Unnur

Unnur - click for a bigger size

I love the name “Unnur”. It’s an Icelandic name, and it sounds really soft. Very pretty, and that’s why this piece is called that. It’s just a simple speed painting of a sad girl called Unnur, and the style of the drawing is little bit different from how I usually draw.

I wanted to make something quick to wake my inspiration up after spending a week in Iceland and not being able to draw much.

But the trip was great and the break from drawing was totally worth it!

Svana

Svana - click for a bigger size

Svana is an Icelandic name, and its original form means “swan battle”. I got this idea when I was talking about theatre and actors with my friend, and I wanted to draw a female theatre actor. And I think Icelandic names are very pretty (and difficult to type!). I wish I knew how to speak Icelandic, and because I know Swedish, I think I could learn Icelandic too pretty easily. Maybe…?

I really wanted to draw a woman who would look somehow unreachable. She is hiding behind her theatre mask, and she is the character she’s meant to play - not herself. I also used very simple colours so that the illustration would somehow look “motionless”, only the black and white streams are moving. And I wanted to keep her hair very short and pure white because I simply love white hair. It’s beautiful and chic.

Femme Fatale

Femme Fatale - click for a bigger size

Although the title is kinda fateful, I actually got the idea for this illustration when my own bangs started to be way too long and annoying to my eyes. I love bangs, but I hate it how fast they grow. Still, I think long bangs would look really great, but yeah… It’s not the most practical hairstyle.

I wanted to bring some kind of a “retro” feeling to the illustration with the colors. That’s why I used so much red in it and different kind of strong color effects. The divided background brings a nice edge to the illustration. Also, Liquify is my new favorite tool in Photoshop. The left part of the hair was edited with it.

Asian Dreams

Asian Dreams - click for a bigger size

This has nothing to do with the situation in Japan, so this is not a statement. Of course I feel sorry for the people and the situation is awful, but I drew this a couple of weeks ago already. It’s just a dress-design which happened to be inspired by the japanese culture.

I wanted to use lots of red because red is delicious. It’s a very strong color, and I don’t use it that often. I do wear a lot of red, though… I’m very satisfied with the dress, and I wish I knew how to sew so that I could make one but that’ll have to wait. Maybe in a couple of years? The bag is matched with the dress, and not with the shoes, because her hair already matches with the shoes. And I didn’t want to use too much black, because the white and the red were the main colors in this one.

Also, I like her red shadow a lot although it doesn’t follow the rules of light and shadow. It’s more like an artistic add-on to the illustration.

The Army

The Army - click for a bigger size

It actually feels like this in my closet. There are so many shoes, that I don’t know where to put them! But I do love shoes - little bit too much, even. It’s like “Alice in Shoeland”…

First there was only a pair of shoes in the girl’s way in my sketch, but I deleted the other shoe in the pair and decided to copy/paste the one in the front. It looked better and more balanced, and then I got the idea of “a shoe army”. Wouldn’t that be great? They’d never hurt you, they’d just lure you into buying all of them. ;)

The idea for the shoe design came actually from the movie “Chaplin”. I was watching it and saw Robert Downey Jr wearing those white women’s high heeled shoes and thought to myself “maybe you should draw shoes?”. So I did.

Ringbow Dress

Ringbow Dress - click for a bigger size

I wanted the title to be “Rainbow Dress” first, but because there are only ring-patterns in the skirt, I guess “ringbow” sounds better. Although it means nothing… (It is some kind of company, but never mind…)

When I drew the sketch, I didn’t include her face or hair in it. I only made the dress design and the long neck, but when I was coloring this, it seemed like the illustration lacked something. Face brings personality. That’s why I drew her facial features also, and I’m glad I did it because I managed to make her look great. Especially her hair. There’s a little bit of “rockabilly” in the girl, I think. And personally I absolutely love halternecks.

