Portland Sketches

Over the Christmas break we've been traveling around Oregon, and I started sketching quick snippets of our activities to remind myself what we've done and seen on the trip. 

We've eaten a lot of delicious food, spent a LOT of time at Powell's bookstore (and bought a lot of large books we aren't sure how to get home), bought some of 'baby's' first toys, books and clothes, and strolled around some super cute Portland streets and neighborhoods.

While this isn't the sort of art I usually create, I wanted to share it as a way of showing you 'behind-the-scenes' and what I've been up to lately. In fact, Behind-the-Scenes Content is idea number 17 in my free guide '21 Social Media Prompts for Artists' — if you haven't downloaded it yet, you can get it here. 

So, have you ever used a travel sketchbook to record your adventures? Let me know in the comments.

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Free Holiday Download

Happy Holidays!! Christmas is my favorite time of year...getting to spend time with family and friends, the tree, the Christmas lights, the snow, and the food...oh the food!

To say thank you for joining me on this wonderful journey this year, I made you a little holiday printable you can download and print yourself at home. Did I mention it's free?

Just choose whether you'd prefer gold or copper, and click on that thumbnail to download your free printable. Then in your print settings just scale it to fit the paper you want to use and voila!

Fine print: ©Brown Paper Bunny LLC 2016. For personal use only, not for resale or commercial use. :)

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Artist Gift Guide

I often get well-meaning friends and family buying me art supplies for birthdays and Christmas, but not being artists themselves they often buy things I either can't, or probably won't ever use. So if you have an artist friend you're trying to buy for — or you're tired of getting well-meaning, but crappy Christmas gifts, just point your friends and family this way!

Click to Tweet: This is the best Gift Guide for Artists! http://bit.ly/artistgiftguide via @BrownPaperBunny

Gifts for a Watercolor Lover

These gifts are perfect for someone who is either starting out or an experienced watercolor painter. They're all travel-friendly too which makes them great for the holidays! (Maybe with the exception of the books).

Paint Set

Brushes

Watercolor Sketchbook

Water Pen

Watercolor Print

Watercolor Postcards

Watercolor Phone Case

Watercolor Paper

Book: Water Paper Paint

Book: Watercolor Secrets

Book: Local Color

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Gifts for a Budding Fashion Designer / Illustrator

Whether they're just getting into fashion illustration and design or they're already pretty skilled at it, they're guaranteed to love any of these gifts!

Illustrated T-Shirt

Fashion Sketchbook

2017 Calendar

Tombow Brush Markers

Custom Fashion Portrait

Micron Pens

Book: Techniques

Book: Inspiration

Travel Mug

Fashion Coloring Book

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Gifts for Ladies who like to Plan and Journal

The world of art journalling and planning is really taking off, and who couldn't use a little extra washi tape, some fun stickers, and you can never have too many pens!! These all make great stocking stuffers too!

Ban.do 2017 Planner

Liquitex Paint Pens

Washi Tape Kit

Micron Pens

Ban.do Stickers

Roll-On Glue

Printable Calendar

Planner Stickers

Acrylic Paint Set

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How to use Instagram Live Video

Instagram Live video is finally rolling out to all users in the USA today, and here's some things you should know. 

No recordings: You can't record the video, save it for people to view later, or even save it to your phone. The comments and hearts all disappear after the broadcast too.

Comments: While you are broadcasting you can type comments yourself, which you can't do on Periscope. But viewers can't respond to other people's comments the way they can in Periscope. Typing someone's handle into the comment doesn't notify them or become clickable either (I tried).

Notifications: People will only know you are live if they happen to be using Instagram at the time.

Public Broadcast: In Periscope you can choose to only broadcast to individual people but in Instagram Live it is public for any of your followers to view. 

But How Should I Use Instagram Video?

Everyone is jumping on the latest social tool, but you're probably wondering how you should be using it. As artists and creatives, here are just a few ways in which you could bring value and be interesting for your followers:

How-To & Short Tutorials: Plan tutorials, and advertise them on your social media channels ahead of time. Everyone loves a quick how-to session that gives them a trick or two that makes things easier, or a gives them a great project they can complete quickly — especially if it's holiday-themed.

