Creative nieces – part 2

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Leona

I got my youngest niece Demelza a fashion design kit thing with bits of patterned paper and shapes you can cut out to make mini outfits (with mini hangers to hang them out on!).

I was so taken by the mini hangers I immediately thought it would be great to hang the paper clothes up in some kind of toy wardrobe. (yes, the barbie genes were in overdrive. you don’t even think you have them, and then WHAM). Anyhoo. My sis is the one with the craft / construction genes and, being a priceless sort of mum she saved one of the gift boxes and actually built a wee wardrobe for her kiddie – check it out after the jump. Continue reading →

Creative nieces – part 1

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Leona

So my niece Jasmine – who is about 13 (I think? I literally am the world’s worst aunt… I’ve been given this info like a 100 times now)… anyhow Jas got her botany on one day and painted this:

I’m not an art critic, but seriously… there’s some serious composition skills here. Not to mention colour choices. I love the abstract, carefree feel of the whole thing.

Then there’s this:

… a delicate, careful, considered penciling in of some some plant or other… I don’t even know what. Love the line quality separating the lighter part from the darker portions.

Bathroom mirror, .7 mechanical pencil.

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Leona

Hey, it’s halloween. Have always looked a bit deranged without my glasses. Couldn’t get the f*#$#$%^ eyes right! Way too big. Mind you, did this in the time it took to heat an apple pie, so I’m pleased with the results from that perspective…

Doodle: ‘i got the feelin’

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Leona

Was at work one day and had James Brown and the JBs on the brain. So I took out me ole’ notebook. It’s not good at all, typographically speaking. But, kinda fun.

Stole a drawing from ‘American Artist’ mag

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Leona

The 2011 special edition of American Artist had a pretty neat drawing at the bottom of pg 33 – a drawing by one Romolo Costa, whom I admit to not knowing a thing about. Here’s my simulacrum – and no, I’ve personally never seen anyone who looks like this, methinks Romolo was exaggerating, and I’ve followed suit… cos what do I know?

This issue is pretty packed with various tips but if you don’t want to pay for it, you can get the content for free at this link: http://scribd.com/doc/54062925/Freemium-DrawBasics – I only hope the magazine knows their content has been thrown up there. Hmm…

Warrior night out

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Leona

OK, so this is a horrible straying from the boundaries of fashion design/illustration: I admit to wanting to do a bit of character design.

So meet Sara “Njuba” Liu, a peacekeeper from the Sudanchina – DRC conflict. She posed for this photo a year after her tour of duty (2031 – 2040) upon her arrival at the Ambassador’s Charity Ball. The by-now infamous Neobantu Spear XC1C at her side was actually auctioned at the ball, raising 175,000 VDinars for SELFAID. She now lives in Ghana with a pet boa and, of all things, a cheshire cat. Amazingly, the cat lives…

…none of which made it onto the artboard I handed in (phew. sometimes y’oughta keep silly thoughts to yerself). Have fun deconstructing the afro-asiatics. More pics after the jump… Continue reading →

Painted

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Leona

A mashup of a strugglesome final-project-in-the-works for fashion illustration class and an old short story I found lying around on my hard disk. Uhm… enjoy?
Continue reading →

Roses for poses…

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Leona

My next class project / artboard. I was thinking of roses…

It’s not quite finished yet. We had to do the technical drawings too to go with it (basic version) and the 3/4 length coat was, as you might suspect, a bitch! But I found a kludgey way to make it constructable-wearable :-)

And no, I can’t fix those legs. I’ve tried. God have I ever tried…

life drawing – man lying back

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Leona

This turned out OK but the teacher took all our pics that day, and I didn’t have my regular camera so this is a slightly crappy ipod photo, colored slightly blue and highlighted in photoshop. If/when I get the original back and take a better pic I’ll post that.

cocktail dress

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Leona

Haven’t handed it in yet… I should have investigated more fancy techniques such as draping etc… There would be quite a bit of bespoke tailoring though… beaded top, lace-fronted godets etc. I have to do the technical and then mount it. Meh…

A bit boring, this.

In the version I’m gonna hand in there will be speech bubbles, comic-style, where lady #1 accuses lady #2 (a friend) of wearing the same dress, lol :-) We had to do the front and back, and it just looked silly mounted that way so I thought I’d poke fun.