New me, New style

As part of the collaboration post with Leila, I did a portrait of her in a style that I mentioned I was practicing. As promised, I have made a post explaining this new style. I got the inspiration from a cool illustrator on Instagram - since I have a vague interest in fashion illustration, I was instantly attracted to it and I thought I would try it out myself :)

I've been practicing and experimenting on different techniques and mediums - watercolours as well as ProMarkers and gel ink. To sketch my outline, I followed a technique done by an artist on YouTube whereby the pencil is held almost horizontal, as if you're shading, and held like a paintbrush.

I did not really use guidelines because I don't really need them - since I am more of a portrait artist, I suppose, and have been doing portraits for a long time, I am already familiar with the anatomy and structure of a human.

First off, I did a rough sketch of my reference (Emily Lind photographed by Tyler Shields). I coloured her features in using watercolours, adding different hues to create an atmosphere and make it slightly surrealistic. Then, with my Muji black gel pen, I outlined her features to make it crisp - like an illustration.

This piece was actually my first attempt at the style :P

I practiced sketching quickly in this style using only a pen. 

Above are just a few examples of what I've been working on! I'll be working on more, constantly honing and improving the style of course, and perhaps create a collection of works and maybe selling them :D

I also have a few very exciting announcements to make! Over the summer, I've been asked by Ava to contribute to a collaborative project zine. For now, it's called Sacred Zine Club and the release of the first issue is soon! However, the first issue of another collaborative project zine Paper Comets is out now so you can check it out here :D

Both projects are part of an online art society for teen girls by teen girls known as Freckled Minds and Ava, one of the talented founders, has kindly offered me the position of Editor! You can check out the blog here :)

What's more, I have done a few articles for a US based production company Adolescent Content and this amazing opportunity has helped me gain some experience and knowledge in freelance writing! I am so excited to show you what I've written, and the link for one of them is here :D

If you managed to get this far, then I'd like to thank you for taking your time to read :D

Have a great week and good luck all of you in your first day/week of school! 

Nicole ᵔᴥᵔ