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!
Okay, so this dress is officially the new jewel of my wardrobe. How ridiculously gorgeous is this? Oasis have teamed up with the Warner Textile Archive to produce this insanely beautiful series of jacquards for AW16, which launched this week!
I was lucky enough to take home this stunning Elizabethan inspired Warner Jacquard Midi Dress and believe me I'm going to find as many excuses to dress up as possible in this (although, who needs excuses, really?).
The Archive has one of the largest collections of historical fabrics in the UK and is home to 100,000 textiles. Each of the designs in their collaboration with Oasis is based around 18th century style, one is a paper design which is hand- painted copy of the embroidery, and one is even from Queen Victoria’s coronation! I love delving into history, and this whole backstory to the collection just gives it that lovely bit of depth and uniqueness. I'm definitely going to put the Warner Textile Archive on my to-visit list - it's obviously full of creative inspiration!
Above is a snap of the original fabric which inspired the dress I'm wearing - It’s a copy of an 18th century design, woven in the 19th century and apparently would have been worn in a candle lit ball room *google search nearest ballroom*.
I've paired the dress with a cute pair of brogueish style heels I bought in Oxford Street's Dorothy Perkins. It was a few years ago, but I vividly remember buying them in a slight panic on my way to an exhibition, as my other shoes had broken!
It's always quite tricky to portray gold in an illustration, so I wanted to include this little gif to show off just how beautifully the fabric catches the light. Okay, I'm going to hold off any more ranting about this dress now, I'm just a little bit in love, I don't think you can blame me!
The full collection is on the Oasis website here, and you can find out more about the Warner Textile Archive collaboration here.
Remember you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'. Hurray for collaborations!
Please note this is not a paid for feature!
I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for pattern. Quite often a gorgeous pattern or a snippet of unusual embroidery is all I need to have me reeling over something, especially clothes. If you've seen my 'The Wardrobe and the Jewellery Box' board on Pinterest, you'll see what I mean. So when I saw this embroidered pinafore from Joy The Store I just fell in love with it - the embroidery is so gorgeous!
I have it paired with a lovely olive green turtle neck (yep, I'm all for those too right now!) and some black tights. It's a super simple outfit, but the flower design is what makes it really unusual. I had a lot of fun replicating the embroidery in the illustration today! If you follow my work, you'll know I often include a decoration of leaves and flowers in my illustrations - so I think this outfit might get me a few more "Hey! You dress just like your work!" comments.
You can find the pinafore in all it's embroidered glory on the Joy website here, and the Trent top here. Joy is no stranger to stocking the cards I illustrated with Ohh Deer as well, so keep an eye out for those next time you're instore.
Remember you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
Please note this is not a paid feature.
Today's been one of those days where everything seems to go wrong, so forgive me for posting this at half past nine at night rather than my usual 11am upload! I think to be completely honest the drawing every day is getting to me quite a lot at the moment - it's odd with this project, some days I absolutely love it, but on weekends especially it can be tough to feel in gear to draw as a task. I know that in the end it's definitely worth doing, and I think any sort of challenge like this is going to have it's grueling parts.
I'm wearing my Radical Face band t-shirt today. I picked it up when they played in Manchester's Deaf Institute (an amazing venue) a few years ago. They've been one of my favourite bands for a long time now. I really love songs that tell a story, and Radical Face's albums definitely do.
I'm feeling a bit grumpy today, so I've gone for comfort over everything, and I'm wearing the band t-shirt with some comfy jeans from Joules and some thick wooly socks from H&M to save my toes from the progressively bitter cold. I'm admittedly going to change into pjs the second I upload this, but I've been wearing this all day I promise!
You can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin' if you fancy it. Honestly, the support I've been getting for this project has definitely been perking me up on days like these! Thanks everyone ❤
I've posted this one up quite late today (it's past 5pm!), but today I viewed SEVEN houses, so I think that's quite a good excuse...
We've got to the stage where our tiny (honestly, tiiiny) flat is just too full of books, figurines and illustrated prints, and we're hoping to do the almost mythical thing for a freelancer and buy a little place of our own. So between commissions, Thought Bubble preparation (and all these daily outfit drawings this month!) I've been trawling the housing websites for somewhere lovely.
House-hunting has been an equal mix of hard work and a lot of fun so far! There have been a couple of horrors (one house's neighbour used the front of their porch as a toilet for a million dogs - literally three square meters carpeted in dog poo! Ergh!), and some really gorgeous ones with tons of potential! I'll keep you posted.
It's really quite freezing cold today, so I admit I was wearing a coat as well, but here's me in my cosiest cardigan from Joules, some comfy black denim skinny jeans from H&M and my lil' green shoes from Next.
Remember you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
Despite all the bold colours and patterns I like to use in my illustrations, sometimes I like to keep my outfits dark and minimal. I've been recently getting back into the turtle-neck game (after a long stint away from it. Seven-year-old me rocked a mean lilac one to school!) - and I'm in love with the simple loveliness of this organic cotton roll neck from People Tree! I've paired it with a dark grey jersey skirt and my "Emmeline-classic" teal leather boots from Red or Dead.
People Tree have long been one of my favourites. You might remember me featuring them in last year's What Emmeline Wore In July project - well that dress has since become my go-to for making me feel confident when I'm doing illustrationy business things (in fact I wore it the day I did my Freelancer of the Year presentation in front of the judges! The confidence boost must've helped since I walked away with the title). They've always got such stylish pieces, but I'm really enamoured with their ethos and commitment to fair trade and organic clothing - it feels extra special to know your clothes have come from a good place.
