Daily Number Four

I know, I'm a day late. I was ALMOST finished last night, but decided that for my sanity I needed to go and relax with a friend. Busy times, these are.

This one is A BOY. Yeah, boys are hard to draw, but I think I like this one. This look is from Dries Van Noten's fall 2010 menswear line. The collection holds some timely updates to classic looks and was reliably styled for the presentation. I love the layering of the gray scoop neck sweater with the similar navy sweater underneath.

Daily Number Three

Study after Calvin Klein Collection's fall 2010 collection. I love Francisco Costa's critically named "minimalist" approach to design. For me, it's his ability to play with natural contours, shapes and proportions through garment construction that's exciting. Check 'em out in person, they really are beautiful.

Daily Fashion Illustrations

Alright, I've decided to do a fashion illustration a day. Neat and arduous goal, yes? Each little darling takes between one and two hours, and I love doing them -- so why not start a fun and helpful exercise? Also, it helps me hone in on an approach I'm quickly falling in love with. This study is from Erin Fetherston's fall 2010 collection.

Another Lanvin Study

If I love it so much, why shouldn't I just...keep studying it?
I like this one, it's a dainty little number from Lanvin's fall 2010 collection.

Finally

I've been in a creative rut. Maybe it was eight years of striving for lofty artistic and creative goals, maybe it's been my childhood imagination slowly slipping away while the real world settles in -- I don't know yet. I'm trying to find out what's missing from my creative scheme. I think the answer has been hiding underneath my own nose. It's in my sketchbooks, it's in my external hard drive, it's on the interwebz.

When did I stop painting and drawing things that I loved without thinking about who would see them? Just creating for the sake of it, letting your brain vomit on a page.

I did that today for the first time in a very long time as a quick study (instead of inside of my sketchbook), and I'm kind of relieved. I might just do this every day.

The look is from Lanvin's fall 2010 collection. The hair is a bit wack. Also, shush, I know I'm obsessed with Lanvin, don't judge me.

TWITTER

I got a twitter account. I'll probably just post information about new work, these old blog posts, and meandering thoughts on life. So if you'd like to follow, please do!

MICHAEL HOEWELER'S TWITTER

Portrait Tests!

So testing different approaches to portrait work is fun. I'm progressing, trimming, editing, understanding, and learning about my working habits. It's great!

Lady Gaga Piece?

Kinda, this is my form of brainstorming. I'm going to start a series of illustrations that combine a few of my favorite things. Portraits, fashion illustrations, and those graphite driven atmospheres that were in the Gareth Pugh and Rodarte work that I had done this past spring.

Alas, this idea is very new, so narratively and conceptually speaking, I'm starting out dry. That's why Lady Gaga looks more like a vintage space glamazon in this image than a contemporary pop musician. It's brain vomit. But thankfully, I do my best work when I get the bad ideas out first. So excuse this, but I think it's kind of a pretty color sketch.

Sketchbooks In NYC

This is one of the reasons I love being in this city. I can draw whatever I want, wherever I want to, and people don't mind. In fact, a lot of people are interested in what I'm drawing. If you ask for stories, you wont be let down!

BABS VS LARRY

Finally! A post with an image to it.
This is a new illustration for the August issue of OUT magazine, that accompanied an article about Barbara Streisand's passion for design and lack of passion for activist and playwright Larry Kramer. It's a shift in color style, and it's in the right direction. Hopefully more assignments follow with color!