London Fashion Week 2021 x Clearpay

August 23, 2021 Melissa Bailey

LFW on the Kings Road

In June of 2021 I was invited down to Duke of York square, on the Kings Road Chelsea, where I illustrated those visiting the Clearpay pop up village. The village was there to celebrate London Fashion week and, featured an outdoor cinema, where guests could enjoy a classic movie with a cool ice cream.

It was a scorcher of a weekend, I was there over a total of three days alongside a fellow fashion illustrator. Myself and the guests got to enjoy lovely Chelsea out in the sunshine amongst the hustle and bustle of shoppers and the occasional duck! (they are regulars in the square apparently!) 🛍🦆

For anyone not familiar with live illustration, here’s a quick description of my process! First I draw a rough sketch of my fabulous subject. I’ll usually let people pose or stand how they would naturally but sometimes I’ll get people to put a hand on one hip for some extra flair! Some people know exactly how to pose, they are just naturals at it I guess.

After the sketch I then will go over the lines with my ink brush pen. Once that’s done I rub out the pencil, and…my favourite part…add the paint. I use watercolour as it’s super easy to use and quick drying. Plus I can mix virtually any colour in a flash, which comes in super handy when trying to keep each illustration under 10 minutes.

As one of my first major illustration events since the pandemic hit, this one felt so good and I thoroughly enjoyed being back at it again. It was so lovely chatting to and meeting new people, and also a great excuse to throw on some heels and get dressed up again!

Codex Beauty Book Chapters

March 17, 2021 Melissa Bailey

Codex Beauty Book Chapter Animations

One of my favourite projects of last year was creating these wonderful little animations for beauty Brand Codex. Each animation was featured on their instagram and website and I also created special chapters for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Each chapter gave me the chance to really develop my animation skills and this is the largest animation project I’ve ever done. It truly is magical to see your illustrations come to life and I just love the way the 2D painted style translates to moving image to create something charming and unique. This process is a lot more time consuming than using after effects and other programs to generate characters and movement. Each individual frame is a separate image and all the elements were hand painted using inks and watercolours. But I think this gives it a very special quality fill of life and character!

When in the planning stage of creating these animations, I would first come up with a rough concept of what I wanted to show on the page and sketch it out. Next I would plan which parts to animate and set about creating all the separate elements. Lastly I would add some floral and botanical illustrations around the outside of the book.

New items in my Etsy store!

February 26, 2021 Melissa Bailey

Diamante buckle cuff in frame.jpg — Fashion Illustration Original artwork

I have some brand new items available over in my etsy store. These pieces were inspired by the legendary illustrations and shoe designs by Manolo Blahnik. These are my idea of some dream heels! Each piece in my shoe illustration collection has been painted with indian ink onto white paper. These are not prints, but one of a kind original artwork. They are quite large scale (around A2 size), so perfect for that dramatic look and very impactful! The link to my store is in the menu bar so go check it out!

The Jimmy Cho Aveline bow sandals are to die for! I loved how the translucent material of the bow translated into the painting.

This one is currently hanging in my living room, and I absolutely love it! I almost don’t want to part with it, and will be very sad to see it go. These were so much fun to create, and I will certainly be continuing with the series!

Chanel Beauty St Pancras x Covent Garden

November 5, 2019 Melissa Bailey

Illustrating at Chanel Beauty

Earlier in 2019 I was invited to the Chanel Beauty boutiques in both Covent Garden and at St Pancras Station, London. Here I illustrated for customers to celebrate the launch of the new Rouge Coco Flash range, gorgeous bold lipsticks, which were also paired with Chanel sunglasses in store. Lots of busy customers who popped in for that pre Eurostar purchase left with their very own fashion portrait, an unexpected treat!

Here are some pictures I took during my time at Chanel Beauty, I was there over four days in March. The time always flies so I’m so glad I was able to take plenty of photos to show you guys what I got up to.