The ring-pattern took a long time to be finished - especially in the sketch, and I was actually drawing it during class. Classes are great for that.  : D

Thaw

Thaw - click for the bigger size

I love it when the thaw comes, and I love it when the winter starts to fade away and it starts to get warmer. There is still snow on the ground, but it’s soft. The air is soft too, and the breeze smells of the coming warmness.

I don’t know why but thaw has a very strong impact on me. I associate a lot of good feelings, songs and movie scenes with thaw, and thinking about it makes me feel very wam inside. I enjoy all seasons, but this part of the year I like the most. And I wish I could explain it better… but maybe an illustration is the best way to describe my feelings.

I wanted the illustration to be very soft, with simple, gentle colors. Her hair reminds me of roots and tree bark. For some reason her expression is wistful - maybe she’s mourning for the dying winter. I’m having a turquoise/pink -phase, after my long purple phase. Also, I’m having a phase when I don’t want to use separate base colors but to utilize the background color as much as I can.

Me On Your Paper

Me On Your Paper - click for a bigger size

I wanted to keep this illustration very simple and use only couple of colors. The basic idea was to use the background color as her skin base color, like I used the paper color the same way during the sketch phase. There’s only base color in the hair which conversely doesn’t have any other colors. I guess that brings some kind of harmony to the illustration. Also, the colors are pretty much from the same shade chart.

There was only one girl first but for the sake of balance in the illustration, I duplicated her. I’m really satisfied with her shirt, and I’m surprised it took me only a couple of minutes to paint it and make it look “real”. Lucky moments like that don’t happen very often. ;)

Despite the title, this is not a self portrait.

Bring Me Nevada Skies

Bring Me Nevada Skies - click for a bigger size

Three things worked as the basis for this illustration: coming spring, thaw and pictures of Nevada. Those things gave me the feeling for the girl and the whole picture. Especially thaw has a strange influence on me, but I don’t know how to explain it. I also had the idea for the “balloon hem” which I wanted to bring to life. Her jacket is “open” only from the top part. You have to put it on like you’d put on trousers, from below kind of.

I love Nevada’s nature pictures: the colors are absolutely amazing, and the nature is very beautiful. I’ve always wanted to travel to areas like Sierra Nevada. In the illustration my aim was to use those “Nevada” colors in the girl’s clothing - and everywhere else. Also, I wanted to try other different things with colors and illustrating overall. I’m trying to reduce photorealism in my fashion illustrations and add more graphic elements to them.

I’m really satisfied with this illustration because it is exactly what I wanted it to be. Even more. And that doesn’t happen very often (perfectionism yeah…).

Waiting

Waiting - click for a bigger size

Another fashion-illustration, and for some reason this one took me a long time to finish although the illustration is pretty simple. But my mind was wandering all the time…

Anyway, about the girl. When I was painting her, I was thinking all the time that for some reason she’s lost her fancy high heels and has to wear the yellow boots. Because the shoes don’t match the fabulous dress. But I guess if she had high heels, she’d look just like any other party girl. Now she has a story…

I tried to make her face and hair little bit different from my basic style and keep them more simple - not so painting-like. I wanted to get a more “graphic” look into the illustration - as if it would be used in a magazine. Also, I’m pretty satisfied with the colors. Pink and yellow look great together.

Nickie

Nickie - click to see it in a bigger size

Another fashion-illustration, but this time it’s not as “edged” as my previous ones. I wanted to draw something cute and girly for a change. I’m calling the girl “Nickie” because it’s a cute name - for a cute girl. I wanted her to have a trench coat which are very nice looking and lovely if the shape and cut is right (not those awful detective trench coats…). They can be either girly or very feminine and sexy, and to add the girliness in Nickie’s jacket, I made the colors very soft and added some decorations to the fabric.

Shoes and a handbag should always be of similar color, so they say. And that’s why Nickie’s shoes and handbag match. I’m very proud of the shoe-design in this one, because shoes are kinda difficult to draw but I managed to make them look good. And little bit different from the shoes which I’ve seen. And I never use yellow - except this time.