Incorporating Fashion into Illustration

In my last two illustration assignments I've become more and more concerned with how my "characters" look and appear. Since I can't do straight fashion illustrations, this is the next best thing and I think allows me to think harder about my process for creating illustrations.

This is probably my most complete and successful. Our assignment was to do a book cover, illustrating a title of our choice. I chose The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath mostly because I hate the one on the book I had. Feet pointing inwards with pink type? The Bell Jar is far more violent than that.

In terms of my goal achievement I think I still need to become a better artist to convey what I wanted, which was something more violent and immediate. However I am still pleased that I created a striking image especially because I thought that drapery was going to be the motherfucking death of me.

The costuming was fun, since it forced me to go to goodwill and figure out what was going to work best for the story I wanted to tell. Of course I had to listen to a moron from class tell me that backs were NEVER EVER shown in the 50's....heh...please see Marilyn Monroe, Sabrina, Irving Penn, Dior, etc etc.