A year of being a full time fashion illustrator Rongrong DeVoe

What an amazing 2015! I am so grateful I was able to grow my fashion illustration shop and work with some wonderful brands that I previously could only dream of!

Here are some of my favorite projects of 2015:

I teamed up with Scholastic to illustrate a fashion illustration book called Fashion Profile which will be published in the spring of 2016. Woo hoo! Super excited!!!

Teen Vogue back to school live sketch event

Live sketching at the Teen Vogue back to school event with Simon mall in Austin over the summer. Read about my 8 hours of live sketching here.

Rachel Zoe SS16 collection at NYFW by Rongrong DeVoe

It was a busy September. I went to New York Fashion Week as a fashion illustrator for the first time. Even though it was only four days I was amazed by the whole experience. Read my recap here.

Lastly, It was a dream come true when I heard from ELLE.com that they wanted to hire me to create 5 illustrations for Banana Republic for their holiday campaign. ELLE magazine was my favorite fashion magazine growing up. I used to draw from it all the time and dream one day I could create fashion illustrations for them.  When I saw the article on their site, I felt my teenage self jumping and dancing inside me! 

A few unforgettable PR moments:

My first TV appearance on Great Day Houston.  Check the segment here

Rongrong DeVoe, Houston Fashion Illustrator on The Every Girl

Feature interview on The Every Girl. I am finally the Every girl! It was one of my goals when I started my fashion illustration business. I really appreciated the opportunity to share my story with their audience.

I wrote a blog post with some thoughts and recommendations to anyone who also wants to draw or is at the beginning stage of drawing, especially fashion. 

While I am still new to being an artist/small business owner, I am always learning. I would love to share with you some of my favorite resources. I hope they can help you with your creative journey:

I LOVE to listen to podcasts. Three of my absolute favorites are The Lively Show,  The Fresh Rag Show and Brilliant Business Moms

If you are an artist and just started, like me, there are some great mentors who can give you career advice. These three are my favorites: Jennifer Nelson Artists,  Make Art that sells and the Graphic Artists Guild

Do you have an Etsy shop and want to grow and start making more sales? There are so many Etsy experts, e-books and courses all over the internet. The two e-books I found the most helpful are below. I purchased them myself and experimented with them. I have already seen results after a few weeks.

The Get-Found Guide to Etsy - Get to the First Page of Search with Etsy SEO

How To Start an Etsy Store on a Tight Budget eBook & Workbook

Join me on Snapchat(username: RongrongD)  see my fashion illustration process. Want more tips, tricks about creative business, social media, blogging? join me on Pinterest!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Please feel free leave your thoughts, questions, and your favorite podcast, blogs, artists in the comments below.

Until next time,

Rongrong

I am finally back from upstate new york after Christmas celebration with families.  During the time there, I was able to continue create my daily fashion sketches which is my commitment to myself to share on my Instagram community while having relaxing time with family and friends.

Here are some fashion sketches I did during my stay, hope you enjoy!

My Christmas illustrations featuring festive fashion gowns. Which one is your favorite?

Close up of this amazing royal blue sequins gown, I am totally obsessed!

Yes!! Always have fun, always say yes to dance!! Love this quote and have to sketch it onto my illustration.

The unexpected snow lead to the cancellation of our flight. But I am luckily to see the snow since two years ago. And I sketched this fashionable snow angle where I got inspired from it. 

I also took some fun photo shoot for my coffee mugs from my shop. 

Coffee tastes best with a friend coffee mug, more details here

Pardon my french coffee mug! One of my best seller, funny and chic:-) check it out here

I always try to bring some fashion sketches cut outs when I am traveling. Great fun experiment by placing my illustrated ladies in different environments.

Just finished this fashion sketch for New Year Celebration!! 

Happy New Year fashion Illustration! Hope you have a wonderful new year!

Happy New Year!! Sending best wishes to you! My dress from one of my favorite store ASOS

Join me on Instagram community with other fabulous ladies!

Until next time,

Rongrong

Hi my friends! I just answered questions you asked on Instagram a few weeks ago. Sorry this took a little bit longer than I expected. Hope you find what you are looking for and hopefully these will help you with your creative journey.

How did you get started? Favorite mediums? Favorite season? - calligraphycult

I started to learn how to draw when I was 7. My parents were so busy they sent me to art, dance & sports after school to fill my time until they finished work to pick me up.

I do not have one favorite medium tool. I use different tools based on the subject and my mood at that moment.

My favorite season is Fall. Who doesn't love Fall? Many romantic stories happen in fall :-)

Jeans and polka dots fashion wall art via Rongrong Illustration

I would love to see your process from sketch to finished picture. Have you thought of doing YouTube videos? I would also love to see your fave techniques and how you learnt and practiced them. - bellapolkadots

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I am preparing to do a YouTube video shortly and will share it with you all.

I do not have a favorite tool. I use different tools based on my mood and clients preference.

There are a few videos I found from fellow illustrators which can be very useful:

1, Illustrating Your Favorite Runway Looks with PaperFashion

2, How to Paint Fashion Illustrations for beginners- A Fashion Watercolor Illustration (time lapse)

3, How to do fashion sketches step by step

Yes I need all help I can get. I am learning how to draw people and I can't get it right - mylifeasacraftartist

I recommend to start sketching from magazines. Just use pencil, no need to worry about colors and patterns.

When I started I found this book very useful:

Fashion Illustration: Inspiration and Technique

Finding inspirations from fashion magazines like People Style Watch

How did you start getting your work into magazines etc? how to make yourself known apart from social media. Do you scan your work sometimes when you put it on instagram? how do you make it look so neat! do you edit any marks etc? - giselaillustrations

I have not done much magazine work as they have recently decreased their requests for editorial illustrations. If this is what you are looking to break into I would recommend mailing postcards of your work to art directors and follow up with an email. This is not a one time thing, it needs to be consistent, I recommend every three months. In addition to social media, I think a professional website and nicely designed business card are also very important. They show how professional you are. Go to many meet-ups, art/craft shows and introduce yourself to other designers and customers. This can be a great way to spread the name.

I scan my work to post on Instagram sometimes, sometimes I don't. When I scan, I do adjust my work in Photoshop such as  clean up marks and dirt.

Sketches after scan and photoshop

What is your step by step drawing process and how do you come up with ideas? - hana_chots

I am preparing a YouTube video of my step by step, soon I will share it with you:-)

Sometimes I find ideas from trending events such as NYFW or trending holidays such as National donuts day!! I also draw things that I think my audiences can related to, such as Monday Coffee, TGIF Friday, Sunday brunch etc. Anything that can make people happy , It is my goal. When in doubt, draw shoes!!

Hello, I love your illustrations they're gorgeous! I was wondering if you would be willing to share some of your process. I am looking to sell some of my art work but I am not too sure how artists get their art printed. Do you sketch each individual copy or do you have 1 primary drawing that you get printed to ship to your customers? If so, where are some good places to get high quality prints? Thank you, your tips would be much appreciated :)- Danielle

I have my originals and then I scan them into the computer. I clean up the file and make them different sizes such as 5x7, 8x10, 11x14... I have a professional printer at home so I can print high quality inkjet prints  and ship to customers worldwide. 

Leopard heels fashion wall art via Rongrong Illustration

Hope these tips and videos will help. In the meantime, stay tuned for my upcoming tutorial video. Feel free to visit my Etsy shop, Instagram or comment below if you have any questions:-)

Until next time,

Rongrong