#streetstyle

I drew a big street crowd for a recent job, and haven't been able to quit my #streetstyle search on tumblr. It's like 70% Kardashian/Jenner which is upsetting, but it's really relaxing to pick out favorites and elaborate on their outfits.

Two Serious Ladies

Last year I worked on the cover illustration & lettering for the reissue of Jane Bowles' 1943 novel, Two Serious Ladies. Jane Bowles was a New York City writer, and this is her only novel. I liked reading John Waters' take on this book here, and I feel lucky to be a part of something that was important to other New Yorkers decades before I was born and arrived in this city.

Many many thanks to AD Allison Saltzman at HarperCollins Ecco :D

what i wore to the studio

Monica, Rachel, and I started a new blog of the most mundane fashion, what we wear to the studio. Follow along as I wear the same sweater 5 days in a row.

I went to see the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum a couple weeks ago and drew these favorites from photos I took. I get so bored looking at fashion online, but it's exciting to see it in a museum and in a historical context. This show was so well done, and the shapes of his work are so inventive I imagined everything I looked at like it was already a drawing.

etsy's industrial revolution

I did my first thing for the NYT, feelin like a real illustrator. And, very appropriately, it's about Etsy and the history and evolution of handmade goods. You can read the article here. Many thanks to ADs Josh Cochran & Matt Dorfman!

my desk

cool girls

we went to see drowners this weekend at mercury lounge and also saw a cool girl band called bad girlfriend who made me want to draw some cool band girls. I'm never going to be in a band but if I was I'd probably write a song called feelings too.

things

just some things I drew the other day when it was too hot to work in the studio. I painted these with an eyebrow brush while sitting on my bedroom floor, I had forgotten to bring a real brush home. thinking of summer, packing for California, and new clothes I want to buy. I don't really want to go, I'm going to miss Moses too much.

summertime, almost.

It's raining a lot so I'm drawing summer things and thinking about my California trip in July. Sidenote- I think I've given up on my tumblr, and I'm planning on updating this blog more. I really wanted to post daily drawings...and that lasted for a few weeks...and now I feel like I haven't made anything in 2 months. But I have! So more posts soon.

girls

A handful of girls from my sketchbook. I've been posting these & others almost daily over on the new tumblr.

Sad Girls Issue 2

You've probably already seen this if you follow me anywhere else on the internet, but here it is, the second issue of Sad Girls. The spreads above are by Karolin Schnoor, Angella d'Avignon, me, and Caitlin Shearer, and the cover is by Rachel Levit. In all, 10 girls contributed over 28 pages. Buy an issue here (only $6!), and issue 1 is also available if you missed out last time.

waiting for spring

You may have seen my holiday season picks, and now here's what's hot for Spring (...in my life). Best viewed large, since the actual image is 20 x 20".

*tumblr*

I made a tumblr yesterday because I want to be able to post lots of drawings in quick succession, and this blog's format feels a little formal for that. Diwa & I started a joint tumblr ~5 years ago just so we could share images with each other, and after a few years I got tired of posting and really tired of mindlessly scrolling through the dashboard. And I just realized that tumblr is not just for teens posting uncredited fashion pix, if I just follow my illustration friends it's sort of like instagram for our work. Cool.

So, you can follow me at leahreena.tumblr.com. I'm still going to post all the really important things here of course.

Tropics

Now, who wants to license these for some board shorts and beach towels?

Holiday Picks

little drawings

A couple little drawings I pulled out of my sketchbook. I liked the swimmers so much I made a bigger more final piece out of them.

Girls putting on makeup

A couple details from an involved pattern I've been working on for a few days. I'm planning on doing more repeats of "girls doing stuff" since I really like how this and the Badminton one turned out.

blueberries / summer dreams

A few blueberry-related drawings I did over the summer. The top one is me as an Indian girl picking blueberries in Bar Harbor, Maine. That dream didn't happen this summer, and I baked a lot of blueberry bran/flax muffins with all our CSA blueberries instead. I can't guarantee that this recipe will work for you because I mostly made it up, but it made the best muffins ever every time I used it.

Fashion's Night Out at Dalaga NYC

When Liz asked me if I'd like to host the Fashion's Night Out party & craft night at Dalaga in Greenpoint I immediately said yes, but I really don't know what I'm getting myself into! I've never hosted an event, never done anything fashion week related, never seen my clothes in a store in front of a ton of people...ha. So come by and say hi that night if you're in the area! And if you can't make it, or just want to see my clothes IRL, the pop-up shop will be there through September 16.

I finished up these posters last night for both the Greenpoint and Soho stores. It was a lot of fun drawing a bunch of different designers, and interesting to re-draw some of my own patterns.