'Sportsgirl: Illustrator We Love'

Last week I was featured on the Sportsgirl blog as 'An illustrator We Love'!

I thought it was funny that when it went live I was wearing a Sportsgirl!

Shows how mutual the love is:)

Check out the post here.

'Best Western'

Exciting news! I'm having an exhibition in a week and a half! Eeeeek!

It's been a massive secret because it's in conjunction with Perth Fashion Festival, I had to wait till they released their (unbelievable) program where the event was listed before I could tell you guys, or anyone else for that matter! This year I am PFF's official illustrator which means I get an exhibition with them, attendance to all the shows and some other amazing opportunities that, you guessed it, I cant tell you yet!

For now I can give you a rundown on the exhibition and an image;)

" 'Best Western' is an exhibition by Fashion Illustrator Pippa McManus where she presents her interpretation of Perth Fashion Festival's 2012 campaign images.The illustrator exhibits 10 works in her signature style of sultry yet elegant women in bright pops of colour, rendered with soft charcoals, edgy splashes of spray paint and drippy acrylics. Face of the Festival Nicole Pollard comes to life on the canvas, with McManus paying homage to the great fashion design talent that comes from our State. McManus puts an artist's spin on the beautiful works of photographer Pierre Toussaint. All prints are exclusive editions of 3 and the original works will be for sale on the opening night."

'Nicole in Red'

Prints FOR SALE!

Oh and yes, I have some prints for sale up on my Facebook artist page if you are interested! 

There are 17 different ones to choose from! Check them all out HERE. 

All you have to do is send me an email describing which one you would like:)

Hope you like em! xpip

'Costarella', edition of 75.

'Victoria', edition of 75.

'A is for Arizona'

My poor little under loved blog:( 

It's been all about my Facebook artist page lately! 

So I'll get everyone up to speed...I had an exhibition! "A is for Arizona" was an illustration exhibition featuring 'A-Z' of my favorite local and international runway and photographic models, some of them included Daga Ziober, Nimue Smit, Ruby-Jean Wilson and Zuzanna Bijoch. The exhibition opened on the 21st of June in the beautiful heritage buildings of 140 in the city. All works were 700mm x 1000mm and done in a mix of acrylic, charcoal, paint-pens and spray-paint on canvas. The amazing thing is that it was a sell out! The pieces went to some beautiful homes and I cant wait to see photos of where they live now:)

'A is for Arizona'

'D is for Daga'

'Ni s for Nimue'

'O is for Olga'

MBFWA Sydney

Hello all! I have just returned from a whirlwind trip to Sydney to illustrate the shows and am exhausted, def am going to get a fashion flu by the end of the week. It was so utterly amazing and eye-opening! I spent a chunk of my savings funding myself to go but why not?! I successfully received a media press pass (under 'photographer', there was not really an illustrator option) and was able to attend as many shows as I liked to sketch whatever was coming down the catwalk. I met some amazing people, took some great pics and managed to pick up a bit of work while I was there specifically for the amazing Manning Cartell and Scout.

I was also lucky enough to be given an invite to the Burberry eyewear event by my lovely friend Marcia at Style Voyeur and WOW what a night! Check out her blog for a run down of who I met and how I embarrassed myself multiple times. Below are a couple of illos I did from the photos I took of some amazing people I met that night. 

And stay tuned to Style Voyeur for sketches of my top 5 shows from the week!

 Candice Lake and Dion Lee by Pippa McManus

 Connie from K is for Kani by Pippa McManus

Meg Grey's Miu Miu's by Pippa McManus

The Vogue Project pg 26-27

pages 26 & 27 (Undated again! Def 2008)

Burberry again! This one is a little more complicated than the last one, lots of detail and the pink paint scrapings only add to that I think! I love that nearly everyone is gazing at Kate or trying hard not to.

