A Red Dress 2 Ways (Fashion Illustration Wednesday )
Hello, in this post I'll share two new and original fashion illustrations with you. The medium for both of them is watercolour pencils on paper. I'll also share two ways to wear a red polka dot dress, as both illustrated outfits feature this dress. I might even thrown in more outfits with this red dress. Yes, both fashion illustrations are of my own outfits that I've actually worn this summer. If you want to see other outfits of mine I illustrated this year, click 1/ 2/ 3/ 4 / 5/ 6 / 7 / 8/ 9. I've just now realized that I illustrated and posted nine outfits I have worn this year. If I count the two outfits I'm posting today, that would be eleven. There are still some fashion sketches I haven't posted, so not bad, I guess. Of course, most of these fashion illustrations are quick works. Still, a quick illustration is better than nothing. In art, I try to switch up between sketching/illustrating and painting. In other words, I alternate between working on more elaborative paintings and doing quick illustrations or studies. Fashion illustration is not exactly a priority in my life right now, but it is also a skill I'd like to keep if possible. If you have followed me since the start of my blog, you could have seen my fashion illustration evolution. What I usually do (to keep my art skills) is sketch both with and without a reference. To simplify things a bit, we could say that sketching with a reference is important for practising proportion and realism in general, and sketching without reference is important for developing imagination (among other things). There is, of course, much more than can be said about this topic of maintaining art skills, but sometimes it is alright to generalize a bit. Is art talent something we are born with is an interesting question to ask, and no matter how you would answer this particular question, you are probably aware it is never as easy as it looks.
The photographs of these outfits were taken by husband, and I used those photographs as reference for my fashion illustrations. The location for the photographs were two cities: Mostar and Split. I did not really fill in the background fully in my illustrations, but you can still see the Mostar and Split in the photographs. That is pretty much where I spent my summer vacation. No, I did not travel anywhere this summer, and I don't regret it. I was sick for most of my vacation time (nothing grave fortunately, just fever and migraines), and even if I wasn't sick, I don't think I'd feel like travelling. As some of you might know, I work and live between countries. I have a house and a mortgage in one country, and am renting accommodation and living in another. That's how work stuff worked out for me. Plus, I never really did the typical vacation thing. For years, I would do shorter one or two days vacations and trips, and that's kind of what I'm used to now. Travelling away for a week or two was always complicated for me, due to many reasons. Anyhow, I basically had a sort of a working vacation on the days I was not very sick. I worked a lot on my art, I read a lot and I also tutored a bit. Tomorrow my vacation officially ends, and I hope I'll manage to continue to find time for my blog. I have so many drafted and unpolished post in my archives, you wouldn't believe it. However, I don't feel like doing the whole automatic scheduled posting things. I will post when and if I have the time to hang out in the blogosphere. Right now, I'm listening to this lovely song (if anyone is curious) and typing away, so a new post is coming. Scroll down to read and see more!
 |
| Photograph references on the far right and left, the illustrations in the middle |
Both of these outfits revolve around this red polka dress. I bought it earlier this summer in a second hand shop in Split. These days, I rarely buy clothes. That's the benefit of having a closet you love and/or knowing how to shop your closet. I think this blog is a testament to the fact that I do shop my closet. When I do shop, I usually look for second hand or vintage. I would prefer to buy just vintage, but the second hand shops do not have as much vintage clothes as they used to. It is what initially drew me to second hand shops, my love for vintage clothes.
Now, I'm not against second hand shop of any kind, I shop in them myself. Nevertheless, we must take notice that just because something is second hand, it does not automatically make that item sustainable. Sustainability is a bit more complex than that. It is not about a certain brand or buying in second hand shop. It is more about sustainable shopping as such and avoiding overconsumption. It is about shopping our closets and maximizing our wardrobe. It is about taking care of our clothes. The way I see it, our wardrobe is either functional or not functional. How can it be functional if we just keep buying and piling on clothes? If we get rid of clothes almost as soon as we get them, how can we build our own style...or even a functional style. How can we know what works for us?
