Thursday, August 23, 2012

Burlesque Beauty - Dolly Berlin!

Golly! I thought I'd posted this drawing already! This is from the August 2011 Dr. Sketchy's Session with Dolly Berlin. I got some good drawings out of that session that I'll post later. In the meantime this 1920s costume inspired this sepia pic. Dolly also donned a Marie Antoinette wig and costume that was really tough to draw but looked amazing! Check out the Dr. Sketchy's Toronto site with photos by Brynne Kennedy.

j.

Monday, August 20, 2012

One Hot Summer!

This summer has been incredibly humid here in Toronto. I've been to the pool a couple of times just to try to cool off. I wish I carried business cards with me because sometimes I just want to ask someone I spot to pose for me. Unfortunately I have no business card holder in my swim trunks and I have to settle for taking a mental snapshot and drawing the inspiration later. In this case the "model" was a gorgeous young black woman wearing a white hat and white bikini. The contrast from her skin tone and fabric and the fact that she was wearing a large circular hat made her really easy to remember when I sat down to my drawing table. She was very much a living drawing.

j.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Catwoman!

Technically the inspiration for this drawing is from a dude, based as it is on RuPaul Drag Race contestant Sonique and her gorgeous Catwoman outfit. I would totally draw a comic book with Catwoman wearing this!

j.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Maid of La Mer!

I've been messing about with Illustrator and Vector drawings again lately and worked up a little mermaid image. The beginnings of this drawing came from a cool tattoo I saw on the arm of Burlesquer Dolly Berlin. I drew Dolly at a Dr. Sketchy's session last summer (goodness, how time flies). The hardest part about drawing in Illustrator, I find, is getting some life into the drawing. I'm so used to my ink lines and relying on light and dark that to draw in colour takes a different kind of thinking.


If I ever got a tattoo I'm pretty sure it would be of a mermaid.

j.

Thursday, August 09, 2012

Miss Roxi D'Lite!

Mmm, Roxi! Looking to do some warm up drawings one summer day I opened up the homepage of Roxi D'Lite and filled a page with doodles. I've seen Roxi perform a number of times and she never ceases to amaze. I would even use the completely made-up word "BESHMOZZLE".
Just a few short weeks ago, for instance, I saw Roxi at the Toronto Burlesque festival - she performed in a pink latex cat-suit, lounging on a divan, stripping down to her tassels and thong before bathing in a dish of warm milk. I can tell you that afterwards I happened to find myself backstage in the vicinity of Miss D'Lite (okay, I carried her luggage to her car because I am just that sort of gentleman :) and Roxi smelled exactly of vanilla ice cream. I just about melted.

If Roxi D'Lite is performing in a town near you I highly recommend that you check her out. She wasn't The Reigning Queen of Burlesque, Miss Exotic World 2010 for nothin'!

j.