hard sometimes to make time for sketching for the sake of sketching.

Thank you Shannon, for using your investigation skills and helping me out!

Inside the Sketchbook: Renaldo Barnette

As promised I have more fabulous fashion illustrations to share with you from the sketchbook of my friend Renaldo Barnette. These illustrations are a small sampling of the inner (and outer, with the cover sketch pictured above) workings of his sketchbook and how he builds on ideas and develops his designs.

I love how he uses dress forms here to illustrate the back of designs. Its different and adds depth to the pages but its also such a genius time saver. I didn't actually discuss this with Ren, so I can only speak for myself here, but each illustration takes time, even if its just a back view. So to not have to illustrate another set arms, legs, head of hair, etc. helps your design rhythm to flow and stay focused on creating.

Another element in Renaldo's sketches that I admire is that he illustrates a variety of ethnicities and bodies. Many illustrators stick to one overall look but that is clearly not the case for Renaldo. You even see evidence of that in the few images in this one post.

These were just a few samples of Renaldo's work that I quickly photographed while we sat on park bench in my neighborhood with an hour to kill. Hopefully he'll let me share some more with you again soon. (And hopefully next time there won't be a sketchy homeless man serenading me!) Because I love a good Renaldo fix, as I'm sure you, my readers, do too!

Renaldo Barnette for Maggy London

Tonight I had the pleasure of catching up with my good friend Renaldo. While chatting about life, love, our mothers and fashion, Renaldo shared the latest designs from his sketchbook with me, and let me photograph them to feature here on Fabulous Doodles.

One of Renaldo's designs for Maggy London was recently featured in a Macy's ad in the New York Times! It's so impressive to see a published design next to the illustration that created it in the middle of a sketchbook.

I just love Renaldo's sketches, and don't these newest girls seem to ooze confidence with their edgy short hair styles.

Next week I'll share some more sketches from Ren's book, but in the mean time you can check out my previous posts I wrote about him last year here and here.

Tuesday Tips: Hair

This is the first post in a new series I'm starting for the next 4 weeks called Tuesday Tips. Every tuesday I'm going to post a little tip for you. Whether your an aspiring fashion illustrator or just dabbling and looking to try it out, I'm hoping my tips will come in handy. First up; Hair.

The most important thing to know when illustrating hair is to draw the hair as it grows and flows, as you'd brush it, roots to ends. Hair should not be colored as a solid mass of flat color. Also pay attention to the color variations and the shadows. Flip through a magazine or pick up some personal photos and look at the hair, there are deep dark shadows, the darkest of which are around the neck, and bright highlights on the top and sides where light hits.

I've drawn these three girls to clearly show you my process. First I draw a pencil sketch. Secondly I apply the main colors in marker. Then I polish her up and apply all shadows and highlights with colored pencils. Now if only styling my hair in real life was as easy as one two three. :)

You can also check out my Doodle Darlings to see line drawings of different hair styles, which you can look at as a base, before coloring, like the pencil steps shown here.

Lovely List: Design Ideas

Design inspiration can come from anywhere and anything. A blank piece of white paper and a pencil can be very daunting, sometimes it really helps to have a specific theme or inspiration source. I've assembled a list for you of possible design ideas to work from. (I actually LOVE making lists. There's so much satisfaction in checking something off a list!) Some of these were assignments of mine from college (FIT) and others I just came up and think could be fun.

• A collection inspired by costume history. Dig deep, how about a contemporary Egyptian inspired collection?
• Design a wardrobe for your favorite character from a book, film, television show, etc.
• Design a concert wardrobe for your favorite singer.
• Pick 2 opposing looks or ideas and meld them together, for example: Urban Quaker, Athletic Granny, Socialite Nun, or Biker Ballerina.
• Your favorite childhood outfit. I know you know the one! Why not use it as inspiration?
• Pick a country or a favorite vacation spot and google image your way to an inspired collection. Why not research Bali, Morocco, Israel or Switzerland and see what inspiration you may find.
• Chose a designer and a theme and design a collection as though you've just been hired as their head designer. One of my favorite projects from college is a collection I designed for "Bob Mackie inspired by Kabuki Couture".
• Create a mood board. Either base it around a theme, with one of the ideas listed above, or create a collection of images or swatches with a similar color scheme, or of papers and textures, like the one I have photographed here or in my previous post.

Design away, and see where the inspiration takes you!

Mood Board

I’m currently taking an online class given by Holly Becker author of Décor 8 and Leslie of Creative Mint. This week’s homework assignment was to create a personal mood board. I’m pretty happy with it, so I thought I’d share it here with you. The photo above is the whole board and below are some close ups I wanted to highlight.