Surprise giveaways or holiday promotions and sales: Offer something extra special to your fans, which is a nice way to nurture them during the holidays anyway. As a bonus, once the broadcast is over post about it, telling people to stay tuned for your next one. Word will spread to those who didn't see it, and there is nothing like FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) to encourage people to follow you and pay closer attention to your content.

Behind-The-Scenes Content: Show people what you are working on, how you are making it, and tell them a little about your process. What might seem simple to you could be really interesting to other people!

You can get more social media content ideas in my free guide by clicking below.

I still have some questions about Instagram Live and I suspect we'll see updates and changes in the next few weeks too. One thing I did find interesting was that their message says they'll notify 'some' of your followers when you go live. Is that because they have to be using the app at the time, or is Instagram purposefully restricting the number of people who are notified?

I'd love to hear about your experiences once you've used Instagram Live — leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!

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St John Knits Live Fashion Sketching

This weekend I was illustrating guests at the Shine Bright event being held by St. John Knits in Denver. I had so much fun, I mean what's better than getting to paint and draw fashion illustrations all afternoon, surrounded by lovely ladies and gorgeous fashions? 

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If you're not too familiar with live fashion sketching, it involves drawing or painting guests, live, which means you have to be pretty quick. At this event I took a photo of each person on my phone and then got to work sketching them, so they didn't have to stand in front of me the whole time, but could spend their time sipping champagne and perusing the latest collection. 

Often at live sketching events you'll illustrate guests in the outfit they are already wearing, but the fun thing about this event was that they got to choose which of the new Resort 2017 Collection they wanted to be drawn in, from bright red evening dresses, to gorgeous black skirt suits. 

A video posted by Jessica Mack 🎨 Colorado Artist (@brownpaperbunny) on Dec 9, 2016 at 7:33am PST

Because I didn't have a lot of time to let paint dry my Tombow water-soluble brush markers were perfect. I just used a little water when I wanted to blend colors. I did finish off some of the sketches with metallic watercolors, but kept those areas small for fast drying. 

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Oh, Hello There!

I've made a lot of new friends online this year, and I thought a proper introduction was WELL overdue! I'd love to hear a little more about you too, so please leave me a comment — let me know where you're from, what you do, and what brought you to BrownPaperBunny!

So hi, my name is Jessica, and I'm Australian-born but I've been living in the USA for a few years now, with the last two and a half in Colorado. I kind of love it here, sunshine, mountains, fresh air — what's not to love! I live with my lovely husband, our naughty kitties (Bonnie and Clyde), and we have a baby girl on the way!

I'm a bit of a serial student and have a few different undergrad and graduate degrees in marketing, communications, commercial photography, information systems and I started (and dropped out of) a Masters of Fine Art majoring in Illustration — more about that below. For the past 16+ years I've been running marketing and social media programs for a wide variety of organizations from huge, global corporations to not-for-profit scientific organizations, to tech startups, and everyone in-between! Including General Motors, Starbucks, eWater, Raytheon, OtterBox, General Dynamics, LifeProof, DLA Piper, Robo 3D and more! And this year I went out on my own, focusing on social media consulting and coaching for creatives. I just saw so many talented artists out there doing themselves a terrible disservice online and thought 'I can help them!'

I'm also an artist and illustrator myself, with a penchant for watercolors, fashion illustration, bright color and whimsical, feminine subjects. I feel like I started my creative journey fairly late in life, and really only gave myself permission to start exploring art a few years ago. But after my first creative drawing and painting class, I was hooked, and now I pretty much sleep with a paintbrush in my hand. So if I can encourage even one person who thinks they 'aren't creative' to start drawing, painting, quilting, taking photos, baking, or any other creative pursuit that makes them happy, then I've achieved my ultimate goal! This is where I show you the self portrait I drew in my first creative drawing class, which I was trying to draw realistically and to scale by the way...and that I worked on for at least two hours — compared to a couple years (and a really good teacher) later. Anyone can learn to draw or paint. It just takes determination, practice, and someone to show you how....