Anyhow, I bought about six dresses in a second hand shop for next to nothing. I was in between moving, so these dresses really came in handy, and I certainly did not mind them being affordable. Moreover, just because these days we can buy clothes for next to nothing (in second hand or online) is no reason to adopt a consumerist attitude. I'm very much against consumerism or overconsumption on principle. Shopping addiction is, like any other addition, a source of problems. I hope to never a develop a shopping addiction to anything. When I buy clothing, it is because I know I will wear it. I never shop just for the sake of shopping or for the novelty of it.
Outfit number one: a red polka dot dress paired with floral wool/silk skirt and leopard heels
Let's have a look at the first outfit. I wore this for a walk in Mostar city. I felt very comfortable and chic wearing this. High heels can be comfortable, as long as you're used to wearing them. I don't think that high heels are a necessary component of a put together outfit, as flats can be just as dressy as heels. It's more about the design then the heel height. I can totally get how some (perhaps most) might not find heels comfortable. However, I'll always be a heels lover. Apparently, even if plus 40 weather. I can see myself repeating this outfit. Now, shall we do the sustainable fashion files?
Sustainable fashion files- How I wore these items before?
The red coral imitation necklace (a gift)
.....etc (I don't have the time to look for all the links)
The red coral dress (second hand)
1&2) outfits I illustrated and worn in this post!
Floral silk and wool skirt (Fashion house Edi)
The red bag (gifted)
8) In this 2025 post, I wore it with a pink polka dot dress.
9) It was also worn with a floral print ruffled mini dress in 2025.
15) with a grey dress https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2026/06/when-you-take-fashion-design-course-you.html
17) for a book review https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2026/06/crossroads-of-ravens-novel-by-sapkowski.html
The leopard heels (old, no name)
I have over 40 documented wears with this pair of heels on my blog. Who knows how many times I have actually worn them, seeing that I don't take photos out of all of my outfits? Probably more than a hundred!
1-17) See 17 ways to style them in this post! 18) WITH A PENCIL BLUE SKIRT, A GREY BLAZER AND A STRAW BAG 19)WITH A DRESS, A COLORFUL CARDI AND MAGENTA COAT 20) WITH A STRIPED SKIRT AND A WHITE SHIRT 21) WITH A GREY SUIT 22) WITH NAVY BLUE PANTS AND A MUSTARD SWEATER23) WITH BURGUNDY TIGHTS AND AN A LINE LBD 24) WITH FLARE JEANS, AN INDIAN STYLE BAG AND A FLORAL SHIRT 25) WITH A WHITE FOLKLORE SHIRT AND A FLORAL SHIRT 26) WITH A BLUE SKIRT, BURGUNDY TIGHTS AND A FLORAL SHIRT2 7) WITH STANKA ZOVKO LILAC DRESS, COLOURFUL CARDI AND A GREY BLAZER 28) WITH A WHITE CHERRY DRESS AND BURGUNDY TIGHTS 29) WITH A BLACK BLAZER AND MOCCASINS 30) WITH A FLORAL SKIRT, OLIVE BLAZER AND A BEIGE COAT 31) WITH A BLUE HIPPIE DRESS WITH LACE DETAILS 32) WITH A TEA GREEN SET (MATCHING BLOUSE AND PANTS) FROM STANKA ZOVKO 33) With a Baby Blue Amadeus dress and leopard denim jacket 34) With a vintage maxi skirt and Stanka Zovko tea green blouse 35) With a puffed sleeved pink dress and a white vintage skirt 36-37) I wore them with two outfits in this 2024 post 38) WITH A MIXED PRINT (STRIPED AND ANIMAL PRINT) SUMMER DRESS AND A BLACK BELT BAG! 39) WITH A WHITE LACE ROMPER/PLAYSUIT AND OZZ LILAC SKIRT 40) With a red vintage flowy dress and designer bag made from paper!
Have I illustrated any of these items before? Yes, I have. Two of them, actually!
See how I illustrated this red coral necklace before. See how I illustrated the red bag before.
