She Sure is {Sketchy} Swamp Thing

I think I love you....

Those may not be the words, but this week at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, they were exactly the sentiment.

Happy Friday!
Draw your hearts out this weekend, I'm going to ;)

You Say You Want a Revolution

Guess what??!!? 

 I finally remembered I am an illustrator. 

Sorry, loves -- It's been a while.

Tonight, my intern extraordinaire and I indulged in some good old fashioned life drawing, that's right -- Revolutionary War style. 

There was maybe not a horse. I don't quite recall.

 OK. Fine. There was no horse. However, how could anyone with any integrity waste this 'happened on an ottoman' pose on anything without reigns?? 

 

 

 

The Society of Illustrators provided the light, the glitter, the flocked feathers, the electric live music, the bar, and the gorgeous powder-wigged models who slowly but surely stripped from their 1775 finery down to their diamond pasties at the evening's end. 

However, I provided your total raging jealousy with the power of description.
(I assure you it was better than it sounds).

Bookish

New Fashionista East girl. Beauty and brains. I think she's going to need big horn rimmed glasses. I might be mistaken, but buckle shoes and a headband might be in order too.

I'm deciding which one I'll use. I always sketch lots and pick the best, but lately I'm thinking I'll start developing three or four at a time, so I have a quick and easy to go licensing collection. That way the next time someone wants them on ______ but all different by Thursday, they're ready to go.

Although, these girls don't look like they'll be rushed... Just one more chapter?

Wants to Draw Fairies

Has to draw seamstresses.

Oh well, that's pretty great too.

Thinking Inbox

Vorrei Essere in Italia

Queste Ragazze Amber sono ispirate dalle dolci colline della Toscana.

Il mio preferito è il pulcino con la borsa di grandi dimensioni.
Il mio amica, Emily, pensò di questi disegni. Sono entusiasta di apprendere che è il sua preferita.

Renderli indossare un trench, metterli in scarpe basse! E 'così divertente da disegnare le idee.

Sono andata a una scuola d'arte di fantasia in cui è stato richiesto a tutti di studiare una lingua romanza. Ho imparata un vago italiano conversazionali. Ne so abbastanza per scrivere un post sul blog, ma non abbastanza per arrivare ovunque in Italia che non è un bar, biblioteca, museo, o un bagno.

Grazie per la vostra pazienza.

Hey Bag Lady ;)

Today is my kid sister's birthday! When I think about April B. or Prilly, or the Apie, as she is sometimes called, I first think of her innate fashion sense. April has always known 'What looks good.' I distinctly remember running out of the house on my way to a field trip and having April hold out a sweater that she'd pinned a big fat broach on. "If you're going to wear THAT, will you at least wear THIS over it?" I think she might have been eight years old then.

April belongs to the 'no offense' club when it comes to fashion advice.

When she was little she used to lug these gigantic bags around. She was BoHo Chic before the Olsen Twins had stopped saying "No Way, DUDE!" It was a common occurrence for her to drag a bag or two to the car, carefully climb into the car, reach down to grab the bag and fall back out of the car because the bag was so heavy it pulled her down. She might have been in diapers but she was stylish.

On a trip to Vegas when April was about four she lagged far behind us, again with more bags than we would have needed for a beach picnic. The bags just seemed so heavy and she was so small. Taking pity on her, my mom and I went back to help her carry a few. When we picked them up we almost fell over too! She'd been walking along the Las Vegas strip picking up decorative landscape rocks and filling up her bags! That was the day we officially started calling her bag lady.

Now that she's all grown up her sense of style has changed a hundred times. She's always throwing together this or that, but the bags remain a staple of my April.

This set is straight from my sketchbook, and in just under the wire. My mom reported that my sissie tore open the presents I'd sent at the stroke of midnight last night, when she had just barely turned 23. When I asked April about it she defended herself by saying "Well, it is MY birthday and my birthday starts at midnight!" So this post happened on her birthday, March 9th and that is what counts ;)

Happy Birthday, kiddo. I love you. I think you're the tops.

Simply Sweet

Here's a lovely surprise...considering my post yesterday,

today's Illustration Friday prompt couldn't be more appropriate! Score.

