Kim's Dior

I read an Another Man article on the Fall 22 collection for Dior and some of the images were inspiring, so I studied the images, put the article away, and drew from memory. I was particularly inspired by the upturned peaked lapel on one pic as I loved the positioning, but I changed the model's view and face.

I love my lines here because they remind me of some of Antonio Lopez's pencils that he left at pencils, and I wonder if I should even attempt finishing them further? Maybe leave it at line work for now?

Lighting Test

I saw a pic online where the model's cheek had a highlight where his teeth were underneath his skin, and it was a lighting I'd never actually seen before, so I had to draw it to commit it to memory. Hopefully it can be something I add to my repertoire in future.

Perched On A Ledge 3

I'm having trouble with his face, even if I like the face, I just don't know if Im like it for this drawing.

Black Nude, Done

I'm happy with the detailing, since much of it was imagined although I did refer to photo references after the fact, to check my anatomy.

Up, Lift 3

 Was thinking it was a tableau now, and so adding additional figures. Still not 100% sure about this style for fashion illustration, but why not? Gruau had a heavy ink line, although I'm reminded of comics with my own work. But who's to say it's not apropos for fashion  illustration, if I can make it work?

Up, Lift 2

 I decided to try and use the face for a full figure fashion illo, except the problem with that is I didn't have any clothing in mind and now I'm stuck wondering what outfit to portray. Kind of backwards since fashion illustration should start with the garment (at lest, for this purpose, not editorial art).

I have to say, I'm getting Ryan Sook vibes from my inks. I feel like it's more comics than fashion...

Up, Lift

The Mongoose Brush again, all smooth and thick, making me make up men with thick lines.

Que Serra

My friend's got a sweater and scarf he named after Richard Serra, so I'm planning on sketching them into a fashion illustration. This was a sketch I sent to him to see if he could shoot me some reference pics for the drawing.

Redesigning Illyana 3

I was getting too far away from her current look but also, I'm really at a loss about redesigning it. I wonder if I'm just losing my touch.

Redesigning Illyana 2

I like the idea of keeping her horn motif and finding room for it again on her person. My thoughts were to redesign the space between her hot[ants and her thigh high stockings and make it a cutout in her leggings instead. I also toyed with a cropped jacket like hin her Brett Blevins days in Space.

Redesigning Illyana

I like Marvel mutant Magik/Illyana Rasputina's current outfit generally, but I think it has too many details to focus on: the shoulder boulder, the boob window, the giant belt buckle, and the horns. THen add the fact that she has a giant sword, and you get a character who definitely feels hodge-pdgey to me, even if I like the overall look for her. The hot pants are cute and modern, and I LOVE the horns hair accessory. So I'm trying to figure out how to keep the look and feel of her outfit but streamlining it. But that's provong  a bit harder than I thought.

Crotch Crouch, Done

I went through so many iterations of this sketch to try and find a good direction to publish on Instagram, adding a forest background to geometric planes, to more definition to less, to more shadows, and finally I decided, it's supposed to be clean and simple, and it doesn't have to be anything more.

Crotch Crouch

 

I saw some online pics of a model crouching and decided to do a drawing based on that pose. BUT, as is my wont, I didn't want to copy that photo. So I drew the pose without copying it (the red sketch above), trying to suss out the anatomy as much as possible, then I asked my friend to pose based on my drawing. I then took photos of him and refined the original drawing from there (the blue sketch below).

My main problem now is, does he look like he's taking a dump on the floor?

After Andy

I just finished the Netflix series on Andy Warhol, The Andy Warhol Diaries, and I had no idea he died around the time I first arrived in New York. Actually, I knew next to nothing about Andy, and Basquiat and and a couple of my neighbors who turned out to be close to Warhol back in the day. In the last few minutes of the last episode, there was a shot of Andy just standing, talking to Basquiat, and I liked the pose thinking it might be nice to give it the fashion illustration S curve emphasis...which I apparently can't do on my own and had to do several trials.

Boozy Poozy

My friend Ernesto saw an image he wanted as a tattoo, but re-rendered by me. So I figured it was a basic Pink Pussycat logo-type cartoon, and I just added a martini glass and spiked collar. Might need to see what else I can add to her.

Giving Neck, Done

I really wouldn't add much more to him since that would defeat the purpose of the minimalism, but I did tweak a few details to get teh right linear suggestions.

