Spring Fashion – Christian Dior

By Lenora Jayne | Published: March 1, 2011

lenorajayne_diorss2011I’m tempted to draw just about every look in this collection. Dior’s deliciously tropical (ooh, do we see a reoccurring theme, here?) Spring line is reminiscent of 50′s-era pinup girls in a technicolor South Pacific dream. I love the flouncy skirts and GIANT cat-eye sunglasses. The line avoids looking costume-y, and manages to seem fresh while still nodding respectfully to it’s inspiration.
The illustration was done on toned brown paper and gouache, then cut out and glued into my sketchbook, because I wanted to clean up the edges and make the bodies more simple and implied. There will be more paper cutout and gouache coming tomorrow, I had a lot of fun with this technique!
See the rest of the line at Style.com: Christian Dior S/S 2011

Note:

I wrote this post earlier in the week. And, for those of you who read the news, I might note that while I think Galliano is a brilliant designer, I in no way support or stand behind his recent and reprehensible behavior. Ugh!

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Spring Fashion – Nicolas K

By Lenora Jayne | Published: February 25, 2011

lenorajayne_nicolask_ss11

I love dressing up with minimal effort, and Nicolas K’s spring presentation exemplified this with their loose, nomadic knitwear. Dresses that get you dressed in one fell swoop, without any uncomfortable bits or architectural underwear needed to keep it polite. Gorgeous.
While sketching this one out, I really liked the roughness of the pencil lines and decided to go with it, and ended up scanning and coloring in Photoshop. Usually, I really hate working with graphite because it’s messy and dirty looking, but I think it’s appropriate for the soft, rough-and-tumble feel of the design.

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Spring Fashion – Manish Arora

By Lenora Jayne | Published: February 24, 2011

lenorajayne_manisharora_ss11If there’s anything I love, it’s craziness and color. And Indian designer Manish Arora has both in spades; his style strikes me as both futuristic and lushly tropical at the same time. This spring collection wasn’t one of my favorites, but I definitely appreciate the inspired color palette. Lots of coral red, neon yellow, and ultramarine blue (which is my new favorite color, after pink, of course). This one is done entirely in Illustrator, and was an experiment in working with less clean, precise linework to convey the energy that the look has.

Check out the inspiration: Manish Arora Spring 2011 at Style.com

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Spring Fashion – Betsey Johnson

By Lenora Jayne | Published: February 23, 2011

lenorajayne_betseyjohnsonss11Another fashion illy! Done in Illustrator/Photoshop today, so I could get those neons.
This one is based off of a look from Betsey Johnson’s collection for this spring season.
Bicycle-inspired fashion with her trademark ruffles and outlandish colors. I love it. Makes me want to get a bike! I bet I wouldn’t get run over wearing a getup like this, eh?
Check out the full collection at Style.com: Betsey Johnson – Spring 2011

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Spring Fashion – Y-3

By Lenora Jayne | Published: February 22, 2011

lenorajayne_y3_ss11Spent the other afternoon browsing through the Spring 2011 fashion collections, to confirm some of my suspicions for this upcoming seasons trend (and also, for a little inspiration in building out my wardrobe!). And decided to pick up the pencil and mess around with my fashion illustration skills. This drawing is inspired by one of the opening outfits from Y-3′s Spring 2011 RTW collection, and is done in marker and india ink. I love this line’s clean, graphic looks. It came out a little comic-book-y, and I need to practice simplifying and stylizing for fashion, so there might be more of these on the way!
Check out the full collection at Style.com: Y-3 for Adidas – Spring 2011

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Happy February!

By Lenora Jayne | Published: February 9, 2011

lenorajayne_redsketch_0
This year is starting off to be an eventful one! I kicked off this month with my 24th birthday and a lot of resolutions to start working towards the things I’ve been dreaming about (and putting off).
To quote my friend Daniel, “the universe is conspiring with me”!

Projects coming up are:

  • The re-launch of my blog and portfolio! LenoraJayne.com will become the portal for my various enterprises, including a new name for my illustration & design business, a fresh-faced blog, and…
  • The spring launch of Neon Nebula! I’ll be collaborating with a few of my talented co-cadets, including Adi Azulay and the Squidelephant. I can’t wait to show off what I’ve been working on!
  • Lowbrow Society’s reviewing the incredible submissions for the “My Internet Self” project, and making plans for our show and printed zine.
  • And, speaking of zines! I’m looking forward to being a part of the “Bus Fare to Kentucky” project, which will include working on the cover art and layout! They’re currently looking for queer femmes (of all genders!) to share their stories of travelling and making art, while being broke and fabulous. More info here!
  • Also! I’m going to be working with Respect Films to produce a music video for the band Bronze. I’ll be doing art direction and styling for the short film!

Yep! It’s going to be a good year.

