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.

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. I’m working on finishing some drawings for this month’s Patreon rewards. If you are not a patron yet, I would love to have you as part of the Patreon Family. You can sign up for as little as $1 a month and get discounts on art, downloads, etc. If you are interested click here 😊

Another Charcoal and chalk study. The reference was an old photo from Life Magazine. I really like how the expressions and texture turned out. What to you think? I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been working on four oil paintings. Yesterday I put in a lot of time on this oil painting, to finish the dead layer. The character is starting to come to life. The Latri is a character from our book series. The inspiration of the look of the Latri came from a doll by a Beijing based doll maker Ksusha Zhang. I can’t wait to start on the >color layer. It will be interesting to start on the next phase.

For those following my instagram stories over the last few weeks, you have got to see the birth of this piece. It started out as one of my daily gesture sketches of an old editorial of Mona Johannesson. I had made the mistake of using printer paper to do the drawing and as I started to shade it the paper wasn’t holding up. I ended up scanning it and finishing the drawing via Digital Painting. There was something I liked a lot about the sketch so I decided to develop it further. I’ve been really into 1500-1600 century painting and tapestries. Based on those inspirations, I started to concept the piece to be a scene from my brother’s and my up coming book series. There are a lot fun little details in this piece. Also, some guest appearances in the tapestry of Lily Cole, Alexander McQueen, and Simon Ungless. I hope you like it. I’m planning a color version right now, then I will oil paint it.

P.S. I want to thank Mona for letting me use her dog Selma in the painting. It is one of my favorite parts of the piece. :)