Like all good skirts, this one has pockets. So expect them to be filled with scraps of drawings or receipts for books soon! My boots were my first ever extravagant purchase (I've had them a long time!) thoroughly encouraged by my brother and best friend. I had a few years off them after the heel snapped off on my way to the cinema (which led to a bit of an awkward hobble back later). Last year I finally took them to an actual cobbler in Chorley who fixed them up amazingly! I'm a firm believer in mending and altering old clothes and accessories rather than throwing them out (maybe that's why I have too many..).
A huge thank you to People Tree for being involved in the project again this year! You can find the lovely top and skirt, and a little bit more about their values on their website here.
Remember you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
Please note this is not a paid-for feature!
I've hardly been able to wait to feature this gorgeous outfit from Joules! If you've been following the What Emmeline Wore In October project so far, you'll have noticed I have a bit of a passion for mustard yellow in the Autumn months...and paired with dark grey and plum? Well.
I've always been one for a good walk, whatever the weather is doing. I've often been met with a surprised look when I tell people that I chose to walk a few miles in the rain rather than jump in the car, or if I'm up for going on a hike when the skies are moody - but I love it - as long as I can stay relatively dry (or I'm on my way home!) bring on the storms. These Evendon wellies from Joules are my favourites for that now! They're actually warm! And they have a yellow ribbon on the back! If I'd ever wished for a pair of wellies...honestly, this would be them.
I'm wearing the wellies with this comfy pair of Monroe black skinny jeans, yellow Frankie jumper and this gorgeously shaped Lana cardigan 💛.
Remember you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
I'm about to zip off to my driving lesson (yes, I'm finally going for it again! 🚗🚗🚗) but I haven't decided which shoes to wear yet, so let's just leave it at tights.
I'm in full Thought Bubble preparation mode today, so I'm wearing one of the comfiest outfits in my wardrobe to get me through the day. A dark denim dungaree dress from F&F, a snuggly dark blue 'Hollie' top from Fat Face, and of course the plum tights from Topshop. The scarf was a charity shop find (apparently I buy a lot of scarves from charity shops!).
As always, you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
This is a bit of a different outfit illustration for today, as this evening I have my Karate class! I started going to Karate about a month ago as I wanted to feel, well, strong, and try something a bit different. It's Goju Ryu Karate (a hard-soft style from Okinawa) with an extra focus on practical self-defence - the class is mostly men, but it's really inspiring being paired up with an amazing lady black belt that goes to the class!
I've been really enjoying it, but the only issue I've had is feeling very protective of my wrists and hands as obviously they're muh bread-winners as an illustrator. I think as I continue my practice I might look into gloves, and I'll be strengthening my wrists up as much as possible!
I've found a lot of the time that people have had vivid preconceptions of what picture book illustrators are like (I've honestly had someone assume I only draw teddy-bears all day... what?), so it's quite fun to breakdown misguided those stereotypes if they crop up! I think now there's such an explosion of amazing children's illustration work out there, things are starting to shift a little and people know that illustrators come from all walks of life (and that's what makes the books so exciting!).
So at the moment for Karate I'm wearing a simple black vest top from Topshop, loungey pants from Primark and a white hoody from Next. I'll update you if I ever accessorize it with a belt ;-)
As always, you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
After a weekend of music (and a good look around the Manchester Print Fair), I'm excited to be back and working on some exciting things! Thought Bubble festival is only a few weeks away, so everything's full throttle in preparing for my table there, and I have a couple of really great commissions in the works this week too.
This is a usual at-work look for me: a cosy jumper, some kind of soft scarf for when I realise I forgot to put the heating on, and a pair of skinny jeans. These boots are some of my favourites (yes, yes, yes orange shoes!), although I don't wear them out and about as much as I'd like as they're quite sky-high. I usually save them for when I don't have to walk too much - parties, the cinema, or, y'know, for feeling awesome at my desk.
The jumper and jeans are from H&M, whilst the boots are from Boohoo - the scarf is a charity shop find!
As always, you can keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
I'm back at Manchester's 'A Carefully Planned Festival' today - we saw a lot of amazing bands yesterday, but two of my favourites were definitely Denuo and Lake Komo (pictured below), completely different, but both brilliant! ACPF is always great for finding new favourite bands and discovering the Northern Quarter's bar and music venue hidden gems.
Today I'm wearing a few items you may recognise from this project (come on, I can't wear something different eeevery single day, you know what it's like when you get new clothes!), so you might have spotted this gorgeous Yumi dress and this White Stuff coatigan before! They're definitely going to be staples of my wardrobe from now on. I am however wearing a more practical element in my outfit today, and after the (literal) miles walked between seeing bands yesterday (and today's rainy weather) I'm opting for my fancy/trusty Berghaus boots.
Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
Today I'm off to a music festival! (So I'm keeping this short but sweet). As usual, when I'm at gigs I whip out my glasses, so today you'll see me sporting them with this lovely yellow top from Joules, along with black jeans from H&M and tan boots from FatFace. I look a bit sassy in this drawing, I'm not always so sassy in real life haha, but I do love drawing characters with a bit of sass.
Keep up to date with the daily 'What Emmeline Wore In October' illustrations by using the hashtag #wewio on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram, or over on Bloglovin'.
