Sketchbook: Blake Lively

This is Blake looking majestic at the 2011 Costume Institute Gala.  Just finished it in my sketchbook.  

When I started drawing I had the same feeling as when looking closely at Jenifer Aniston; these girls are both stunning but, when you study the component parts, their faces are all wrong.  It just goes to show that your parts don't need to be beautiful in isolation for you to be gorgeous as a whole.

Fashion on the Move

I've just finished a project with Bianca Ferreira for her brand new blog 'Fashion on the Move'.  I made a banner to grace the blog header and set the tone; something graceful yet fun and forward-looking.  

I did a bunch of different colour-ways so there's some flexibility and Bianca can pick a blog banner to suit her mood.  Girl's gotta have options.  See it in situ here.

I did the same for two profile pictures; one a crop of Bianca's face, and another with a FOTM acronym.

Very best of luck to Bianca and her new blog-child!

Follow 'Fashion On The Move' here.

Follow Bianca on Twitter here.

Bones

I blogged this record before when it came out, but I hadn't seen the actual item then.  Now I have it in my possession and have gotten round to taking some photos of my most recent record-decorating efforts, which you can enjoy below.  

Image Hoard: Oil Slick

Here's another rag-tag bunch of pics that have been saving up and loved for some reason or other.

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Frances Bean Cobain

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Grunge's favourite daughter looking appropriately hot and bedraggled.  

Photographed by Hedi Slimane.

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Sleepovers

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Illustration by Esra Roise to accompany a poem of the same name in Popshot Magazine.

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Unearthen

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I found this amazing jewellery by Unearthen.  

Below is a vial containing crude oil and a very cool watch.

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Soap & Skin

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Incredibly intense and intimidatingly talented, Anja Plaschg is not a singer, not even a singer/songwriter; she's an Artist.  She creates under the name Soap & Skin and has charted in a number of European countries.
If this is Austrian pop music it puts Lady Gaga to shame a little.  Still, I'd rather not bump into Anja in a dark alley.

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Marion B

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I discovered New Yorker Marion Bolognesi's work via her illustration on the poster advertising "For Coloured Girls".  I haven't seen the movie, but I give the poster a thumbs up.  Here are a couple of her watercolour paintings.

Swatch for Amelia's Magazine

Swatch have just launched two new watches designed by Jean-Michel Othoniel: 'Over The Rainbow' and 'Be Black'.  Blogger extraordinaire Amelia Gregory was invited to attend the fairytale watch launch in Venice.  Read her report for Amelia's Magazine here.

I did an illustration for the article showing 'Be Black' suspended over a sparkling Venetian waterway at sunset.  I thought it way pretty romantic.

My 'Be Black' Swatch illustration

Here are some of Amelia's photos from the launch.

Jean-Michel Othoniel modelling 'Over The Rainbow' at the launch

'Over The Rainbow' with its delicate glass packaging 

Madame Emch, President of Swatch sporting 'Be Black'

Jean-Michel Othoniel is a French artist with a penchant for glass and draping giant jewellery on trees and buildings.  Decadent and delicate, full of colour and light, his work is the perfect partner for canals and Venetian architecture.  The following is some of Othoniel's dazzling ouvre.

Riviere Blanche
Murano Glass and Steel, 2003

Le Kiosque Des Noctambules at the Palais Royal metro station in Paris

Detail of Le Kiosque Des Noctambules

Le Noeud De Lacan
Mirrored Glass and Metal, 2009

Les Lacets Bleus
Mirrored Glass and Metal, 2009

  

Half Asleep

Sketchbook page

Life Drawing

Hour-long pose

Last week I joined my mum and her 'polite drawing society' for a life drawing session.  Nothing weird about that: it's Art.  

I caught the train to Windsor and we slipped through a side door in the snack kiosk into a pub.  Its daytime-emptiness peppered with people sketching; all focused on Paul, the model.  It was a good chance for me to crack out the quink and work on a slightly larger scale than usual.  For the 1 hour pose I taped 2 pieces of A3 together (you can see the join).  

I'm quite pleased with how they came out.  I particularly like the area of focus in the larger drawing.  Marks out of 10?

Warm-up drawing