As you’ve probably noticed if your one of my regular readers, I’m currently loving black, white and pink, so those are the colors I decided to work with when developing my board. I thought it was important to have layers of textures so I included: foil printed wallpaper, textured handmade papers, studded black leather, pink tulle, patent leather alligator paper, stingray textured paper, pompom trims, silver metal rimmed tags, and spiral sketchbooks. I really love the juxtaposition of textures like the biker studs and ballerina pink tulle mixed with fashion illustrations and super glam silhouettes!

I also love this black and white photo! In real life I’m a curly girl, the default photo I have on this blog is just the result of a great blow out, my hair doesn't really look like that on a daily basis! So I’ve always gravitated towards images and art with curls, especially when they’re this bold.

Being an artist, and that a big part of this blog is about my artwork I chose to include some of my illustrations. Most are from my etsy shop, but there’s also this sketch I did of my friends little sister that I’ve always really liked and her casual cool vibe just seemed to fit.

In addition to imagery that I liked I also chose key words that resonate with me, and what I want for this blog and for my life really; fashionable and chic, create and inspire, and fabulous doodles.

Face it

Last week someone posted a question to me on my Facebook fan page asking advice on drawing faces. I've since emailed her a few tips and a book suggestion but I thought I'd share one of my tips to here with you. It's something that helped me, so I thought it was worth it to share and maybe you'd want to try it as well. What is it I'm talking about? Copying.

Let me elaborate. It started when was hired by Timex to do a bunch of illustrations. (Previous post here) They emailed me their previous style guide and I was extremely intimidated by the illustrations of the previous illustrator. I wasn't sure I was right for the job and if I could give them what they needed. Like a lot of artists and women I guess, I tend to be my biggest critique and often have a lot of self doubt. So I decided to copy, or as we used to do back in high school, do "a study" of his work to see if I could pull it off. (shown above)

It really helped me and gave me the encouragement I needed and changed the way I illustrated. I really liked how the lips came out and have since changed my technique with them. It also inspired the necklace and turtleneck I chose for this Marie Antoinette sketch for Material Girls blog.

I'm not saying to flat out copy, publish, sell, or even fully take credit for someone else's idea and creativity. It's just an exercise that I've found to be helpful, especially when it comes to things that can be difficult to figure out such as faces, hands and profiles. You just may teach yourself something new in the process!

Fall in Love With...

Audrey Schilt. Two weeks ago while running to the subway amidst NY's first snow fall of the season I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. I was passing by my alma mater, the Fashion Institute of Technology and four huge fashion illustrations were on display in the windows. Normally its student work on display in this particular building but once I got closer I was floored, they were fantastic illustrations and inside was an entire exhibition of hundreds of them.

I hesitated going in, it was already dark, snowing out, and I was wanting to get home to my warm dry apartment, but once I walked in...wow, I was going to be there a while. Especially once the guard told me photo's were allowed! (Photo's are never allowed in the FIT museum across the street, but this was just the lobby of the D building.)

The whole exhibit featured illustrations by one illustrator, Audrey Schilt, a fellow FIT alum. For over thirty years Audrey sketched and designed for some of the most revered names in fashion. Audrey got her start working aside fashion icon Halston. "But Schilt is perhaps best known for her work at Ralph Lauren. Audrey worked with Ralph Lauren side by side for twenty-two years as he built his fashion empire. Schilt helped Lauren interpret and illustrate his creative ideas and eventually became his Creative Director of Collection, VP."

Each wall of the exhibit featured a different collection from her time at Ralph with a little write-up from Audrey on the mood, inspiration, and design evolution of the collections. The illustrations shown here are from the "Aviator" collection. I remember this collection well because the ad campaign for it was close ups of the mood boards, with fabric swatches, old photo's, findings, and designer sketches. (I'm a master at creating mood boards if I do say so myself. In my last nine-to-five I spent hours upon hours creating polished mood boards for designers, editors, and high level execs.)

About a year and half ago I had a meeting at Ralph Lauren Home. One of the highlights of the afternoon was after the meeting I got a personal tour around the offices including the mood board room. The boards measured about four feet wide by 6 feet tall and included every fabric sample from the runway collection. Not just swatches mind you, but full length fabric samples, think curtain samples! They were amazing. I could have stayed in that little room looking over those boards all day. Better yet, I think Ralph Lauren just needs hire me as a mood board rigger! Sorry for the long tangent here. But when it comes to Ralph I have a lot to say, I'm a huge fan of the man, the company, and the flawless lifestyle branding.

But back to Audrey now! I love collecting and studying designer illustrations. Seeing the different techniques, and the poses chosen to best illustrate design details of the garments. Audrey's illustrations have so much personality and spirit, I just love them and I'm sure you do too.