Sewing Projects

These are just a couple things I finished up right before I left for college. End-of-Summer favors I guess you could say.

This is a dress my friend Maria asked me to make out of antique pillow cases. I wish you could see the embroidery on the bust better, but white is hard to photograph. The ruffle on the bottom wraps around the hem in back.


This I made for my friend Amy. She picked out the fabric and I modeled it after a purse I made myself a couple years ago.


I have yet to buy a sewing machine for my dorm room. It's a pretty tiny dorm, too, so when I do get one I'll have to stay reeeally organized.

Anyway, I'm a busy college student now, so I'll talk to you later.

Bill Kaulitz- Finished

Finally done with this! I sorta gave up on his hair, I shoulda known better than to attempt a wacky backlit mohawk. *Shrug* Regardless, it is finished. I hope she likes it.

In other news, I'm making a dress for my friend Maria out of pretty old pillow cases (she is tiny), and that's coming along well. Pictures will follow soon.
Also, I'm currently (as in, at this moment) making a purse for my friend Amy as a late birthday gift. It is blue-green-gold plaid with kelly green lining inside.

I tried to have a garage sale today, but so far it looks like my advertising skills have failed. Or, just not many people are interested in teenage girl apparel. Probably both. My sister is outside now manning the vacant setup. But, the day's not over yet, we'll see who shows up.


Oh, by the way, I have decided to take part in this little shindig called The Sketchbook Project. Basically, they send you a sketchbook, you fill 'er up, and they take it on tour around the US. It costs $25, but I think it will be fun. I'll probably do some watercolor paintings.

Anyway, looking forward to that, lots of sewing to do, and I leave for college next Wednesday! BYE!

Work In Progress

This is some progress i've been making on this Bill Kaulitz trade.







This is the reference I'm using:


I'm hoping to have this done pretty soon, and I really hope she likes it!

Bill Kaulitz

I'm doing an art trade with someone on deviantart, and she wants me to draw Bill Kaulitz from Tokyo Hotel. So I go to google for some reference pictures, as I've never seen the guy, and at first I was confused because he looks so much like a girl, and I started thinking 'could Bill be a girl's name?' But I soon discovered for myself that he is in fact a 'he.'
So there are many varying pictures of him, capturing varying levels of his masculinity, but mostly he's the most girly/pretty man I've ever seen (despite the punk rocker look).

So this will be interesting.

Sneaky sneaky puzzle

My art book told me to do this puzzle where you take this clump of jumbled boxes,

and rearrange them in order. For most of it, you're just sitting there going 'what IS this?' and then at the end you're like 'oh you sneaky.'


























I thought I'd share that since this marks the beginning of my re-learning-to-draw-via-magical-art-book phase.

Some Philosophical Fragments

Drawing helps you distinguish between what you see and what is there.

Let me explain. When someone attempts to draw for the first time, they're usually not happy with the result. We've all been there, we've all seen that happen. Well I believe that drawing and learning more or less go hand in hand. In thorough learning, there are three steps: being presented with information, processing/connecting it, and then explaining it back in your own words. It is the same with drawing (or any kind of art): sensing information, examining/interpreting it, and portraying it back to the world.

Interpreting things and making your own art are the easy parts. It's the first step, paying attention to the things you see, that takes a lot of scrutiny. There can be a big difference between what you see, and what is there, just as there is a difference between what you are taught and what you learn. Each step affects the next like a chain reaction, or an assembly line.

The first step takes a total sense of reality. You must learn to recognize the details in correlation with each other, exactly as they are. The second step incorporates the sense of imagination, wherein your thoughts exaggerate and subtlify things to your heart's content. You can think something up that makes absolutely no sense, or you can stick to the comfort of logical boundaries. Either and any between is your choice. The third step must combine the two, so that what you want to portray is evident, while how you want to portray it shows meaning.

So how do you learn the first step? With the third step: you draw. The three steps are a circle that, if followed, will wear a deeper and deeper groove of skill and wisdom with time. You see things, your mind interprets, you attempt to draw it, you interpret the drawing, you look again at things, interpret them, draw, and so on. Practice makes perfect, always.



I have drawn you a diagram.

I suppose in reality, the second and third step sort of happen simultaneously. The second is very subtle otherwise.





Attention to detail and the will to improve are how I taught myself what
I know. And I'm nowhere near perfect, but every artist is on a journey. One of my personal philosophies is that the only bad artist is one who never changes. As long as you are progressing, you're on the right track. Where you go from there is up to you.

你好

I've decided to speak Mandarin for you.

大家好。 我的名字是Laura Jones。 我的中文名字是熊宇文。 欢迎来我博客。
我喜欢做了几个艺术。我喜欢做画 和 缝制衣服。我常常绘草图， 我也要做时装设计。下个五月我毕业了。这个八月的时候我就要去大学， 学中文和时装。我知道我中文不太好，可是我日后希望进步。


Hello everyone. My name is Laura Jones, my Chinese name is Xiong Yuwen. Welcome to my blog. I like to do many kinds of art. I like to make pictures and sew clothes. I often make rough sketches, and I also want to be a fashion designer. I graduated last may. This August I will go to college, where I will study Chinese and fashion. I know my Chinese isn't that good, but I hope to someday improve.


This was just for fun, really. I haven't used any Chinese all summer, and I need to brush up in order to test out of the elementary course. For those of you who are fluent in Mandarin, feel free to correct anything. For those who aren't...well the characters are pretty.

再见