So, back to that Masters of Fine Art. I didn't have access to illustration courses where I was in Australia so when we moved to the USA I jumped at the chance to apply for a Masters course in Fine Art and Illustration. I learned SO much in my first semester, but after several classes on charcoal still life drawing, with each class being a huge time commitment and me working almost 100 hours a week trying to get a tech start-up off the ground, it really began to be too much. I might have stuck it out, but when I was told that my next few prerequisite classes were going to involve more still life studies, but this time in oil paint I simply got too impatient. I wanted to skip straight to bright colors and ink and watercolor, and illustration work. So I put my studies on hold and started doing my own thing. I left the still life charcoals behind....

And started painting, bright, crazy things that made me happy!

That's probably more than you ever needed to know about me, so now it's your turn. Tell me a little about yourself in the comments!

And if you're interested in improving your own online branding and social media, come join my private Facebook group or sign up to my email list to get lots of free tips and get your questions answered!

Ready to make some changes right now? Book a social media consulting session where I'll give you an analysis and action plan to get you where you want to go!

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Travel Sketching

This week we've been in Vancouver for some meetings and other things. We tried to get out and explore as much as we could but it's been non-stop, heavy rain the whole time, so we've mostly stuck to indoor activities. In fact, the first few days were so grey I started the Instagram hashtag #NotBlackAndWhiteJustVancouver ;)

Of course the sun came out and it was completely gorgeous, 20 minutes before we had to leave for the airport. Here are a couple of pics if you're interested...

While we were there we visited the Juxtapoz x Superflat exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, which was really cool, and took a sea-plane flight around the area. And we also had a lot of lazy mornings in our hotel, eating breakfast in the lounge and sketching. 

Here are a few of my favorites from the Juxtapoz show. I wrote down who each of the pieces was by, and now I've managed to misplace that note. Sorry! Click on any of the images to see them a little bigger.

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Oh Big Bird, you saucy fellow!

So, my question to you is what art supplies do you take with you when you travel — or what is in your handbag every day? I always take WAY more than I'm going to be able to use, but I was almost glad for the rainy weather, which meant I got some creative time in this trip!

In my carry-on I had two sketchbooks, a handful of Tombow markers, a bag of Prismacolor brush markers, stash of Micron Fineliners, Liquetex Paint Markers, some brushes, pencils, and my home-made travel watercolor tin! 

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21 Social Media Prompts for Artists

After successfully using social media to develop my business as an artist, I know that it's tough to keep up with good-quality content. You want your social media to paint the full picture of your brand and show your work without it always feeling like a chore. You know you're creative, so it's totally frustrating when you're at a loss for ideas — like staring at a blank white canvas!

I see so many talented artists and creatives either neglecting social media, or posting any old thing and wondering why they aren't getting results. So I put together this free guide to help out.

Download 21 Social Media Prompts for Artists to get:

• Your free PDF guide filled with tried and tested social media post ideas that you can turn to whenever you're feeling stuck
• Posts that are tailored specifically to you as an artist
• Access to our private Facebook group where you can get your specific questions answered by myself, and other artists and creatives

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Shop Shop Shop

I don't know about you, but I scored some great deals on Black Friday and Shop Small Saturday! I particularly love buying from other artists and makers, locally and online, because I know I'm getting something special and helping support an individual to make a living doing something they love. I did some Etsy shopping, went to the local holiday craft fair, and paid a visit to online stores run by some of my creative friends. 

And of course I couldn't resist creating an illustration for my weekend (that's supposed to be me, minus the big pregnant belly). ;)

What about you, get anything really cool this weekend?

On a side note, I have something special coming just for you, so make sure you're signed up to my email newsletter (if you're not, you can sign up below). I won't be giving this little surprise out publicly, but I've been working on it for a while and it's a little freebie for my lovely subscribers. 

