Tag: illustration

Turning Your Fashion Illustration Passion into a Profitable Career

Posted on by Sharrette

Being a fashion illustrator allows you to combine your artistic talents with your love for style and design. While it’s a highly competitive field, there is a huge demand for skilled fashion illustrators who can bring a designer’s vision to life. If you have a natural gift for rendering figures and capturing the essence of clothing, you may be able to turn your fashion illustration passion into a full-time career.

The first step is to master the technical skills required. This includes learning how to draw the human form and clothing accurately from various angles. You’ll need to understand how different fabrics drape and move on the body. Studying fashion design, color theory, and trend forecasting will help you create illustrations that resonate. It’s also crucial to develop your own unique illustration style through experimentation.

Once you’ve honed your skills, there are several avenues to explore for making a living as a fashion illustrator:

1) Freelancing for Fashion Houses and Designers
Many high-end fashion houses and designers hire freelance illustrators to bring their clothing concepts and collections to life through illustrations. As a freelancer, you can build a portfolio showcasing your ability to capture a brand’s aesthetic through your illustrations. Having this specialized experience can lead to ongoing freelance gigs or even a full-time position.

2) Working for Advertising Agencies and Magazines
Advertising agencies often need fashion illustrators to create conceptual illustrations for campaigns. Similarly, fashion magazines hire illustrators to provide illustrations for editorial features and advertisements. This type of work requires a versatile illustration style to bring different client visions to life.

3) Selling Products with Your Illustrations
Another option is to create your own product line featuring your unique illustration style. For example, you could design and sell apparel, accessories, home goods, and more featuring your fashion-inspired illustrations. E-commerce platforms like Etsy and your own website can help sell these products.

This is where I focus making money with fashion illustration. To have your own style and market that is key to this path. You can see more on this in my article here.

4) Teaching Fashion Illustration
If you love to share your knowledge, you could teach fashion illustration courses at local colleges, art schools, or online learning platforms. This allows you to pass on your skills while earning a living from your expertise.

No matter which path you choose, having an outstanding online portfolio showcasing your best fashion illustrations is key. Promote your work through social media and build a following to attract clients and customers. With dedication and perseverance, you can absolutely make a living doing what you love as a fashion illustrator.

One of my favorite fashion illustrators is

Holly Nichols be sure to check her out.

Free Digital Download

Posted on by Sharrette

I wanted to share something with you today. A free fashion illustration for your personal use. I hope you like it and enjoy!

You matter. You are essential because no one can fill the place you have in this world. You affect people whether you realize it, with love or hate. So let’s share love, spread kindness, and right wrongs.

Click to download.

Free fashion illustration coloring page

Posted on by Sharrette

During this stay in, I wanted to share with you some free fashion illustration coloring pages.
If you share on social media, I just ask that you tag me in them or share my website. I would love to see your work!

IG @Sharretteillustrations

Facebook: @sharrette.co

Right click, save image as, and print photo or color on your iPad.

Copyright © Sharrette Co 2020
Purchase of this item does not grant transfer of copyright. I, the artist, retain all copyright privileges. All artwork and images on this site are © Blessing Ball. Images may not be used, downloaded, sold, redistributed, altered, or printed. Personal or commercial use of the artwork without explicit written consent from the artist, Blessing Ball, is strictly prohibited and punishable by U.S. and international copyright laws. Please contact the artist prior to sharing on social media.

More artworks please click https://www.etsy.com/shop/Sharretteco
or visit my blog at www.sharrette.com

5 Tips You Need to Know When Beginning Fashion Illustration

5 Tips You Need to Know When Beginning Fashion Illustration

Posted on by Sharrette

Introduction to the Basic Fashion Figure for Fashion Illustration

So you want to get started in Fashion Illustration? It looks pretty simple, you think you can do it, but you don’t know where to start? I’ve been doing this and learning a lot. So let’s discuss the five top tricks that have helped me out and can help get you ahead of the game.

Tip Number 1 – Create Movement with your Fashion Illustrations

You want to make sure your fashion figure pose isn’t stiff but has movement and flow. If you draw your fashion figure straight up and down it will come off as cold and robotic. Here are some of my very first fashion illustrations.

Fashion Illustration

I’m kind of embarrassed to show you these, but everyone has a starting point. This was mine. As you can see, they look stiff and the one on the right-hand side even looks like she is falling over slightly.

Here are some more recent sketches I’ve done with better movement:

So how do you create movement? On to tip number 2.

Tip 2 Study Fashion Magazines & Model Poses

You want to create movement. Angles, the body sways as you walk so you want to emulate that in your fashion sketches. Study fashion photos and see how the models are posing. Here are a few to give you an idea.

