Becoming a Working Artist

I have been busy and forgotten to post here on the blog so ill share a couple of things with you all.

I took the class by Lisa Congden called  Becoming a Working Artist on Creative Live. She is an artist that I have been following online via her blog and instagram account. She recently wrote a great book called Art Inc.

 In this book she talks about the many ways you can earn a living by making art—through illustration, licensing, fine art sales, print sales, teaching, and beyond. It is a great class and a great book for the budding artist.
While taking the class I have also been working on my fabric designs and illustrations.

 

I have also been working on some fashion illustrations to add to my portfolio. I always have a great time styling the girls in high fashion outfits.

This fashion illustration was inspired by Rustic Moon 13's bone leather boho Bag. I styled this girl in Key Man Design's Clementine leather shoes, 13 Threads's green tunic wool dress and Amaria rosary necklace.

 The fashionista in this Pink in the City is wearing a St. John Knit jacket, Bottega Veneta Roma Leggero Tote bag, and Alejandro Ingelmo lace up point toe pumps.

In this fashion illustration I featured a Gucci leather belted jacket, skirt of a fabric design I am currently designing, Luchesse Milla alligator 4" stacked heel boots. This illustration is was inspired by the boots that we saw at Kemo Sabe in Las Vegas last week. This store has some incredible products and the customer service is amazing. We spent some time getting educated on various products such as William Henry's amazing knives and the amazing Luchesse Milla boots.

This particular image was inspired by the Gucci leopard print tote. I have included a Smythe jacket, Gucci scarf and Gucci studded boots.

 If you are interested in any of these prints please visit the shop. I am also even offering these fashion illustrations on customizable notecards. You can have the illustration but with your name on it.

 I have so much more to share but I'll stop there. Hope you all had an awesome couple of weeks. Everyone have a great weekend! :)

Learning to do Surface Design

Earlier this year I search the internet for videos to teach me how to use illustrator to create repeating patterns for surface design. I did not study graphic design in school and it has been something I have been interested in the past few years. I dabbled with adobe illustrator this year with a couple of fabric designs I have in Spoonflower but was incredibly frustrated that I lacked the skills. Last week Bonnie Christine who is a surface designer was on the Creativelive last week teaching everything see learned on her own to do repeat patterns. This is the class and it is well worth purchasing if you are interested in surface design.

photo credit: Creativelive.com

 So all this week I have taking that class and attempting to do my next fabric design on illustrator. It has been so much fun! I was so excited that this class was offered!
Here are some pics of me sketching out some ideas and dabbling in illustrator.

And to end the week off right I did another custom portrait of this fashionable couple who is recently engaged to be married.
 

Check out Creativelive they offer some really great classes.  Hope you all have had a great week! Enjoy the weekend!

A Peek into the Studio

Here is a peek into the studio this week. I'll start with showing off my self portrait. This is definitely one of the more difficult illustrations I did this week but I am pleased with it. I love the fact that I can can just imagine myself wearing the lastest fashion. I especially love the Valentino bag I snuck in there. Maybe one day..... :) I also went ahead and designed my own custom notecards.

This last illustration is of my first boss at Neiman Marcus. She is the ultimate personal shopper, Betty Lidji, at the flagship store in Dallas. Her customer service to her clients is top notch. I learned from the best! I know she will enjoy writing to her fabulous clients with her personalized notecards. :)

If you are interested in getting your own custom fashion watercolor portrait done visit the site. Once the portrait has been completed I can upload the notecard design in my zazzle shop. There you can order and reorder to your hearts desire. If you would want any other item with your portrait on it you can let me know and I can upload that to the shop.

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing what I have been working on this week in the studio.  Have a great weekend and be creative my friends!

Custom Watercolor Fashion Illustrations

I have been busy this week doing more custom watercolor fashion illustrations. I have had a great time doing these paintings on 8" by 8" paper. Here are a few that I have been working on.

 

 

If you are interested in having a custom fashion watercolor portrait done please visit the shop. Once the portrait is made I can design a notecard with your name on it similar to the one I made for this lovely little family.

Here are the ones I sent out this week.

Have a great week everyone and I will try to keep you guys updated on all the exciting things happening in the studio!

Perfect Hostess Gift

I have been a bit busy the past few weeks with family and have not been able to post any new projects. A week ago we stayed at our family's house in Los Angeles for a long weekend. On the way back I decided to create a custom watercolor notecard for our amazing hostess.

Here are the sketches and the final painting.

I then scanned the watercolor and created the notecard on photoshop. Put the order in for the notecards and now just waiting for them to ship. So excited to see how they look once they come in from the printers.

First Fabric Design

I took a break from drawing girlfriends these past two weeks and decided to tackle designing fabric. It has been a project I have been wanting to do for a while now. I was inspired by a photograph that Anthropologie posted in their instagram of Mara Ferreira on her blog.

Photo by M Loves M

  The hat Mara was wearing inspired me to sketch and watercolor an image of her wearing some Amaria earrings. The girl in the hat then inspired me to watercolor a seashell, and the mother of pearl earrings and pearl necklace. I then decided to design a fabric combining all the watercolors and came up with my first fabric design available at Spoonflower called Lady at the Beach.

Here is my swatch of the fabric

I have also uploaded it in my Shop so if you are interested in a tote, pillow, art print, etc.

I am pretty excited about this first fabric design and have already been working on the second one with a Moroccan theme. I hope to have it up and approved by next week!

Wine Tasting in Napa

A couple of weeks ago I went to Napa for the first time. It was truly a magical experience.  The very first winery we stopped at had a group of girlfriends that were there for a bachlorette weekend. I really wish I would have captured the moment. They were all dolled up in their colorful maxi dress and the backdrop of the winery was stunning. I have had this image of them in my mind for the last couple of weeks and have been itching to sketch them.

So this week I decided to illustrate three girlfriends wine tasting in Napa. Here is my process....

 

And here is the finished illustration that I did with Prismacolor pencils and watercolors.

Wine Tasting in Napa by Ana Maria Sanchez

I included some of my jewelry in this fashion illustration such as the pyrite cluster earrings

Pyrite Cluster Earrings

the citrine necklace

Citrine Necklace

and then I was inspired by the blue dress on the girl on the right. I designed a sterling silver necklace with an abalone cross, freshwater pearls, iolite and pearlized chalcedony.

Abalone Cross Pearl Necklace

I also designed abalone cross earrings to go along with the necklace.

Abalone Cross Earrings

Girlfriends in this fashion illustration are outfitted in the following designers: 

Pyrite Cluster Earrings by Amaria Studio

Liliana Black Headpiece by gadegaarddesign

Leopard Print Backless Dress by cherryblossomsdress

Moonflower Maxi Dress by shelivesonlovest

Pink Yellow Turquoise Headband by bethanylorelle

Beaded Headband by Delightjewelry

Off Shoulder Dress by Cvetinka

Abalone Cross Necklace by Amaria Studio

Abalone Cross Earrings by Amaria Studio

                                           Go give some love to these amazing designers!

 If you loved the fashion illustration and would love to purchase a print, tote, mug, etc. go visit my shop.
If you would love to have a CUSTOM fashion illustration done please visit my listing.

Have a great weekend everyone!