What Emmeline Wore In October - Days 1 to 16 Round-up

Okay, here goes! I know a lot of you have been following my 'What Emmeline Wore In October' outfit illustrations so far this month, so I wanted to do a quick roundup of the first half, days 1 - 16 (slightly higher res version here). 

I think there's a lot of value in seeing all the illustrations together. As an illustrator (and particular as an illustrator for books and comics) having a character look like that same character throughout a book or series is really important. With these illustrations I'll admit that hasn't been my main focus, but obviously the added pressure of each of them being a self portrait has given them a bit of consistency! 

Drawing as part of a series each day has its challenges - some days you just really don't want to work (especially Sundays!), but I think having that discipline to create the illustration, post it, and on some days take photos of the outfits and features has had a positive effect on the rest of my illustration work. Sometimes you just need to jumpstart your motivation by giving yourself a task.  I've also found that for the most part the time it's taking me to draw these illustrations has gone down by a hefty percentage. Like everything, illustration takes a lot of practice - and again, like everything, daily practice is always going to have the best immediate effects. 

It's been really interesting keeping these illustrations and blog posts as a sort of visual diary as well. Yesterday I was asked what I did the Tuesday before, and knowing what I was wearing that day jogged a lot of the memories! It's surprising how much of an effect it can have. 

A lot of people have commented that if they were doing this project they'd be wearing the same clothes (or pjs!) for most of the month - and believe me, that is one of the hardest parts of this challenge! Some days you do just want to slob out in the same clothes you wore the day before, but this project has encouraged me to root out my lesser-worn clothes and make a bit of an effort to wear something different every day. It's also prompted me to donate a lot of my clothes to charity, as it's really highlighted the clothes that I actually want to wear.

We're on day 25 of the project now, and you can catch up with all of the daily illustrations through the hashtag #wewio or on my What I Wore blog section here. Tumblr and Instagram are great ways to have a quick look at the entire spread of illustrations too! 

A huge thank you to all the companies that have collaborated with me, and all of the support for the project so far (especially all the love for the series on Instagram which I didn't  have last year)! Less than a week to go!