Fashion Illustration: Practicing Style

I picked up a cool book on fashion illustration the other day, called Fashion Illustrator by Bethan Morris.  It's interesting because it's not really a how-to fashion illustration book, but more of an inspirational guide on how to make your illustrations not only accurate, but stylish and interesting to look at.  I often find myself too simplistic in my design aesthetic, so it's helpful to see examples of how other people have composed things in an eye-catching way.

I finished the first chapter of the book and felt like I wanted to draw something, so I found a few pictures and went to town.  I did pencil sketches yesterday afternoon and inked two of them last night with three different pen weights, which I find really helps to draw fine details.  I also tried to be careful to merely suggest more difficult elements like the hands and facial features, instead of drawing them fully outlined, which can make them look harsh or weird.

Overall, I was pretty happy with the way these turned out!  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try to add color.  I sort of like them the way they are.  And although I think I have much more to learn, this was a fun first step!