My fashion illustration journey

This is going to be long so grab a cup of tea, a blanket and make yourself comfy. 

I started drawing when I was about 8 and I told myself that I wanted to be an artist. That was what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I drew loads and loads of things. When I went to school there were loads of great artists in my class and they were really good and I began to look at my drawings and think, am I really good enough? Their art is amazing and mine is average... Maybe I should stop. So I did stop. I left the art to the people who knew what they were doing. One day I found myself watching Lady Gaga's pokerface video and I really liked what she was wearing so I drew it and I actually really liked what I had created in paper. For the first time ever, to me it was beautiful. That was when ideas of fashion illustration popped into my head. All the artists in my class would draw nature, trees and abstract art. I wanted to be different. So I began to do it a lot. I'd watch a Beyoncé music video and I'd draw and colour what she was wearing. This process went on for about 2 years. By this time I was 10. So I decided to research a bit more into what I was doing. I found out that it was called fashion illustration. I also found about too illustrators and what they do. So as I was searching for this I found a competition. It was on the Fashion and Textile museum website and it was a fashion illustration contest for people my age. So I was in my room and I realised the competition ended in a week. I got busy finding the perfect design. I think in total I drew about 30 dresses and picked 5 to send to them. When I found them I sent then off and was praying I'd win. A few weeks later I was contacted by them and I was a runner up. Even though I didn't win I was super happy to actually achieve something. So my uncle, my mum and I went to the museum to see it on display and it was really really cool. I loved it. I continued drawing for another two years. I wanted to better myself. I looked for tutorials online and I came across a website called I draw fashion (for details on that check the creative opportunities post) it had millions of tutorials and I learnt how to draw millions of things. My drawings were coming alive and I loved it. When I was about 13 I came across tutorials on youtube such as Zyra Banez, Fsketcher and FashionArtventures. They helped me the most I think. These tutorials made my designs up. Without them I'd still be at square one in class drawing boring trees and nature. I was introduced to more than pencils and erasers. I bought promarkers and faber castell pencils and I would draw all the time, every chance I got I'd draw. I love drawing and fashion. So I put what I love together, you should try it sometime. 

Laurey xo