Brainstorming

Brainstorming is something that I really like. I think is the most important part of every project.

I collected some pictures that inspire me to start thinking about the designs I wanted to make. I cut the pictures from different magazines and I pasted them over a big piece of paper (11x17), then I started sketching some ideas using a pencil, these are very rough sketches. After that, I was fixing them with a black pigment ink pen # 0.1. I also chose some fabrics for these designs. When I start brainstorming, I need to have the elements around me so I can have a better idea of what I want to reach; elements like fabric swatches, pictures, inspiration board, yarns, trims, pencils, ink, etc.

I'm still working on these designs, this is just a very early stage..

My little inspiration board with the pictures I collected

This is the same board, but I just wanted

to play around with the colors to give it

a vintage feeling :)

Retouching the rough sketches with black ink

Retouching the details

The picture is not very clear,

I hope you can see some of the designs

and fabric swatches around

I will post more pictures when this is done.. :)

Manual for Climbing Mountains

Paulo Coelho is one of my favorite authors and I always enjoy reading his inspirational books. The new and great thing that Paolo Coelho is doing

is that he and the fashion brand "Mango" (www.mango.com)

have created a collection of t-shirts illustrated with sentences by the author.

More than half of the sales of these T-shirts will be donated to the

Paulo Coelho Institute in Brazil, where 450 children are benefited with food,

love, education and the chance to develop their artistic skills. The institute is

financed by the author's copyrights.

Paulo Coelho is not only an inspiration because of his books, but also

because of his wonderful work helping others.

Photo source: Paolo Coelho's blog: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

Here are some of my favorite words from Paolo Coelho. You can find free post cards with his most famous words in his blog:

http://paulocoelhoblog.com/postcards/

Playing with watercolors

I was feeling very inspired by the new watercolors that my honey gave me last week. I love watercolors! For some reason when I paint with watercolors, I feel more freedom than when I use other media. I don't know, I think it's just me. While I was combining the colors, I decided to create some vibrant graphics inspired by the colors of the peruvian costumes, very folkloric graphics, bright and full of colors. Then, I decided to use my watercolor graphics into some of my designs and I came up with some ideas.

I love art, I also enjoy oil painting. I feel oil painting is more demanding than watercolors; it takes time and patience, but the texture you achieve with oil is amazing. Oil paintings usually dry in one month or more, depending on the size and complexity of the painting. I'm not an expert on this, I didn't even take any formal classes; I just say this because of what I've experienced while painting. I've always loved drawing and painting; I think is because of my dad. He is very talented and loves painting. I remember when I was a child, he used to draw free hand with special talent. I watched him admired by his skills. He taught me to love art in general. I'm still surprised like a little girl by his drawing skills. My niece loves painting too and now she watches him as surprised as I was when I was a child.

I wanted to share with you some of the things I made with watercolors yesterday, hope you like them :)

These are some graphics and ideas

for little girls' t-shirts and the little doll face is a character that I created,

her name is Gigi, you'll see her soon with a whole outfit :)

This is just a design I was working on.

I was experimenting a little

My Published Interview for "Catwalk Threads"!!!

I'm so excited and happy because I just read the interview that my wonderful friend Louise made me; she has a beautiful website named: Catwalk Creative which is an exclusively online vintage clothing boutique and dress agency.

Louise also has a store on e-bay where you can find great and beautiful vintage clothing and accessories: "Catwalk Creative on e-bay"

I love every minute of my interview, from the interesting questions to the way Louise arranged the whole page. I felt really honored to be asked for an interview and happy to have Louise as my interviewer.

Thank you so much, Louise for this wonderful work and for being one of a kind.

Here is the link to my interview published on Louise's blog:

http://catwalkthreads.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/an-inspirational-talent-fashion-designer-giovanna/#comment-116

Please leave your comment or feedback on the interview's page. I'd appreciate it :)

Hope you enjoy it!

Hugs!

Catwalk Threads

Candy Factory

"Candy Factory" is the name of my little children sportswear collection. I was very inspired by the colors of the candy, all vibrant colors. I wanted to recreate that into clothes and I came up with my little collection. I love designing for women, juniors, etc, but I also enjoy so much designing for children; Children wear is a wonderful market; I feel that when you design for children, you can let your imagination fly even farther than when you design for adults. I also think that I love designing for children because of my teaching background. I used to teach 3, 4, 5 year old kids. I remember them every time I want to design something for children. I imagine what kind of outfits I would design for each of them. I really love that period of my life. I have so many wonderful memories. When I want to get inspired, I also keep in mind my two beloved ones who are always an inspiration for me in every way; my little niece and nephew.
This picture is just a little piece of my children collection.


*Click on picture to enlarge it*

My Manga Treasury

I was organizing some papers and stuff at home and I found a sketchbook that I used for drawings. While I was checking it, I found some of my Manga drawings that I made some time ago. I love manga, especially for the beautiful faces and hair. Since I was a child I use to get very inspired by manga drawings to create my fashion sketches. It's funny because some of my teachers at the fashion school, noticed that influence. They said that the faces of my fashion illustrations looked a little bit like Manga faces. They wanted me to draw my fashion illustrations with more realistic faces instead of using the manga influence. That wasn't a problem for me, because I like to be able to draw in different ways so I followed their instructions. At the end of the course, they congratulated me for listening of what they said and being open to change. Now I can draw in different ways, if I want to draw with my Manga influence, I do it and if I want to make more realistic faces, I can do it as well. I'm happy to have listened my teachers; I think it's very important to listen in order to learn. I really learned a lot of fashion illustration techniques from them. I'm very thankful with all my teachers :)

I wanted to share with you some of my Manga drawings . I drew these ones with an "extra black" pencil # 555

"Amor mio"

"Coqueta"

"The girl with the flower"