I know the goals I outlined yesterday were to keep things simple but I still want these to be spectacular. This is just a first pass that I knocked out as soon as I opened my email and saw this week's email from Penelope.

Check back later this week to see how these evolve.

I'm spending the next week and a half in Montana where I'll be working on some pretty exciting new art, hopefully I won't have to keep all of it under wraps.

I keep thinking of that line in 'An Officer and A Gentleman' where Tom Cruise says,
" He was leaving for the rest of his life, and he hadn't called a soul and he hadn't packed a thing. Can you explain that?"

If it were me, Jack could have easily said "because she was stupid!!! She went to bed when she was tired and she thought she'd pack when she woke up.... but of course she wasn't thinking straight because she had to be at work at nine. What a retard! She was stupid!!!!"

Anyway, my plane leaves at 7:30. Let's hope I'll be on it.

Happy Friday!

WWSSiSD?

Today we are talking about the best thing on Television: Project Runway, duh.

There was a lot that I had to overcome to enjoy this season of one of the only television shows I will watch. By "watch" I mean rearrange my entire week/drop everything for/take a cab if I am running late/refuse to go on Thursday dates/day dream about all week/tell my friends to shut the "H" up when they are talking too loudly for me to hear my beloved Tim's advice etc. I'm very competitive about my runway watching.

For starters, How could they move my show across the country? Everyone knows all fashion happens NYC side. Sure LA's fashion district is huge but you have to step over a dozen grabby homeless people, in front of gridlocked cars driven by people who have guns and are willing to shoot you if you make them miss their light and under creepy bridged underpasses that seem like they should be guarded by trolls in order to get to said Fashion District. NYC fashion designers would never put up with that crap. I always love seeing my city on my show. This move was kind of unsettling for me. I felt like I boxed up my heart and shipped it to L.A. Sigh. At least I'll always have Ugly Betty the only other show I deign to watch on television.

Secondly,I have prided myself my entire life on never needing to ever, ever watch a Lifetime Original Movie or anything on the "Lifetime" channel. Did I come close when they put up all those sexy Harlequin Romance movie posters featuring all my favorite B list actors in my train station? Of course I did. But who didn't? May she who is guiltless cast the first stone.

That's right. I didn't think so.

The point is I didn't crack. If I need to be entertained by a crazy woman who likes to stalk their neighbors and speculate whether or not that girl at the grocery store, you know the really cute one with the great nails? the Asian one? Is pregnant, I just call my mom.

Now that Project Runway is no longer on Bravo I have no choice but to watch Lifetime. I have been stripped of my agency. I am practically forced to go to www.MyLifetime.com on an almost daily basis. Where's the humanity?!

This week's challenge made me happy. If you're going to be in L.A. you might as well celebrate it. And if they think they have a beach, they should by all means use it. In case you are living under a rock or really don't have your priorities in check, here is a refresher:

Project Runway - Season 6 - Episode 3 Design Challenge 1 -
Design a Fun and Fashionable Beach and Surf look integrating Surf Culture
Challenge 2 - AS A TEAM

After bashing this week's episode with my buddy Christian (I REALLY didn't approve of this week's judging) he said "The whole episode I was so like 'WWSSiSD?" It took me a while to figure out but this simple abbreviation was in essence a thrown gauntlet, "What Would She Sure is Sketchy Do?"

For starters I would have chosen Louise Black as my partner, because she is smart and makes things pretty but with an edge.

I gave myself the same rules. A half hour of sketching with no research. It's not quite fair, because I did watch the episode. I tried to not let it influence me too much. Here's my favorite look that I came up with. Design Challenge 3 - Every team needs second look:
An Avante Garde Design that Corresponds to the previous surf culture
design.

It seems like the contestants on Project Runway may not know that the word avant garde doesn't translate directly into "Crazy Ass Huge Neck Collar". This is what I came up with in my half hour of sketching: In my fantasy I am completely couture trained. I would hand stitch on all the sequins so they were the perfect smattering adding just a hint of surprise.Some of my favorite quotes from this episode:

• "I think in this situation the word frustration is a huge understatement."
• "Only at the beach!"
• "I feel like I have this giant bulls-eye painted directly in the middle of my face."
• "In our relationship, I can't always tell you that you're perfect."
• "Thank you God for neoprene."