Follow the angles the model’s body makes and incorporate that into your drawings. Draw fashion illustrations of models walking the runway. The hips will go one way, while the shoulders go the other. I still have trouble getting this perfect, see my latest Instagram post for what I’m talking about.

Tip Number 3 – Have the Correct Materials

Trio blending copic markers

Having the correct materials can make your work 100 times easier. This one you can get away with not having the correct materials. However, I highly recommend investing in some good alcohol ink markers. The colors blend well when you are using them and create just the right blends you are wanting to create in clothing, hair, skin, etc. You can blend with watercolors and even the iPad pro. But, alcohol markers make it so easy!

Personally, I switch between the iPad pro procreate app and hand-drawn fashion illustrations with Copic markers. I started out with colored pencils and watercolors and started investing in copic markers. It took me six months to invest in them to get a good variety. The difference is huge. Just scroll through my instagram feed and you can see what a difference the materials seems to make.

Copic Markers, or really any alcohol ink markers, are super easy to blend and use. You don’t have to get a degree to use them. You can layer the lighter colors to make a darker shade or add a slightly different tone to create the folds and shades of the outfit. Yes, you can do this with watercolors but I have found that the watercolors were not as easy as a beginner as the copic markers are.

Tip Number 4 – Practicing, Practice, Practice

As with everything, you need to practice, practice, practice to get better. It still takes me several hours to complete a fashion illustration. You can do different practices to help your speed. I just haven’t invested the time in that yet. Since it takes me several hours to complete one, I usually only manage to do about 2 to 3 fashion illustrations a week. I am wanting to be able to do them quicker so I can do more in a week. I am just not there yet.

Still, doing 2 to 3 a week has gotten me a long way from my first to my latest. This is the difference from, my first, 7 months ago to yesterday:

 

Tip Number 5 – Study Other Peoples’ work

Studying other fashion illustrators’ works and components has been a huge help for me. Check out my post on my favorite fashion illustrators to follow on Instagram. I study different elements or features that they have in their drawings that I love most and try to recreate them in my own figures and fashion illustrations. Occasionally, the artists’ will even posts tips and tricks on what they do to create their illustrations. I always get excited to learn something new to help improve my work!

When I first started drawing fashion illustrations, I had a lot of difficulties drawing the eyes and other facial features. It took practicing and studying what others did to improve. I still have a long way to go. In the beginning, I loved sunglasses or glasses because I just could not draw the eyes to save my life!

Bonus Tip Number 6 – Take an online Fashion Illustration Class

There are a few places that you can take a quick fashion illustration class. Check out skillshare, youtube, or as I mentioned in tip number 5, Instagram stories. You never know what tip or trick will help improve your work the most! Also, don’t forget about pinterest as a huge resource. You can find fashion croquis to help you get started or different outfit ideas for incorporating into your fashion illustrations.

These are my top tips for learning and perfecting fashion illustration. There are so many other tips and tricks you can utilize. I’d love to hear some of your tips that have helped you the most. Comment on this post or get in touch with me via social media! I look forward to interacting and learning with you!

 

 

Instagram Artists to Follow – The Best Modern Calligraphy and Fashion Illustration Artists that You won’t want to miss and how to find more.

Instagram Artists to Follow – The Best Modern Calligraphy and Fashion Illustration Artists that You won’t want to miss and how to find more.

Posted on by Sharrette

The Discovery Of Amazing Artists on Instagram

The past six months to a year, I curated a wonderful collection of Instagram artists to follow on modern lettering, calligraphy, and fashion illustration. I have found the artists to follow through hashtags and other shout-outs or mentions from top Instagrams in each respective category. Daily I feel as though I stumble across someone else who inspires me to do better and try a different technique or material. Each artist I look at, I think, “Oh, I want to emulate this style of theirs or try this or that out.”

Instagram has definitely stepped up Its game, too, with helping you find amazing artists to follow through the following of specific hashtags instead of having to search and then peruse them. Now new posts I wouldn’t normally see are right in my feed! I can like and follow the artist. I can see if their post is the subject of their Instagram or if it was a one-off thing. I have added countless amazing artists to follow through that ability. To save you some time going through those hashtags though, here are my top 5 modern calligraphy and watercolor artists to follow, as well as my top 5 fashion illustration artists to follow on Instagram.

Instagram artists to follow

The Best Calligraphy and Modern Lettering Artists to Follow on Instagram

1.Whitney Ruger, @whitneyruger

Her watercolor pieces are just adorable! You are sure to fall in love with her technique and adorable paintings. She tends to paint cute vintage items. I haven’t seen something of hers that I don’t like!

2. Jessica Patterson, @jesslove_designs

Her layout design is excellent. She has nice clean lettering and it is always eye-catching. She hasn’t been posting a lot lately, but I definitely recommend following her for when she starts posting again.