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Free Thanksgiving Menu Download

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Growing up in Australia we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but since moving to America we have embraced this wonderful holiday wholeheartedly! Tomorrow I'm cooking a turkey, with cranberry walnut stuffing, potato gratin, green beans sautéed with slivered almonds, cornbread muffins, and a pumpkin pie (all from scratch — I'm very proud of myself). ;)

And I thought it would be fun to make little menus for the table. AND THEN I thought you might like them too! So click the button below to download them, then print the jpg and write in your menu, or drop it into a Word doc and type your menu over the image and voila!

I've also been thinking a lot about all the things I'm thankful for this year. Despite it being a very challenging year, I am super grateful for my wonderful husband, getting to live in beautiful Colorado, a baby girl on the way, and getting to do what I love every day. We're pretty blessed!

Leave me a comment and let me know what you're most thankful for this year!

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5 Reasons Why You Need Twitter

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say ‘I just don’t GET Twitter’. And as artists and creatives I know Instagram seems to be the logical social media choice for us — it’s highly visual, it’s curated, and it’s oh-so-pretty. 

But here’s why you need to be on Twitter too. It’s a great place to: 

1. Make deeper connections with your fans

Twitter is a fantastic place to connect more deeply with your audience. Because Twitter can handle a higher volume of posts, you can show more behind-the-scenes pics and videos, fun GIFs of you creating, and links that you find inspirational or think your audience will like. It’s also ok to be a little less curated than you would be on Instagram. I’m not saying to be unprofessional or go on a religious or political rant to your fans, but you can be a little more real on Twitter. 

2. Connect with influencers

Twitter is a fantastic place to search for galleries, art collectors, interior decorators, magazine editors, agents, press and the like. You can create a specific list for each group you want to follow (and it can be private if you want to stalk them without them knowing — click here for instructions). It’s also super easy to reach out to people directly, either publicly or in a direct message and say hi. Or shoot them a link you think they’d like, and start building that relationship. 

3. Increase your reach

Unlike Instagram, because it’s so easy to share someone else’s post more people do it, so you’re posts will get in front of way more people!

For example, I have 11x the number of followers on Instagram as I do on Twitter, and yet the Tweet below received 2.5x the audience impressions on Twitter than it did on Instagram! Retweets baby, that’s where it’s at!

A great way to increase your reach even further is by using a simple retweet contest every now and again. It’s easy for your fans to enter, easy for you to manage, and will increase the number of people seeing your content by an astronomical amount!

4. Find out first

Twitter is great as a source of up-to-the-minute news and event announcements. You can follow local galleries, art and craft markets etc and find out when they’ve got open calls, events you can participate in, or contests running. Twitter lets you turn on notifications for certain people (similar to Instagram) so you can make sure you never miss anything important. 

Twitter is also an excellent search engine. Type in a keyword or a hashtag that’s relevant to your brand and you’re bound to find lots of people talking about it. Engage, ask questions, basically join in the conversation!

5. Participate in live events

I love, love, love Twitter for participating in live events. For example, I sketch my favorite red carpet looks for all the awards shows and tweet about them in real time, joining in with the engaged fans who are talking about it, live, on Twitter. 

There are so many creative ways to participate in big live events, including ‘Days of the Year’ or holiday conversations as they are trending. You can set up your preferences to show you trending topics globally, nationally or locally to tap into the conversations that matter most to your brand. Here’s what trending topics look like (mine are currently tailored specifically to me, based on my location and who I’m following):

Twitter Dos and Don’ts

• As with Instagram, DO use your bio tell people what you do and what they can expect from your posts. (Here are some tips on cleaning up your bio if you think yours might not be up to snuff) 
• DON’T repost from Instagram straight to Twitter. Your followers will see this….

Instead of your full, pretty post. (And it only takes about two seconds more to copy, paste, and post, directly in the Twitter app).