Max Azeria - who filled in Michael Kors' stead was maybe my favorite part of this episode. He had this "I have spoken, It is decided," air about him that was absolutely enchanting but side splitting. My favorite quotes from him were:

• "If you are not a team player, you cannot be a designer."
• "This work is not good. Let's put that on the side."
  

Photo: Mike Yarish/ Lifetime Networks 2009

I had lots and lots of opinions on this week's outcomes and attempts, but I don't want to ruin all the fun for you with my spoilers and sour grapes. Find your favorite Project Runway moments in this week's episode here on MyLife....time.......com
Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and type a url without cringing.

She Sure is Scrappy

Where do you do your best thinking and sketching? Place? Medium?

I'm often inspired by things I can't quite put my finger on. I make shorthand notes to myself on post-its and little worn scraps of paper. The other night a friend was digging in my purse for a chapstick and asked, "Do you keep a Guinea pig in here too?" There's that kind of paper in my purse, tons of it. I clean it out every once in a while to catalog and regroup.
It was worse in college - in college I kept scraps in the back pocket of every pair of jeans I owned. Sometimes they'd make it out before the laundry happened, but the ones that didn't went the way of detergent-drowned paper pulp. Now I'm a grown up that never happens because I carry a purse, a hamster-ready purse.
Yeah.

Listening to right this second: 'Music Box' - Regina Spektor

Celebrate!

Counting down to Surtex! This will so be me on Wednesday when it's all over and I can breathe and think and be kissed without making long lists in my head, occasionally jumping up to get a pen to make a quick smattering of notes. I don't think that's been going over too well.... haha.

As requested, I've been trying to show you more of my process. This final illustration is two drafts away from the sketch I showed you last week. It was a fun one. The angle of the arm had to be changed. Then we made her a bit more curvy and gave her better shoes. The lapel of her jacket needed to be wider and of course she needed some fancy, flirty bag. The bag was the most irritating change to me. Now that everything is said and done the bag is my favorite thing about the illustration. Now for the fun part. Off to the invoices!

Shopping Should be Fun!

A couple of weeks ago I posted a fast and loose fashion sketch here on She Sure is Sketchy. It turned out to be pretty popular with the ladies. The finished result can now be seen on ivillage's new website NeverSayDiet.com. Three cheers for the World Wide Web!

Spring is in the Air!

Lee Lee's Valise - Holiday Hottness

It's been a while since I've been able to post about anything in my top-secret file. Nicely for us, Lee Lee's Valise, just released their Holiday Extravaganza Illustration. Now you're more than welcome to ooh and ahh."

Sharpie Really Shouldn't Sell Their Markers in Sets

Why would you ever really need more than one Sharpie? Why would you ever really need a Sharpie in a color other than black? These are the tough kinds of questions I'm not afraid to ask. They are the kind of questions that require research. As a result of my inquisitive nature I am the owner of a boxed set of 25 colored Sharpies.

There are days where I just can't draw. Then there are days where I just can't draw. A dedicated free association day with a strange medium that I can really control knocks that out of me. Thanks be to God that these days of not being able to draw are now few and far between. My head just couldn't handle the effects of long term Sharpie fumes if they came more often.

This is a free association moment:

But I bet you know what it means...or at least your subconscious does. Heeeyyyy.
These sketches are done with that infamous box of Sharpies. A closer look at them now, as it's been a while since they were done, makes me realize they kind of look like they belong on a Harijuku Tour. I'll have to have my people call Guin. I mean, if I can create a zillion illustrations with 25 stinky makers, without much give in the point and a tendency to bleed on any paper one might attempt to use them with, my people can certainly call Guin.




If time goes by and you don't see these on tour it's most likely because they belong in my new 'What a Doll!' series. Hold your horses, you'll see them in all their glory as they're actually meant to be seen soonish.




Don't you worry your pretty little head, this is just a smattering. There's plenty more where these came from.