3. Catherine, @letteringbycath

Super cute style and she does a variety of layouts, colors, and designs. Her work is vibrant and just so streamlined. She manages to make her work appear like perfection in every post.

4. Alex Kazakova, @mshelimar

Her work is absolutely stunning. Okay, so she isn’t a calligraphy artist but I couldn’t leave her off my top 5 list. Her focus is watercolor art. Definitely, check out her work. You won’t be disappointed!

5. Cassie, @thepeonyletteress

How can I forget her magnificent work? I love her lettering style! It’s so unique and quirky. The colors she uses are always brilliant and creative. She seems to do it all from normal watercolor lettering to using ink and nib.

Instagram artists on the rise

The Best Fashion Illustration Artists to Follow on Instagram

1. Holly Nichols, @hnicholsillustration

She is my favorite fashion illustrator. She does a lot of stories with great tips for what materials to use to draw your own fashion illustrations. She also had such a cute style!  She is the first I click on anytime I log in to my feed.

2. Rhian Awni,  @rhianawni

Her main medium is watercolor. Can you tell I love how watercolor looks? She always has a variety of subject matter in her pieces. One of my favorites is a mom doing yoga while laundry and her children wait for her. Zen in a busy life! Check out some of her other pieces to be inspired!

3. Cassandra Calin, @cassandracalin

Her focus is comic art and using black and white ink. Her work is super fun and light-hearted. Definitely, a must to follow if you love all things girly, everyday life, and comics mixed together.

4. Acelya Bazin, @acelyaillustration

When I first started doing fashion illustrations, I looked at her drawings a lot. I love the way she does the facial features, especially the eyes and freckles! I’ve tried doing freckles a couple of times but they never come out quite right. Probably because I do full body shots and she does more upper body drawings. Either way, her work is fabulous!

5. Leeann Visser, @leeannviser

Fashion Illustrator and Artist. Her work is sophisticated and lifelike. Beautiful portraits of all different types of women and fashion. The colors she uses are vibrant and each piece has eye-catching details! Love her work!

These are my top ten favorite artists to follow on Instagram. I love seeing the pieces they produce and secretly envy their talent. I try to emulate them in my pieces, but of course, nothing is ever as good as the original. Check them out and definitely follow them. You’ll enjoy the enrichment that they add to your stories and feed.

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Check out our shop to order prints, digital downloads and more, or contact us to get started on your custom graphics or illustration today!

Christmas Art Supply Haul

Christmas Art Supply Haul

Posted on by Sharrette

My Art Haul And The Difference Quality Art Supplies Makes

This is a little late for a Christmas haul, but it’s still January and better late than never to share my favorites art supplies from Christmas. Furthermore, I wanted to show you how it has made a world of difference getting quality art supplies in my final illustrations and art. I’ve been practicing calligraphy since November of 2016 and since July of 2017, I’ve been developing my fashion illustration skills.Fashion sketch

For years, I’ve loved the fashion sketches that I’ve run across on Pinterest and then I ran into Holly Nichols’ work. She is among my favorites and in another post I’ll go more into details of my favorite fashion illustrators and calligraphers.

Fashion Illustration

I decided to try my hand at fashion illustration. It seemed easy enough. Boy, was I wrong! Here are two of my first sketches:

They aren’t horrible. However, the illustrations lack movement and are very stiff. One of my problems when I started fashion sketching was  my supplies. I have watercolors, which many fashion artists use, but that didn’t seem to work well with the style I wanted to develop. After researching, I started investing in copic markers over the following several months. The first set I got was the skin tone set. It made a world of difference! You can see my progression on Instagram (@sharretteillustrations).

Copic Markers

Which brings me to my Christmas haul. I had a growing number of Copic markers, but they were for basic things like skin and hair. For Christmas, I got the Copic Ciao 24 color set and 2 blending trios.

 

Here are the links if you are interested in getting some too:
 Copic Ciao Markers 24pc Basic Set
Copic Sketch Blending Trio Markers 3/Pkg-Set 1
Copic Marker Sketch Blending Trio Markers, SBT 4, 3-Pack

As a result, I can finally add some color to my fashion illustrations without wondering how I’m going to blend my watercolors to be the exact color I need. It’s been great and I feel like it has really elevated my abilities.

Pentel Brush Pen

In addition to these Copic markers, I also got some refills for my Pentel brush pen.

This has been my absolute favorite calligraphy brush pen. Most of all, it creates such a rich mark and the brush tip is easy to handle. Best of all, It is cost effective!

In conclusion, what are some of your favorite art supplies you got for Christmas?

If you are needing inspiration for some supplies, I definitely recommend the copic ciao set, Or really anything copic, and the pentel brush pen! This post contains affiliate links for the aforementioned products.