Being an illustrator, it isn’t everyday that you are involved in a fashion editorial shoot… so this was something new for me. It flooded my mind with ideas! One of my favorite projects to date… bringing fashion photography together with an illustrated world. Not to mention the inspiring team that brought this all together. It’s a magical thing when a group of people come together and just get it!
Join us on an illustrated adventure in this month’s Genlux Magazine…
Over the past few weeks I’ve been working with Skillshare to create easy to follow video tutorials that will give you an inside look into how I create my fashion illustrations start to finish (and add the likes of glitter, crystals, and sequins!).
Here’s a little video we made to give you an idea of what you’ll see in the class…
Check out the full description and sign up here. I’ll be directly involved in the class, and helping you as we go along beginning March 11-23. However, since this is an online class, you can get tickets at anytime… I just won’t be guiding you through it on a personal level after these dates- all the more reason to sign up now!
I’ll also be hosting 2 giveaways for the class members who participate:
1/ One student at random will receive a beautifully printed book of my illustrations and process photos from Artifact Uprising. (remember the book I made with them a while back?)
2/ The top two finished illustrations will each receive a set of three of my favorite illustration books from Laurence King Publishing:
It’s official! I’m addicted to Vine. It can be overwhelming when new social media outlets pop up because let’s face it, we’ve got enough to keep up with as it is! However, this one’s got me thinking in a whole new way… and as a creative, I can’t help but love that feeling. Join me on Vine, and watch as I share 6 second looping video clips of my world.
Throughout the past year, I had the privilege of working on The Journals of Mama Mae & Lee Lee app with Alicia Keys and her incredibly inspiring and talented team! I’m so thrilled to finally share it with you! (be sure to watch the video below!)
Here’s a little behind the scenes of how it was created…
The team began by creating the imaginative stories of Mama Mae & Lee Lee…The story of a young girl and her relationship with her grandmother, which Alicia builds on in the video. After the stories were finished, they asked me to bring them to life! I illustrated each character, and characters within scenes to get an idea of how this world could look and feel visually. Once those were finalized, the team at BentoBox transformed the illustrations and stories into whimsical animations for the app… That right there is creative teamwork, my friends!
Beyond the visualizations, this app is so special. The stories are incredibly meaningful, and Alicia’s music is integrated in such a beautiful way… see the theme song video here.
You can see a few of my concept sketches here, then brought to life in the video below…
Original character sketch for Mama Mae.
Original character sketch for Lee Lee.
Original character sketch for Abey… from pencil to color.
Final character visuals.
Scene concept for Blue Moon.
Scene concept for Blue Moon in color.
I started working on this project back when I was still working my day job at Reebok, and about to move to Barcelona. Looking back, I have no clue how I managed to stay sane juggling all of those things at once… but I’m so glad I did. In some ways, this is the project that opened my eyes to what I could be doing as a career. It gave me the extra push I needed to quit my job, and go out on my own… and I’m eternally grateful to them for that!
I hope you guys love it as much as I do…and you just might spot a few of my original illustrations within the app itself! Download here.
Many thanks to DJ, Jessica, and Alicia for such an incredible experience!
last night, i was playing around with my tiny paper things… and this scene just came to mind. i had to bring it to life! i love moments like this, when something so completely random pops into my head (which is prettyyyy often)… but so much fun. does that ever happen to you?
video features this drink dispenser, and this sailboat.