Beauty illustration: Met Gala 2019

June 21, 2019 Melissa Bailey

I illustrated some of my favourite looks for the 2019 Met Gala, which had the theme of camp. I was in love with Lily Collin’s 60’s inspired hair and make-up and Lucy Boynton’s etherial, pastel look. I especially loved the jewel detail on her eyes.

Aspinal of London: Live illustration

April 24, 2019 Melissa Bailey

Over the years I have worked at many events for Aspinal of London, illustrating in their London/UK stores for customers. I was tasked with capturing customers with their Aspinal purchases or in store favourite pieces, so that they had a moment to take home. This was especially popular in the run up to Christmas. All the illustrations shown were created with pencil, ink and then watercolour. I mainly drew 3/4 images in order to make the handbags the main focus of the illustrations and be able to have space for the detailing of the leather. It was great to work for such a high end brand, and their stores were just gorgeous!

MAC Cosmetics x Selfridges

April 8, 2019 Melissa Bailey

MAC live illustration event

// SELFRIDGES // LONDON //

I really love drawing portraits that focus on the face and hair, as I get to concentrate on adding detail and make-up with my watercolours. I always work quite fast paced when doing live illustration, each portrait takes between 5-10 minutes to complete, so working on the face only allows me to get in some nice details, with just a hint of the clothing from the shoulders down. On my third day in Selfridges Oxford street, which was a Saturday, I was pretty much working flat out to try and fit everybody in who wanted a portrait. It was an amazing three days, and I got to meet some fantastic people; the MAC artists and the customers were all truly fantastic! As a Londoner, I often avoid busy tourist spots on the weekend, but being in Selfridges reminded me of why I decided to move here in the first place, it’s crazy, it’s magical, it’s a feast for the senses and it sparks inspiration! I had many more events in the pipeline, but my next stop was to be MAC again, but this time Selfridges, Manchester!

Back in February 2019 I was so excited to be invited to MAC cosmetics in Selfridges Oxford Street, to illustrate during the launch of their brand new make-up range BOOM BOOM BLOOM! I was in store for three days, illustrating customers who purchased anything from the new line as a complimentary gift. On the morning of the first day, I arrived to the counter to find a gorgeous floral display for customers to take selfies and show off their freshly applied make up (and sure enough had matched my outfit to the floral theme!). I myself got to try some of the new lip colours, and since MAC lipstick has bee a favourite of mine for as long as I’ve been buying make-up, this truly was a dream job! I started the day by drawing portraits of some well known influencers in the instagram cosmetics world, and then got to drawing the many customers that popped in. As you probably know, Selfridges can be CRAZY busy, and oh my…it was!

Top Santé: The Beauty of Bathing

January 14, 2019 Melissa Bailey

For the January 2019 issue of women’s health and lifestyle magazine, Top Santé, I was asked to create some illustrations for a feature on the beauty of bathing. A subject I can definitely get behind as I love nothing more than a nice relaxing bath, especially during winter! The article featured products and remedies from various countries, such as Japan, France and Turkey. I represented each of these within certain elements of the main image. The tiles are inspired by those seen inside Turkish bath houses, the bamboo is a nod to Japan, and of course I have drawn a beautiful french style, roll top bath. With gold taps and ornate legs, this is pretty much my ideal bath! Overall I have tried to create a sense of luxuriousness, femininity, calm and beauty within the illustrations.

Live Illustration

October 8, 2018 Melissa Bailey

Jimmy Choo event: London

September 28, 2018 Melissa Bailey

Earlier this year I was invited to illustrate ant an event for Jimmy Choo in their Sloane Street store, where I created illustrations of the guests during the cocktail reception

High end touches

Having an illustrator at your event is a great way of showing your customers or guests that they are important to you, and really helps to make their experience extra special. Unlike traditional caricatures, my illustrations are both glamorous and flattering. I try to capture the overall look of my subject in a quick 5-10 minute illustration, using pencil, ink and watercolours. Like the fashion illustrations created by designers, they show off the outfits and patterns, hairstyles and accessories in a fun and playful way.