So it's been a month since I have posted anything! How naughty! Let me explain, I have 2 very big things coming up: My first solo exhibition of original fashion illustrations set to open on the 31st of May (more on that next week) and I also am of to Sydney tomorrow for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to attend as many shows as possible and draw my little heart out backstage, from the shows and from the streets. The lovely Style Voyeur has asked me to be the stand-in official blogger for Burberry's launch of it's new eyewear collection on the 4th, see keep a look out on her blog for my illustrated coverage!

To keep up with photos, illustrations and general fainting-over-fashion-celebrity sightings follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

The Vogue Project pg 24-25

pages 24 and 25 (undated! 2008 I think)

This one was when I had had enough of colour and painting but still wanted to do something colourful and painterly (go figure) so I went with my comfortable fall back: Lead pencil!

Adore kate in this campaign, well in anything really. She will always be my favorite. Which leads me to...Did you see my big announcement on my Facebook page?! I'm having an exhibition in two months! Head there now to read about it and see a tiny preview of whats to come.

 And stay tuned this week to see a big blog post about it!

The Vogue Project pages 22 & 23

page 22 and 23 (14/10/08)

The following page to Dolce & Gabbana. Sorry this one is a bit late, crazy deadlines this week! Cant wait to show you guys! But back to this, I think I prefer this weeks one from last weeks one. It's a bit of a challenge painting blurry shaking figures, and also painting men! The last man I painted was this one and the one before is probs from this ad which I had forgotten about!

And for those of you wondering how the project is progressing I have posted a lil update on my Facebook page:)

The Vogue Project pages 20 & 21

page 20 and 21 (08/10/08)

Wow, this one feels like aggggeeesssss ago! And there was a year gap between Chanel and this!

 Dolce & Gabbana's african inspired collection.

This was the first time I had used acrylics since high school/early art school. I remember it being a challenge. I tried so hard not to make it look like a high school art piece. The lettering was done with grease-proof kitchen paper cut out with a scalpel.

It's another 4 page spread so watch out for next Mondays installment!

Hop over to COLOSOUL for a lil interview with me;)

The Vogue Project pages 18 & 19

 

Page 18 (21/10/07)

Page 19 (21/10/07)

And another Chanel! You will notice in the next few upcoming posts that the big brands (the ones with mega $$$) can afford 4 page spreads. I keep the same medium over the double and quadruple page spreads too, almost like a brand loyalty. I prefer the second one in this post. And I plan to reenact this scene when I hit Paris this September;)

The Vogue Project page 16 & 17

                                Page 16 (18/10/07)

                                 Page 17 (18/10/07) BAD scan, sorry!

CHANEL! DARIA! YAY! 

I remember this one being so fun and stressful to do. 

I had never really worked with inks apart from splashing them boldly around during life drawing classes in Fine Arts and Fashion Design. This was a much more refined attempt at inks. 

I really love the top one now (5yrs later!) especially because now my motto is: 

'I only draw things with faces'. 

The composition is nice too. Reminds me of the wonderful work of Retoyman, although his ink portraits are a million times more advanced than mine, check 'em out!

PS follow me on Facebook for an up-close Daria crop.

The Vogue Project page 14 & 15

 

Page 14 (02/10/07)

 

Page 15 (03/10/07)

I loved doing these ones! So simple and effective, isn't that always the way?! 

Plus at the time I was a little obsessed with Karen Elson.

So using some thin-ish craft card and a super sharp scalpel I carefully cut the block sections out and even more carefully glued them down (disaster), next time I'm using tweezers.

Loved doing the actual text in this one too!

The Vogue Project page 12&13

Pages 12 and 13

So I have never really put any of my digital work on my lil blog, so this is a first:)

I used Adobe Illustrator (which I use a lot, really!) for the Louis Vuitton ads with Uma Thurman. 

As many of you who are familiar with vector line work, the most satisfying bit is dropping the colours into each section! A bit slicker than my usual work. 

PS. Editor of Australian Vogue Kirsty Clements re-tweeted the last Vogue Project post/tweet!

PPS. Check out the latest pics of me muraling on my Facebook page. Oh and like the page if you like!

