Bath in Fashion

Recently the lovely Hels Martin asked me to illustrate the header for the Bath in Fashion Blog which she will be blogging for. The blog will include all news, interviews and reviews from Bath in Fashion, written beautifully by Helen. I'm looking forward to seeing more. Her writing always inspires me and I'm glad to be able to work with her again.

Wonderful pattern designer, Georgia Coote designed the background which is truly beautiful. I'm happy to be in such a creative team of ladies. I hope you like my design!

Company Pages

I now have the images of the pages my illustrations can be seen on in Company High Street Edit. I was really pleased with the way they look on the pages, I hope you will like how they look too!

 

In other news, I had a meeting with a very lovely lady about a new ethical fashion venture today. Sounds very exciting, I will tell you more at a later date.

Inspiration: Ada Zanditon

I thought I'd write a blog post about the wonderful ethical fashion designer Ada Zanditon. Her work is structural, bold and colourful. It is truly inspiring!

I love that her work is so high fashion, yet so environmentally friendly, it is something she has always tried to emphasise and the fact she is so committed is wonderful. She knew she wanted to be a fashion designer from the age of six, and after numerous internships, launched her own label in 2008. I can't believe how well she is doing after such a small amount of time - she has an amazing future ahead!

All images by Amelia Gregory of Amelia's Magazine.

Such stunning pieces I'm sure you'll agree! Fashion design is not the only talent of this inspirational lady, she is also a very talented illustrator! Take a look at some of her images:

 
Her illustrations also include a lot of the colour, shape and texture that can be found in her fashion designs - stunning! Don't forget to check her work out, you won't be disappointed! I did a short interview with her recently, the results of which I will be sharing soon, so keep an eye out! :)

David Downton/Vogue

So, my dissertation is focusing on Vogue, discussing illustration and photography. I knew David Downton, as one of my favourite illustrators, would be great to look at in this case. I knew he had done work for Vogue China and some for British Vogue.

When I discovered the covers he did for Vogue Australia I was in love. For Vogue Australia's 50th anniversary, the magazine celebrated with a commemorative issue, illustrated by David Downton. He designed four different covers, featuring Cate Blanchett, in vintage styles linking back to the days before photography.

Take a look, they're beautiful!

My next mission- get hold of one of these!! They were limited edition, but fingers crossed. I think it's vital for my dissertation!

While i'm here, take a look at some of his Vogue China work!

   

I really do love his work!

Inspiration

Since I have no new work to share just yet (there are a couple that I will post when they go live!), I've decided to have a post of inspirational illustrators I've recently discovered. I will be doing a few of these posts from now on - I find this is a great place to share my thoughts with others. (It's also good to be able to get my thoughts written down!)

The first illustrator is Sandra Suy. She studied fashion design, but because drawing was her biggest love, she decided to combine both and become a fashion illustrator.

I love the dark pink against the dull tones in the rest of the image!

The tonal difference between the black charcoal-like hair and the light, delicate top is striking!

I really like the detail across the eye in this piece!

The lips in this piece really stand out, as does the texture of the clothing.

One thing I particularly like about her work is the fact she works predominantly with line, then adds in subtle colour and hints of light and dark. I like the fact she doesn't work on white paper, but toned paper. The subtle tones work perfectly against the dark line work in her models' faces.

The next illustrator I'm going to show you is Hannah Muller.

I love the subtle colour touches- the lips and the cheeks! ♥

Again, the lovely detail on the cheeks is divine. The clothing textures are great too.

What I really love about this image are the people- so beautifully depicted. The shade versus light is fantastic.

Hannah's work is so delicate and beautiful. From the fantastic detail in the ladies' faces to the subtle addition of colour, shadow and light is all so perfect. Very inspiring stuff!

Next up is Kelly Smith, an Australian illustrator who studied fine art, but now concentrates on fashion and portrait illustration.

I completely love the fantastic flashes of red in this piece, it really brings the work alive! This, along with the very black and very white is perfect.

The colour along with the grey tones works well.

I love the striking black against the subtle tonal work.

 I certainly love Kelly Smith's work. She combines beautiful and detailed pencil drawings with injections of colour and striking light and dark elements. I love the addition of animals too, looks fab!

Finally is Cedric Rivrain, French fashion illustrator with a fantastic style.

I love the drama of this piece! The yellow injected into it is fantastic!

I like the study of the face here, and the great detail of her attire.

I like that this piece is predominantly grey-scale,  with some really fine colour details!

I like that he has variety in his work. And the use of colour is really fabulous- he incorporates the background into the foreground and I think this works wonderfully!

Well, that's the first four illustrators that have really stood out to me this week. They're fabulous and so inspiring, I hope you will agree! I will be showing more of the people and places that inspire me here on my blog, as it's nice to share with you all!

Have a nice weekend! :)

Finished Illustration

Well after a couple of changes and tweaks I think the illustration I posted about earlier is finished! See what you think :)

I'm going to post some working progress pictures too! :)

 And the final piece :)

Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration

Amelia's Compendium of Fashion Illustration is now available to pre-order here at an amazing price! If you order soon it will be with you in time for Christmas too!

Doesn't it look amazing? It features the work of 30 illustrators (one of which I am so ecstatic to say is me!!), whose work you have probably seen over at Amelia's Magazine. Their work is brilliant and I cannot wait to see it all together!

The illustrations showcase some of the best new ethical designers around at the moment. 

It's a must buy for any illustrators, artists, designers or anybody who really appreciates illustration and ethical fashion design :)

Foale & Tuffin

I have just finished this illustration for Amelia's Magazine. It was for an interview with Marion Foale of Foale and Tuffin, a legendary Sixties knitwear label.

The article is great and you should definitely go and read it here!

I really enjoyed this piece. The clothing was quite simple so I worked with the accent colours in the dress to produce quite a bold piece. I think it works well because the dress really stands out against the bold colour of the background. Here it is!

I've also just finished another piece for Amelia's Magazine, which is yet to go live. When it is I will be sure to post it here!

As well as this, I have emailing various ethical designers to see if i could do an interview with them and do some illustrations of their work to use in my final year work. So far, I have had positive responses from 5 of the 10 I contacted! I am so pleased, some even sent me photos to work from and asked if they could use the images in return when I have finished.

I had another designer, who found me through Amelia's Magazine, ask me if I would like to illustrate some of their pieces. Exciting stuff! :)

Lots going on! Today I am finishing an illustration to go on the front cover of Craft Guerrilla's zine. I've been given a lot of freedom, with the only restriction being it must be based on winter in some way.

I'm looking forward to sharing all these things when they are done! :)

Abby xx

Research for my Dissertation: Amazing Illustrations!

I'm studying the history of fashion illustration and have just got some fantastic books from the library! I wanted to share some of the lovely inspiring pieces with you! My books included 'The Art of VOGUE Covers!' '100 years of fashion illustration' 'fashion illustration next' and 'Fashion drawings and illustrations from "Harper's Bazar"'

I feel all inspired! I'm also excited to do my diss, which is amazing in itself aha!