The Blog
The Lily and Gemma book
Character Sketchbook 1
We all have to start somewhere. For me, this is where I started. On October 30, 2006, I decided that drawing was something I really wanted to learn how to do. I’ve always loved doodling on paper and coloring growing up. I was never the best artist in the class. Almost 12 years ago to the day, I began drawing Lily Cole and Gemma Ward everyday, since I had the most fun drawing them. All I can say is I’m so glad that I did. I got to experience some incredible things just because I decided not to give up and chose not to get discouraged. Giving up is the easiest thing to do, but like my dad told me my freshman year in high school, “If you give up now, it will be that much easier to give up on the next thing, and the next thing.” There have been so many times where I’ve lost my confidence, or been frustrated with my drawing ability. That combined with the frustrating financial rollercoaster that comes as a result of working as an artist, there have been moments that I have considered giving up… But this journey has been too amazing, and sharing it with you all has been life-changing. Thanks you so much.
p.s. Over the last few weeks, I finally got organized, where I am going to be blogging every weekday, Monday – Friday at 5pm pst. It’s my dream to create an amazing blogging community once again. If you can share with someone you think would love Igor + André, that would be incredible.
Video
REDValentino – Video
I’ve made a lot of drawing process video’s over the years, and this one of REDValentino collection has to be one of my favorite ones yet. I’m excited for you to see it. The Music you might recognize from the Inspiration Friday post a few months ago. The Song is “Girls” by Masakatsu Takagi on the Album “COIEDA”. It’s hard to describe the feelings you get when listening to Masakatsu Takagi’s music. It has such honesty and feeling. Due to his lack of formal/Classical structure, the music seems like you’re listening to a stream of consciousness in musical form. I first discovered Masakatsu Takagi in my first year of fashion school, when Apple did a feature on him in a 2006 video called ‘Sound of Light‘.
As I speed up the hours and hours of video footage the sparatic nature of how i drew reminded me alof of Masakatsu Takagi’s music. Once i place it in there it was a perfect fit. This Fashion Illustration took 3 days to draw. So the video is speed up roughly 11,000 times faster. It takes you from the light table transfer of my concept sketch till the completion of the peice. In the future i’m planning on document from first concept sketch till completion so you can see all the stages should be interesting. I’m making another video that has the post production part of it. I hope you like it. :)
Art
Red Valentino Spring 2020
What happens when you take REDValentino‘s Spring 2020 collection, as well as old Vogues, and sprinkle some manga in there… Well, I guess this Fashion Illustration is born. I had been working on writing my first manga, “Lost in the Crowd”, when Fashion Week rolled around, so I think they merged a little. This was the first collection of the season that I saw, and I was instantly drawn in by the garments’ silhouettes and the setting. It reminded me of a tucked away little garden. Ever since I was a kid and first saw the movie “The Secret Garden”, the concept of hidden gardens and hidden spaces has fascinated me. I think that is why in every concept sketch I did for this piece, I kept coming back to this garden setting. The illustration was with pen, ink, and water color. It also feature two of my favorite models, Heather Marks & Lisa Cant.
While doing research for “Lost in the Crowd”, I’ve been reading a handful of different mangas. I’ve been blown away and massively inspired by Mangaka’s control of value and tone, which made me lean toward a simplified, almost block print style coloring. Thank you to all who have been following along with my Instagram Story over the 3-4 days. I’m blown away and touched by all your kind DMs and comments. It means a lot to me. Thank you 🙏. I will have a few process/timelapse videos of this piece coming out soon. Just need to start editing them. I’m really happy with how it turned out. What do you think?
I added a limited edition print of this piece called “Secret Garden” to my new store. Also, added the original to the store; it’s called “Red Garden“. I’m super excited about both the print and the original. They are really beautiful to see in person :). The prints and the original are Seasonal, which means they will only be publicly available until October 13th. Click the titles to go to the store.