Now, allow me a few words about this gorgeous location, a mix of old and new. This is Spanish square in Mostar, one of my favourite spots in the city. It is mostly made from white stone. I love that there is a lovely Mediterranean green corner with lots of rosemary. However, my favourite thing about this square is not the new part of it, but one historical building. Indeed, you could say that the Spanish square is dominated by this historical school constructed during the rule of Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is probably my favourite building in Mostar. It was build in 1890ties. It is know as Old Gymnasium (because it really is old) but it is actually called Gymnasium Mostar. Within this gorgeous building United World Collage is also situated. In addition, in the back of the building, you can find American Corner.
Now, let us move to the next outfit, the one I wore in Split city. Here you can see the whole dress. In the picture above, I was wearing a skirt over it. In the picture below you can see the dress worn on its own paired with sandals, a purple hat and a red bag. I must notice that I'm working the same pose here. I heard some call it the power pose, or a similar enough pose. I think it's also called the Wonder Woman pose. For me, it's just a comfortable pose to take when posing. What kind of pose do you prefer when you pose? Presuming that you pose for photographs at all. I think one of the advantages of having a fashion blog is that you get comfortable with having your photograph taken. Although, these days it is more an art than a fashion blog, but still. The acquired posing skills do prove handy sometimes. That got me thinking that it is probably a good idea to practice having one's picture taken. Some enjoy picture taking, and some don't. However, we live in a time when it is hard to avoid having one's photograph taken, especially at work situations, conferences and so on. It's something most people have to endure these days, even if they don't like it. So, practising it can help take the stress away. It is as they say, the more you avoid something, the harder it becomes. Sometimes it is good to take the fear away- if it is possible to do. So, my advice of the day would be that you take a few minutes to practice posing. There are many tutorials and articles that help with posing online. I think I could even make one such article myself (in case you are interested). As they say, if you cannot win them, join them.
So, shall we do the sustainable fashion files? Before we do that, have I illustrated any of these items before? I have actually illustrated the platform high heeled sandals I'm wearing before fairly recently here.
Sustainable fashion files -How I wore these items before?
Red dress paired with platform sandals, a purple hat, a red bag and brown sandals
Now, I wore this outfit for a walk. There isn't much of a story there. It was a highly functional summer styling, and I might wear this outfit formula again. As you can see, I cannot part with high heels even in Summer.
The purple straw hat (gifted, no name)
I honestly don't remember where I got this hat, maybe it was a gift. I thought it was my mom's, but she says it's mine. I think it is actually hers, but I won't mind going with it and borrowing it for a time.
The brown platform sandals (old, no name)
The red bag (gifted)
8) In this 2025 post, I wore it with a pink polka dot dress.
9) It was also worn with a floral print ruffled mini dress in 2025.
15) with a grey dress https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2026/06/when-you-take-fashion-design-course-you.html
17) for a book review https://modaodaradosti.blogspot.com/2026/06/crossroads-of-ravens-novel-by-sapkowski.html
I won't talk much about the location because you can see just a bit of the street behind. However, I will repeat how much I love Split. It's my home city and I will always adore its sun soaked (albeit increasingly busy) streets, historical buildings, and ancient Roman mosaics. Split was featured in one of my latest book review post (alongside Jelsa). You can have even a better look here in another post that featured a cherry print dress but this time a white one. Have a look at this post where I shared a couple of outfits and some art collages. Speaking of art... Known places I illustrated in Split city include:
We talked the fashion talk, sustainability and all. Now we can talk fashion illustration. I illustrated the first outfit I shared first (the one with the skirt) and the second (the one above) second. You'll be able to see that in the photographs below.
What specific materials did I use?
I used watercolour pencils (Steadler) on mixed media paper (royal talens) - same materials used here (never sponsored or affiliated). You can see some scribbles next to the drawing. That's basically my palette. Did you know that when you use watercolour pencils, you can basically create your own watercolour palette?
Creating your own watercolour palette is easy with watercolour pencils!
I recently watched a video on this topic, and I realized I have been doing it without fully realizing I was. Like I would use parts where I would press harder with the pencil for more colour, or just random scribbles. It was only after seeing this video that I realized that I was kind of already doing it, and that now I can do it more intentionally.
