Vera Wang Designs for Kim K.

I was thrilled when I saw Vera Wang's tweet this morning directing me to her sketches of Kim Kardashian's three (yes, you read that right, she wore three) wedding gown designs. Needless to say, I love a designer sketch. Take a designer sketch and add in a celebrity or pop culture reference and I've got a guaranteed Fabulous Doodles feature. (You can check out similar previous posts with designs for 'Bella Swan' and Kate Middleton.)

This first dress, a classic princess ballgown design is the dress Kim wore to walk down the aisle for the actual wedding ceremony. As I love almost anything ballerina inspired, I adore the impressively large gathered tulle skirt and simplicity and elegance of the strapless lace bodice.

The second design, my personal favorite for Kim, is a dramatic lace ruffled mermaid silhouette that she donned for their first dance.

And last but not least, Kim's third dress is a v-neck bias cut satin gown with a flared skirt bottom. This one is the most simple and very old Hollywood and was worn to party the night away.

I'm so glad that Vera and the Wang gang decided to share these sketches. I wish more designers would follow suit. I'm also thankful thats its gotten me out my blogging rut! I can't believe its been a month since my last post. I'm sorry, its unlike me to let so much time lapse between posts but its been a nutty summer. (I have been posting on facebook and checking in on twitter though, so make sure you're a follower.)

Illustrations by Vera Wang

Custom Bridal Illustration: Emily

Another summer weekend has come and gone and with it another custom bridal illustration is mailed out to a bride. This one is Emily who happens to be a previous client actually. (No, its not her second wedding!) I previously worked with Emily years ago on seven custom Marie Antoinette inspired illustrations for her website, Material Girls.

Emily sent over a entire online album (from her photographer Taylor Lord Photography) of her bridal session photo shoot. It was the ideal way for me to work on a custom bridal illustration. It also didn't hurt that Emily is gorgeous and her stunning Lazaro dress wasn't too shabby either. Its often a bit of challenge to illustrate from the photos clients send over. They can be too small, poorly lit, and rarely have close up shots of the bride and the dress details. This was not the case here though as you can see from these lovely photos.

It was a joy to work with Emily again and I hope she likes her bridal illustration as much as I do! For your own custom bridal illustration or to give one as a gift, you can check out the custom listings in my Etsy bridal shop, Brooklit Bride.

The image above is from Wisteria, I simply photoshopped my illustration of Emily on in there. Emily does plan on custom framing the artwork though and I can't wait to see a photo of it and add it to my client photo album.

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?