Sketches.

 A few sketches drawn a while ago when I was in Brighton but I thought I'd share them! 


I looked at photographs I liked and drew them in a way to emphasise the 40's style within them. The top two are drawn in pencil, in a realistic style and the bottom two started to look more stylised as I drew them, so I decided to make them represent the style of fashion illustration from the 40's. I scanned in the sketches but a few areas haven't come up very well!...

I loved the finger waved hair, very simple hair style but its very striking!
A4 size.

This scanned in a little weirdly, the pencil is more subtle in person but this is a modern version of the 40's hair.
A4 size.

I loved this faux fringe, I kept her figure very basic but added all the detail to the face and hair.
A4 size.

I drew the eyes with thick line to represent the classic black eyeliner, I think drawing an actual eye wouldn't work.
A4 size.

 I drew these with a normal graphics pen, but left blank areas where the highlighting areas are, to later go over with a wet paintbrush to add subtle shading, a little bit like watercolour paints. Make sure you try out the pen before you draw as some pens don't fade like this, they can turn greeny/brown or just don't work at all.

The best fashion illustrator from the 1940's (In my opinion!) Rene Gruau. He literally dominated the 40's and 50's illustration world and was in constant demand at Dior, documented Dior's new look in 1947. I love how bold and simplistic the brush strokes are but they are able to really show the form, and how elegant the female subjects are. 

Thanks for reading,

Kate xxx