Basically, all you need to do it to take another piece of paper (preferably suitable for watercolour) and press really hard. Create your own palette with your watercolour pencils, use all of them. You can also mix colours on the palette right away, or mix them when you apply water. However, once they dry, that's it. That's the think with watercolour pencils. When they dry, it's over. However, you can always layer colours and /or do some glazing.
Back to the subject of this specific watercolour pencil illustration. Below you can see a collage showing you the exact steps of making of this fashion illustration. As you can see, step number one is to sketch the general outline. Sometimes I sketch the body first and then the clothes. Here I kind of did both at the same time. I didn't sketch the whole body, and then erased it as I sometimes do, but rather I just drew both the clothes and the body at the same time. I think I did a pretty good job with a general outline.
Recently I was watching some drawing drills by this pretty well know YouTuber known as The Art Coach and one particular Short caught my attention. Basically, in this Short the Art Coach said we should prioritize practicing drawing over rendering. Basically, he thinks it's better to draw ten quick sketches then one detailed sketch. He said that most practising of skill happens in the first few minutes and that no amount of rendering can fix a bad drawing. He does have a point.
Now, there is nothing wrong with working slowly on a complicated drawing. If you're going to do a super detailed or realistic portrayal or illustration, it won't be a quick work. However, when we're speaking about developing our general drawing skills (especially when it comes to things like proportion and line work), that kind of quick drawing skills do help. So, it's not that you just have to draw a lot and quickly, varying subjects every ten minutes or so. It's more that this can be very helpful when you're developing your drawing skills.
I think this is one thing that I missed doing in the past. I did figure it out eventually. Naturally, I don't practice every day. Sometimes I would let long periods of time pass without exercising drawing at all, and naturally my drawing skills suffered as a result of it. This Summer I did some drawing, and I can see the improvement. I'm still not nowhere happy with my drawing skills, but I can see how it has gotten easier for me to sketch. For example, both of these illustrations are just me freestyling it. No measurements, or anything. Just glancing at the photograph on my laptop and freestyling a sketch.
If you look at the first step here, you'll see that the initial sketch is pretty much the outfit and pose here. Everything else was mostly detailed work. The initial sketch was good, and this made finishing this illustration a lot easier. I was really happy with the proportions and all, so all I had to do it is to finish it. If you look at the photograph below, you'll see the finished drawing. That's the second step. Apply details. Here I just continued drawing and rendering. This floral skirt from fashion house Edi has so many interesting details. The pattern is a floral one, but really interesting because it's not a repeated pattern. You basically have this whole design, with the big flowers and small almost transparent small green leaves and flowers. It was very interesting trying to capture it all in a small illustration. I think I did a pretty good job. I also decided to add the background in the form of the tiles. So, as could see above, the location was Spanish square in Mostar. I did not attempt the draw the whole location, but I did draw the surface I was standing on, if that makes sense. I still wanted a bit of the location to be present in this fashion illustration.
There is also a bit of tape on the drawing and if you're wondering why is it here, it is to stop water from leaking once I start to apply it. So, we get to step number 3, and that's basically applying water and turning this illustration into a watercolour one. I worked slowly, but I think I might have gotten overboard with water. For example, some of the details on the skirt got erased because I added too much water. Of course, I can always draw them back....and I might do that some day. I also feel some of the details on the leopard heels were lost when I added water. I mean watercolour pencils can be tricky that way. If you add a lot of water, you might actually accidentally delete something. As I said, you can always draw it again. You can also pick up your brush and paint over it, trying to capture the details. This work if you have created your watercolour palette (as I thought you to do a few minutes earlier).