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Ode to Joy (of Twelve28 Tattoo)

By Lenora Jayne | Published: December 31, 2010

Last post of 2010! I’m looking forward to a lot of creative collaborations in the coming months, including a new art show with Lowbrow Society, a big party and a top secret project that’s in the works for the spring!

I thought I’d share a website I designed for Joy Rumore of Twelve 28 Tattoo in Brooklyn!

lenorajayne_1228tattoo

I found Joy a few years back, whilst reading BMEzine’s ModBlog (in which she’s been featured numerous times) and put her on my list of “NYC Tattoo Artists that I Love”. After a few more years of hunting for an artist for my phoenix piece, I realized that the majority of artists around here specialize in Old School or Japanese style tattooing, and that anything outside of that was a rare find.
Joy does custom-only work, which means that nobody will ever have the same art as you on their body. She has an incredible range, including everything from meticulous hand-lettering to realistic renderings of various flora and fauna. She also has a talent for understanding the ergonomics of the body, and how a tattoo can best complement the flow of bone and musculature. She’ll make you look bangin’, dude.

So, I finally cracked down last spring and started work on the design for my shoulder piece, an idea I’d had for five or so years already. The design is a loose amalgamation of various phoenixes from Russian, Chinese, and Greek mythology, with my own particular curvilinear, colorful spin on it. When I got home after my first session of color this summer, I started to get a little emotional because I was so happy that had Joy managed to translate my idea perfectly.

Anyway, when I caught her tweet about her malfunctioning website a few months back, I figured I’d approach her about doing a redesign, and here it is!

Hooray!

I hope you all have a Happy New Year, I get the feeling that 2011 is going to be an awesome year!

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Illustration: Dogs & Cookies & Wine

By Lenora Jayne | Published: November 23, 2010
lenorajayne_cookiedog_big

Here’s an illustration I did for an event flyer at work yesterday!
We did some changes in terms of the mood (less “grown-up” and more playful and young) but I figured I’d share this one, because I’m really digging how the light color scheme came out.

(Also, can you tell I’m longing for a fluffy dog? If only I had the space!)

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Eye Candy: Heartsrevolution

By Lenora Jayne | Published: November 17, 2010

Upon waxing poetic the other day about how much I love holographic foil stamping,
I remembered this visually delicious vinyl gem.
I stumbled upon Heartsrevolution about a billion years ago browsing the electronic music blogs, and I was sucker-punched by their 8-bit version of cute, bleepy, in-your face videogame music (mainly, the Designer Drugs remix of “Switchblade”). Their entire aesthetic and mythology is well-aligned to their sound.

Check out their limited edition release of the Switchblade EP, done by a fellow pink-haired designer
(and illustrator, and record label owner!) Kate Moross.

Heartsrevolution Limited Edition Switchblade EP

Heartsrevolution Limited Edition Switchblade EP

The design of this ice-creamy pink EP is sweet without being cloying. I love how aesthetic is kept clean and minimalist without descending into saccharine, which is pretty incredible considering that much of the Heartsrevolution imagery revolves around unicorns, hearts, pink and glitter. I really love the special touches that they added to this project; the wraparound switchblade knife illustration, the neon interior, and (of course) the holographic foil stamping. So good!

heartsrevolution

Also, one of the things that I love most about these guys is how accessible they are! I managed to catch the HeartsChallenger ice cream truck (which the band drives around to various locations, serving up cute Japanese ice-cream, candies, stickers, and plastic accessories) at the NYC Maker’s Faire a few months ago.
Layla (Lo) was getting ready to close up for the weekend, but she was more than happy to chat with me for a moment about their tour and her desire to just hole up in the studio to work on their upcoming album. And then she proceeded to give me a handful of illustrated trading cards and organic lollipops.

Not gonna lie, I definitely had a fangirl moment.

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Now, in Three Dimensions!

By Lenora Jayne | Published: October 22, 2010

lenorajayne_zbrush

This week I made my very first foray into 3D illustration and so far, so good! This model was done in Zbrush with no reference, so forgive me if the anatomy is grossly misproportioned.

Of course, me being the way that I am, I just cracked open the program sans-tutorials and started tinkering away to see what I could figure out on my own (which is basically the way I learn everything) and it wasn’t too awful. It’s really exciting to learn a new program again, especially since by this point, the Adobe Suite is pretty much putty in my hands. The tools themselves are incredibly intuitive, it was the view modes that gave me the most trouble (2.5D vs 3D), but, of course, I’m only on Day Two of learning.

And I cannot extoll enough love for a software company that offers such extended documentation, tutorials, and active online community. Stuff is invaluable in learning a new skill, and gives me the freedom to learn what I want to know incrementally, rather than in a linear fashion.

Definitely going to start building monsters, next!

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