Louisa

                          Photo by Adam Borrello

Last month I got commissioned by a lovely lady who I had never met before to do a canvass of whatever I wanted in my style. So yeah, that's basically the best thing you can say to an artist as many of you would know. Complete freedom leads to 100% positive creativity. I wish I had her Bum!

Oh and check out this interview I did with the lovely Annette from Wellness WA on my beauty and wellness routine, you may even see a pic of me;)

The Vogue Project page 10 & 11

page 10 & 11 (19/06/07)

Kate for Dior! Can you get a better pairing?! 

The shoot was one of those Vaseline-lensed, soft, 70's inspired campaigns. So I coloured super hard (these were the times before I discovered Prismacolor pencils, mind you) and then went in and rubbed out everything around the perimeter with a hard eraser. 

Quite the arthritis trigger it would seem!

The Vogue project page 8 & 9

Page 8 & 9 (08/03/07)

Another Estee Ad from my Vogue Project, makes me wonder how much they pay for that kind of advertising space?! All I remember from doing this one is that I had had a fight with my boyfriend and started scribbling blue in the center of her face, and it ended up being a good idea so I went with it. 

P.S we made up, haha.

My Inspiration Board

I thought I would show you guys a lil inspiration board shot from my studio:) From bottom L:

My mum's 1979 Minolta camera (now mine;), W cover w/Kate Moss in my favorite ever Chanel dress, Richard Prince Hurricane Nurse postcard from the V&A, Tiffany & Co bottle vase necklace from a 97 mag, Zomp Christmas invites, Christian Lacroix plates, NYFW lanyard, my first Stormie Mills exhibition Invite and cow sketch, Aurelio Costarella invite by me, Poppy Lissiman fluro swing tags, Eniko for Vogue Paris 2010, Givenchy Couture, Givenchy RTW, Perth Fashion Festival lanyard, printing price list, Ksubi shoe box filled with cups and containers for painting, Sketch books, Workable Fixative spray, Pencils in coffee cups, Prada fold out ad, Takashi Murakami clipping, Brett Whitely ocean painting clipping, The Fashion Catalyst business card, Sean Morris postcard, Damien Hirst diamond skull, ipod, paintbrushes.

If you have a question about anything on there ask below!

Vogue Project page 6

 Page 6 Lancome

Page six out of the 332 pages! Drew Barrymore for Lancome. I did a better job on the left page (the one above) of the two page spread so I'm not showing you guys the other one! Cheeky!
BUT you can see the original image here if you are curious.
In other news I have had a week without internet, oh the pain!
That's why Facebook for mobile exists I suppose.

Vogue Project pg 4 & 5

Page 4 (05/06/06) & page 5 (12/06/06)

I thought every Monday I could post another Vogue page for you all while also completing a new one.

This weeks is that beautiful Estee Lauder campaign with Carolyn Murphy in B.I.C pen (love drawing in ball point pen). And you will notice my first attempt at the french text! I'm convinced I know about half the language now;) Currently I'm 60+ pages in and I'm still only just past the contents and have not had the chance to tackle any articles yet! It's gunna get interesting...

The Vogue Project

 

Page 1 (cover) 12/05/06

Page 2 19/05/06 & page 3 21/05/06

Well. I'm coming clean. This is a secret I have kept for 6 years now! 

Since 2006 I have been working on a personal project and have kept it underground because: 

A. I wanted to tell everyone about it when I had finished it and 

B. I was fearful of someone stealing the idea (dont think I'm a horrible person! It's just that it's my baby and it's so close to my heart that I would be so upset if that happened.)

So here it is:

The Project: 

Illustrate my favorite issue of Vogue Paris from front to back cover. Each page must be completed in the same order as the magazine.

The Issue:

Vogue Paris, Mars 2005, No 855                            332 Pages                                Start Date: 12/05/06

I am currently onto page 62. I have approached Vogue Paris, Vogue Aus, Vogue Aus online, Vogue US, various editors/stylists ect to no avail. Ultimately I would love to exhibit and publish it but I want Vogue onside to do this. Until then I will keep posting the pages for my lovely blog followers!

So glad I have got this off my chest!