Next thing I did was to create the second illustration, the one featuring the red dress worn on its own. If you check out this YouTube short, you can see the whole process. Again, I started with the general outline in brown watercolour pencils. After that, I drew the general shapes and coloured them. Finally, I worked on the details and the background. I tried to capture the folds and the shadows. The dress is red, but it is not the same shade of red everywhere because that's how things work out in the real life. For example, where the fabric folds, you'll have a darker shadow and so on. I'm sure you get my drift. When it came to the surface I was standing on, I tried to capture the general outline, and made it more detailed in the foreground and more faded in the background. When I added all the details, I started adding watercolour. I did not even try to add the polka dots. I figured I could just take white acrylic paint and add them later if I felt like it. I might do that some time, or I could leave it as it is. The polka dots on this dress are tiny as it is. You can't see them from afar. One drawing tip I often hear is that you should squint your eyes and see what details are really visible. Another drawing tip that seems to be everywhere is that you must decide what you'll focus on. I do get what they mean. Maybe sometimes it makes sense to draw every detail, but most of the time it's about focusing on what is the most important in the context of the drawing.
Anyhow, this was also a fun drawing to do to, and I like the final result. Painting with watercolour pencils is a pretty straightforward process. This summer I have been reaching for my watercolour pencils a lot. I always said that I find them practical for travelling, and I seem not to be the only one, as many are of the same opinion. The procedure is pretty much the same every time. Once I'm done with the drawing and sketching, I apply water and call it a day. Sometimes I play with a medium a bit more, but I haven't shared those experiments with you yet. Perhaps some day. Watercolour pencils are both a practical and interesting medium. I like how there is more than one approach to using watercolour pencils. Often they feel like a mixed media. With watercolour pencils, you can add more or less water, depending on what you are trying to achieve. You can use different brushes and techniques.
I would say that these two fashion illustrations were pretty good. Of course, they are not perfect, but they achieved what I set out to achieve. The outfit is clearly visible and memorable. I think I managed to capture the feeling of the garments pretty well. In particular, I'm really happy with how I rendered this floral skirt. It is such an unique piece, by a small independent fashion house and I feel I really did it justice.
So, I'd say that these two particular illustration the watercolour pencils have served their purpose well. Would I change some things next time around? Sure, but the thing with art is that you can always just start again. I might focus on this subject again. I feel like I definitely need to practice more.
I might have gotten too carried away with the water in the process. The pavements are also darker then on the reference, but somehow that seemed to make sense, so I kept it like that. Btw I painted this on the other side of an already used paper. Yes, on the other side there is actually a seascape. This mixed media paper comes in handy. I did not have any issues using watercolour pencils with it. Still, maybe I should still invest in some watercolour paper.
How long did this illustration take me? I'm actually not sure. I think I worked on it during the course of two or three days days. It has probably taken me about two to three hours to start and finish them. I did not exactly time myself, so I couldn't tell you exactly. Initially I wanted to do just one, but I'm glad I did two illustrated outfits and one next to another. I only realized that my pose is very similar in both later one. You know hands at the hips, one leg forward, the other back. It seems to be somewhat of a signature pose for me.
Ever since I started this fashion blog, fashion illustration was a part of it. That is because I have been making fashion illustrations since I was kid. Below are some links you might want to check out if you are interested in my fashion illustration journey. I have around 225 fashion illustrations post on this little place to call my own!
-----
If you like watercolour pencils as a medium, or you would like to see more of similar works, here are some links below. I'm pretty open both when it comes to sharing my art and my art process.
More posts with illustrations made with watercolour pencils:
So, what would I do differently if I did these illustrations again? Maybe less water? Background less dark? Or maybe not? Maybe it is not so much that I would something differently, but that I would like to do these illustrations in more detail. Usually fashion illustrations are done in elongated style. So, maybe I would like to try to make them as regular illustrations. Maybe in a realistic style. Maybe in a more whimsical style. We'll see.
Do you prefer the left or the right one? I prefer the left one. The reason is that it looks more real to me. The floral Edi skirt in particular looks realistic to me. Of course, the style is elongated and all that. Still, that's the skirt I know I love. I captured it pretty well, I'd say. The illustration on the left is alright, but nothing special. I do like the platform heels, I think I captured them well. All in all, not bad.
I feel like this little fashion blog of mine definitely inspires me to be more mindful and sustainable in my every day job. Illustrating my own outfits add to that. As you can imagine, illustrating something can definitely make us remember it better. It can also teach us to be more grateful for what we have.
Thank you for reading and commenting. Have a lovely day!
Comments
Post a Comment
You may email me for any questions or business inquires.