• DO make the most of photos, GIFs, and video — all three work really well on Twitter and will grab people’s attention. You can use Twitter’s built in GIF-finder or make your own using the ‘Live GIF’ app if you have an iPhone that supports Live Photos, or you can use a service like GIPHY.
• DO let people know if you have new product up on your site, promotions running, or special announcements. But balance sell-promotional tweets with interesting articles, behind-the-scenes content etc.
• DO repost relevant content again later. I use Buffer to easily re-tweet articles or posts from a week or month ago. People are on Twitter at all different times so they may not have seen it the first time around. For more info on streamlining your social media workflow, read this post. 
• DO use links in your posts to tell people what to do next ‘see more on the blog www.yourlink.com’ or ‘use this discount code in my Etsy store www.yourlink.com"  
• DO retweet other links, articles, and posts that you think your followers will enjoy.
• But DON’T share other people’s content without tagging them and giving them credit. If you simply retweet this is done automatically.
• DO use Twitter to encourage people to follow you on other channels: Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Periscope etc. 
• If you’re using Periscope DO share your scopes straight to Twitter so your fans can watch them right in your feed. This is a great way to introduce yourself and your work, and show people behind-the-scenes.
• For maximum impact DO try to tweet during ‘business hours’ during the week. That’s typically when most people are using Twitter. That being said, as with any social network, play around with times and work out when your particular audience is online, it may not be when the majority of users are on Twitter. 
• DON’T overdo it with hashtags on Twitter. It’s not like Instagram where you can post a slew of tags in the first comment after you post, with Twitter they have to be in the actual post copy. I usually keep it to a maximum of three, but one is plenty.

Have any questions about Twitter? Leave me a comment below!

You can also join the email list to get exclusive social media tips and tricks delivered directly to your inbox, and make sure you join our private Facebook group where you can get all your questions answered!

Download Your Illustrated 2017 Calendar!

This year I'm making my 2017 calendar downloadable so you can print it yourself right away. These work great for pin-boards at your desk, sticking to the fridge, framing, or using in your planner. 

AND, to say thank you here's a 10% off code to use with it — just enter 'handmade10' in checkout.

Each of the images in the calendar was originally part of a series I created for Inktober (a month of ink drawings). I then digitized them on my iPad (here are my favorite iPad apps for artists) and added some watercolor elements. If you're a regular BrownPaperBunny reader you know how much I love fashion illustration and bright colors, so I couldn't resist giving these ladies 'rainbow hair'. :)

Here is one of the original drawings being created. As you can see I like to watch TV and drink tea while I paint. ;)

Tonight's inktober fashion illustration was inspired by The Glamourai, painted in ink. Check out my blog if you'd like to see more: http://blog.brownpaperbunny.com

Thanksgiving Sale

Thanksgiving is such a great time for reflection and I've been spending time thinking about the people who matter most to me, and trying to send them more snail mail to let them know I love them and they're in my thoughts (even if there are oceans between us geographically).

I am also so thankful to be able to do what I love, and to have met so many of you lovely people through the blog and social media — so I wanted to give you a little discount on all my prints and stationery right through until the end of the month. Just enter 'handmade10' in the checkout. 

If you're anything like me, you're already trying to get all of your holiday shopping out of the way so you can just enjoy time with family. I bet there is something in my store that would be perfect for that hard-to-buy-for person on your list. ;)

If you're interested in a custom portrait, let me know. I'm happy to apply the 10% discount to those too. 

xx

Starbucks Red Cup Ad

I was super excited when Starbucks approached me about being in their Holiday ad for the new red cups this year! 

The ad has been viewed millions of times on social media alone, and met with really positive responses — so I couldn't be happier right now! 

Here's the timelapse I made, along with the ad so you can see which bit is me. :)

Super excited to be in the new @starbucks #RedCups ad ❤️

A video posted by Jessica Mack 🎨 Colorado Artist (@brownpaperbunny) on Nov 10, 2016 at 10:34am PST

DFW Fall 2016

I scored a front row seat for the first night of Denver Fashion Week(end), and again for the final night of Fall 2016 show this week. It was pretty fantastic, with some great local designers and talent. I've started illustrating a few of my favorites and you can watch each of the actual shows and flick through the photo slideshow below. 