Self Portrait
34 – Birthday Portrait
Thank you for birthday wishes. You made it a very special one. Years ago, I started a tradition of doing a self portrait on my birthday. This portrait is my favorite one so far. It perfectly captures how I was feeling at the time. This last year was hard but at the same time I’m so excited to take on the next one. I’ve been working on something super special for all you. It’s a way for me to show my appreciation for everything. I should be done with it soon. :)
Art
Oliver Appropriate – Say Anything
A few months back I had the incredible honor of doing the album cover for Say Anything‘s final album. I’ve been friends with Max Bemis for years, but this was the first time we got to collaborate on a project together. Max is really fun to work with. He has a clear vision for what he wants but gives you tons of freedom to interpret his vision. That’s exactly how I like to work. I’m really happy with the final result. The album’s character, Oliver, is a complicated character dealing with a lot of internal and external conflicts. I wanted him to have a face that draws you in and makes you wonder what he is thinking. I hope you like it. If you want to buy the album or merch, click here I posted the mediums used on this piece below in the “Explore” section.
p.s. Congrats Max on your final Say Anything album, and thank you for letting me be apart of it. ;)
Art
Katiusha Feofanova – Daily Gesture Sketch
I made this video as an early release/ 4 month exclusive on Patreon at the start of the year. I always love how drawing process videos turn out. Seeing hours of work compacted down into minutes is oddly satifying. Often times I don’t know know what I’m doing as I’m drawing, and I think the videos capture the spontaneity on the whole drawing process. The video documents me doing study sketches of model Katiusha Feofanova. I wanted to pratice drawing people from all angles to improve on my character design. I hope you like the video. The video has been sped up 5000% faster than realtime. The Music is from Akira Kosemura album One Day.
Inspiration Friday
Girls – Masakatsu Takagi
The Inspiration Friday song for this month is “Girls” by Masakatsu Takagi on the Album “COIEDA”. It’s hard to describe the feelings you get when listening to Masakatsu Takagi’s music. It has such honesty and feeling. Due to his lack of formal/Classical structure, the music seems like you’re listening to a stream of consciousness in musical form. I first discovered Masakatsu Takagi in my first year of fashion school, when Apple did a feature on him in a 2006 video called ‘Sound of Light‘. If you have a chance to see it, it is really inspirational. As a result I’ve been a fan of him ever since.
A few Thoughts on About The Song…
The Song “Girls” by Masakatsu Takagi always makes me feel like its a song of love, but love that could have been, and memories of that love that never was. Like a lifetime of thoughts flickering by in a second, the moment two people know the relationship is over. So when I was putting together the images, I edited them with that in mind. I colored them with the temperature of the music. I highly recommend playing the song (embeded below) as you look at the pictures. Hopefully, you will see the story I tried to visually tell.
Lastly, putting together a Inspiration Friday post actually takes alot of time. The process of gathering the images, editing them, together with researching who made each image, it all ends up taking a full day of work. As a result I decided to do Inspiration Fridays once a month, on the first Friday of the month, instead of every week. I hope you are inspired and having a great day. Let me know what you think below. ;) Also, if you want to support this blog and my art in any way, go to my patreon. Your support means the world to me. :)
1. A still frame from the 1974 movie “Les hautes solitudes” by Philippe Garrel
2. Flowers by Irving Penn
3. Lonneke Engel by Juergen Teller
4. A still frame of actress Julie Delpy from Krzysztof Kieślowski “3 Colors Trilogy”.
5. Alena Blohm For Love & Lemons
6. Joel Meyerowitz “Doorway to the Sea”, Provincetown, 1982
7. Irina Rozovsky “Picture Shawl”, 2008
8. I couldn’t find the source of the main image, however the background image is by MasakatsuTakagi.
9. Harry Callahan “Kansas City”, 1981
10. Photo by David Bellemere, Not sure what the original publication of the image was.
Portrait
Camille of the Trees – Redesign
Camille is a character I have had in my head for over ten years now. She is in the top 5 of my favorite characters in my brother and my upcoming book. At the beginning of 2018, when I started working on character design for the book, she was the first character I started designing. Even though I have been drawing people for years, I quickly found out I knew very little about character design. My first version of her was heavily influenced by anime
(cause I love anime) but it wasn’t quite right for our book. I took a few character design classes and earlier this year I gave her a redesign and this character was born. Her overall vibe feels right. What do you think of her? Also, this month’s Patreon Rewards are up, so you can download them here.
Art
Renata Gubaeva in Red
This study sketch features model Renata Gubaeva. I saw this photo of her on Instagram, and this drawing was born. The sketch was done with pencil, pastel, and digital color. If you are not part of my art patron program yet, I would love to have you as part of the Family. You can sign up for whatever amount you want. It could be $1 or more a month and get discounts on art, downloads, etc. You can adjust the amount monthly amount anytime. If you are interested click here 😊. Also there is a 5.5 X 5.5 print of this picture up in my store if you are interested click here.