Giving Neck

Looking down at people from an upward-tilted head has been such a trope for posing these past few years, but it's still a difficult one to get right. This sketch came together really quickly, and had the right attitude from the get-go, I think because of that otherwise impossible neck angle. I fear if I try to flesh it out or tweak it it will lose the spontaneity of the pose, though...

Perched On A Ledge 2

I adjusted his profile and his torso a bit more, a;though I'm still loving the part where his butt flattens because it's on a ledge.

Black Nude

I've drawn a few black nudes, but I don't do them often enough that I have an established default. So I'm exploring. I liked how his face came along although I think the facial structure I established is more of what I find beautiful in my black female models (Mounia comes to mind), since when I think of men I'm attracted to, they usually have longer faces. But his body is definitely longer and leaner, although a bit off-centered so I need to fix that later.

Lelo's Butt Pose

I have a guy in Spain whom I'm flirting with via DMs, and he seems to be an exhibitionist who wants to be drawn. I saw a back view on his Insta and got the idea to do it in a more casual pose I've also seen before, but he has such a nice butt and hamstrings that it's worth doing. This was the sample pose sketch I thought of.

Perched On A Ledge

I was doodling again and went to my default of a nude guy, but I liked how his seated position highlighted (highlit?) the muscles on his legs and glutes, even if just simply. I elected to give him one of my fave current hairstyles, that distinctively 80s coif of curly/wavy hair that reminds me of JFK Jr.

Spread Out 6

I pulled this old file from September 2020 to try and finalize it, but I found another drawing I had completely forgotten about lurking in a layer underneath! So I tried to tweak the face on it and post it for Instagram. So I eventually reverted it back to the original layer I discovered, and just added some background color and highlighting.

Sleekly

I was trying to draw an old design of mine form the 90s, but decided to concentrate on the model's face for now.

After Atong 3

I ended up with an oversized shirt dress from COS but not sure if I'll stay with it. I wanted something layered, but am resisting going to Lemaire, which is who I tend to always draw.

After Atong 2

I built up the layout but am looking for what designer clothes to out her in. I wanted something voluminous from the likes of Studio Nicholson, but wasn't sure any of the recent pieces in their Spring or Winter collections were apropos. And I could always design something but I want to present something from a designer...

After Atong

I'm in love with this new face I drew after a glimpse of the image in my head while in the bathroom. it's funny how these vivid inspirations happen with me, I wonder how it is for other artists? I saw the whole design and layout of the piece in its totality, and there's a rush to put it to pixel so I don't forget it. Problem is, when you start to draw, the process is about reacting to the marks you have placed and each mark elicits a new response. So it's always inevitable that the original vision would shift.

For me, the eureka moment is that I've been wondering how best to render the African models' faces, and it dawned on me that the way I did it here, a solid matte base with highlights painted in, was probably the way to go. For my fashion illustrations, I've been doing it the way I draw Caucasians, building up shadows to create volume and depth. Doing that with African features however, has resulted in often unweildy layers of transparency, and trying to navigate all the color layering.

I drew this from my head, but later googled photos of model Atong to see how the highlights would form properly. I didn't actually find an angle like this so I was testing my spatial relations senses by looking at various other angles, and extrapolating the lighting from there. I'm rather proud of having been able to do that here.

Fall In Order 3

After looking at a friend's fashion illustrations, I realized what I was doing wrong with some of my walking runway sketches—I was not drawing enough room between the legs, so they looked a bit hobbled and not in stride. Thigh gaps were in order!

Panels

Been inspired by the current runway shows to design superhero costumes. A lot of the looks these past few seasons look like my old superhero outfits that I designed back in the 80s and 90s!!

More Tim & Jean Grey, Done

I try to let drawings sit for a while before 'publishing' them to Instsagram, usually because what felt right at one point might feel wrong the next day. True enough, I shortened  lot of the anatomy on this guy, between his thigh length and forearms, and even his torso, which just goes to show you that I need to come back with fresh eyes when I do a piece..

Plum Line 2

I decided to flesh out the body with a look from the recent Bottega Venneta FW22 collection.

Plum Line

I'm currently having issues with how I draw fashion illustrations. I've only recently taken to respecting the plum line because my technique for years was to draw the outside in, having never been trained formally in anatomy. But I also have difficulty drawing from anatomy, because I tend to be slavish to the form if I draw it as a croquis first, and that sometimes gets in the way of how I render the clothing.

This is my current default walking runway pose. I think it's derived from a drawing by Lamont O'Neal, but it has all the contraposto jauntiness I look for in a runway pose