Timelapse Fashion Illustration from the Femme Fatale Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end)

Illustrating some more of my favorites from DFW: Ansley Hair Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016

Artemis Birch Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016

There's some incredible fashion talent here in Colorado, check out some of the runway shows from Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016

Femme Fatale Intimates Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016

Mona Lucero Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end)

Steve Sells Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016

Maggie Burns Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016 I liked Maggie's designs, but the show itself was very long and awkward and reminded me of a debutant ball full of awkward teens doing awkward dances.

Anthony H Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016

Tyne Hall Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016

Rachel Marie Hurst Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) Fall 2016 Really loved all of her fabrics!

Night by Charlie Price - Runway Show at Denver Fashion Week(end) I enjoyed some of his designs, but it looked like the shoes were about to fall off most of the models, so they couldn't walk properly, which was distracting. The poor girls looked terrified!

Denver has so much local talent, I'm thrilled to see it showcased in such a cool way! Leave me a comment and let me know if anything in particular caught your eye.

What are Facebook Secret Messages?

If you read my last post about Facebook and Instagram features you'll know that there are a whole host of new things being tested out right now. 

One that is starting to be rolled out to some Facebook users is Secret Messages. 

It's only available on the Facebook mobile Messenger App right now, and here's what it looks like:

First you'll get a pop up notification asking if you want to use your device for secret conversations. If you click 'ok' you'll then have access to the new secret message feature.

You'll be able to set the time limit for messages to be visible after they've been seen. Then POOF, they're gone!

You can send photos from your camera roll, take a new photo, or send text messages. I wasn't able to send video, but that might be a feature that we'll see in the future. 

I feel very 'Inspector Gadget' sending secret messages that will self-destruct! 

It isn't really any different to Snapchat now, but by calling it 'Facebook Secret Messages' they've made me feel like a spy on an important mission — which adds a whole other level of fun to it. Well done Facebook, very clever.

Denver Fashion Weekend: Fall '16

Denver Fashion Weekend is coming up and I am SO excited! I've been to Sydney Fashion Week in Australia and a host of other fashion shows since I arrived in the USA, but never to Colorado's biggest fashion event!

The organizers (303 Magazine) have been kind enough to give me a discount code for you too — just enter '303Blogger' to get 10% off: http://bit.ly/DFWFall16

I'm going to be doing a little live sketching from some of the shows, and I'll definitely be doing a round-up back here on the blog afterwards! Make sure you're following me on Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter for all the live action!

via GIPHY

Be Yourself

We've been having a lot of discussion lately, about authenticity and being your true self as an artist, in an art journal group I'm a part of.

With the internet comes ready access to other artist's work, and also praise and criticism of our own creations via social media and other online channels. Does this seep into our subconscious and ultimately influence what we create? Leave a comment and let me know what you think? 

This quote by Judy Garland always sums it up well for me — I just have to keep reminding myself.

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. —Judy Garland

Inktober Day 31: Halloween

I can't believe we've reached the end of the Inktober Fall Fashion Challenge! A whole month of drawing and painting using only ink. Even though I fell behind at times, I always had a lot of fun catching up, and creating all of these fashion illustrations! 

The very last prompt was 'Halloween' so I drew these four cute costumes I found on Pinterest. Cactus, Popcorn, Cotton Candy and Ice-Cream. And it just occurred to me that they are almost all food-themed — maybe I need to go eat something. ;)

What are you dressing up as for Halloween this year? 

Inktober Day 29 (Fringe) and Day 30 (Accessories)

In a bid to catch up on my Inktober Fall Fashion Illustration Challenge prompts I combined Day 29 and Day 30, to create this gold 1920s Flapper dress — with jeweled hair clip and two-toned shoes. I had a lot of fun with this one, and I used to have a black dress (and shoes) just like this. :)

Check out all my other Inktober drawings here.