From the desktop

I have found this image ready to post on the blog on my desktop, somehow I have forgotten all about it! I like the halo that scanning of a wet paper has created.

I am planning to do some illustrations inspired by the Spring collections soon as I am seriously craving Spring by now. I hope it is going to be a bit warmer by the time I will be going to Belgium in the beginning of February. It is just a week work-related trip but I hope it will be fun anyway.
I like the calmness of the home country of Hercules Poirot!

Thoughts (and Images) On Instagram

I have too jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, finally.

It was really inevitable - I might not be on Facebook (which according to a good friend of mine is already replacing good old emails echange with its instant messaging) but not being on Twitter really felt like being cutt off from the world. At least that cool part of the world. Part of the world with MacBook Pros under their arms (in Marc by Marc Jacobs covers...) and with white earphones in their ears.

And then I have red Garance Dore's post (on her blog and I like her blog very much as she is one of the not so numerous illustrators who are also exquisite photographers) about her joining the Instagram community.


So I went to check out what it was, this mysterious sounding Instagram. Several hours later I have emerged from the Instagram world because the battery in my iPhone 4 was down to 5% (it has a big screen after all).

Usually I do not do communities. Communities oblige one to be a part of something and I am quite well on my own, thankyouverymuch. As a photographer I have never been on Flickr but the instantaniety of taking pictures with your crappy iPhone camera (have you seen it's performance in low light? Well, get yourself a SlowShutter app, baby) is very alluring. And then there are the filters. Oh dear, these vintage feel filters that will make a cute work of art out of the most awfull picture you have taken. Bliss.

Some people cheat and take the image with their 'proper' cameras, postproduce it and only then let it out to the outer world on their Instagram feed. I do not understand them. It is like esprit d'escalier! The whole appeal is that you take the images right here, right now and share them instantly. The filters reflect your mood at the time and then with one click of a 'share' button - plop, your feelings are out there in a one visual diary.


I like it very much, so in this year expect more of these on this blog!



Follow me @Sylwiassta:

How I did it?

I was recently asked a question about how my illustrations come into being.

So I thought it might be interesting to show you an example (based on the illustration from my previous post) how the illustration looks like BEFORE it is being worked on. These are the rough drawings that were sent to the editor so that they could decide if that is what they want.

In the end a pose with some loose hair won and went into the colouring and background adding stage.

All elements are drawn by hand, then scanned and then coloured in the computer:

Oh, I could SO use some of that!

I am just back from an extensive trip to Poland and I have already managed to loose my Polish mobile card! What a nuissance, let's update the blog with the latest work (published this month in Twoj Styl magazine) and chant ommmmmmmmmm instead.....

Facial Yoga

Have you heard about facial yoga? I was really surprised when a beauty editor got in touch about illustrating a feature about these exercises. You are supposed to do lots of funny faces that are going to strenghten your muscles and stop your face from sagging.

Here are some asanas for your face that I prepared for this feature. I will be able to unveil the finished illustration in next couple of weeks.

Lady behind the wheel

The blog was very quiet for a while and unfotunately will have to stay that way for another while before I will be able to gradually dig myself out from under a pile of previously arranged work (mostly in photography which was recently published in The Financial Times, yay!). So watch this space and for the time being I am posting my latest illustration that has just been published in Twoj Styl magazine this Autumn.

The illustration is about a growing number of female drivers:

A profile of a lady

A quick post about some latest work that I was preparing recently for an editorial illustration: