// She did it…

♥ … and I love her for it!

Not only did she marry the Prince,

she also got to wear McQueen,

and the vintage Cartier tiara;

She got some nice ponies (Oh, come on! It’s only every girl’s dream!),

and a cute brother-in-law too;

A cozy and pretty little place to call home,

and a couple of new twitter followers.

Overall I think it was quite an agreeable day for Katie, don’t you think? :)

I LOVED the wedding. I think she looked gorgeous and Will looked handsome too. The ceremony (what I saw of it) was very moving and the whole event was the stuff of fairy tales. – I was just a little disappointed by the lack of crowns. What’s the point of being royalty if you’re not gonna wear a crown?! If it was me, I’d wear it day and night. – Oh, well, I’m glad I watched it and I’m happy for her. You go girl!

♥ For those few ladies who got a tiny weeny bit depressed by the festivities:

♥ And despite que whole wedding madness, let us not forget one thing:

Via Gray’s Fashionlogy.

Wishing you an amazing weekend.

Lots of love from Lisbon.

♥♥♥

// The Royal Wedding

I have a lovely Royal Wedding to attend tomorrow. My dress is finally ready. So exciting!

Okay, seriously, I am actually quite thrilled about the whole thing. I just wish this had happened when I was still living in London. I wouldn’t have gone to Westminster to watch the procession but I would definitely have skipped work and celebrated somehow.

I might try to catch a glance at it tomorrow, though someone at work just told me the broadcast starts at eight in the morning. What?? He might be wrong. If not, I guess Monarchs just have more energy than the rest of us.

It’ll be a really amazing and pretty wedding anyway, I’m sure. :)

Lots of Love from Lisbon.

♥♥♥

// Post-Easter Hangover

Couldn’t find the name of the photographer who took this picture. If anyone knows, give me a shout!

♥ I ate so much chocolate these last few days, it’s not even funny. Feel very guilty.

However, I also managed to be very productive (blame the sugar) and did A LOT of illustration for two different projects: a children’s book and an ethical fashion book. Feel slightly less guilty.

These two projects are still under wraps, but as soon as I’m allowed to talk about them, I will fill this blog with all sorts of illustration madness! Watch this space.

♥ A few weeks ago, I posted about Ganbare Nippon, one of the latest themes set up by the amazing illustration site Illustration Rally. Ganbare Nippon means “Don’t give up Japan” and illustrators from all over the world were asked to send artwork with messages of love and hope. I sent a piece and they published it (yay!). Here it is:

I usually illustrate manually but decided to give my walcom tablet a chance and produced this piece digitally, on Illustrator. It wasn’t easy, but it was surprisingly fun. I quite like how it turned out and will definitely be doing more Illustrator experiments in the future.

♥ Illustration Rally also posted an interview and feature about me, which was such an amazing honor. Here is what it said:

“Fresh and vibrant work pours out of illustrator and art director Joana Faria. Joana’s work has a great cosmopolitan feel with her elegant fashion forms projecting both grace and humour, at once bringing back that sense of 50′s chic that is prevalent currently but also having a unique flavour all of her own. Her work is not locked to any period but also has a richness to it as well. Its great to have a style that works and that can be used in multifarious ways. Her style is firmly rooted in fashion illustration and uses the deft elegance that is the trademark of really stylish work. She skilfully employs a choice of palette that not only gives her work a similar tonal range that unites it but allows her to have a good basis from which to explore. Finding something which works and then building from it is the hallmark of a great working practice and will stand her in great stead in the future.

IR: Who are you: 

JF: Born in Brazil, raised in London, currently living in Portugal.

I am a self-taught illustrator and have been drawing ever since I can remember. I love books, old photographs, art galleries and fine point markers. Trips to Paris are on my list of favorite things too.

I am a freelance illustrator but also work as an art director at an advertising agency in Lisbon.

IR: How did you start:

JF: I’ve been drawning all my life. Back in Brazil, I spent most of my childhood days drawing girls in big elaborate dresses and flowers in their hair. Some years later, my family and I moved to England and so I grew up in London, where I went to university and studied Photography at Goldsmiths College.

After uni, I went on to work as a creative in advertising. Little by little I started to drift away from illustration which made me so sad. So after a few years I made a personal decision to force myself back into drawing. I started small. Doing little scribbles here and there, whenever I had the time. I printed some t-shirts with my designs and gave them away as presents, which was fun and started doing a lot of illustration for friends and family. The more I drew, the more I loved it and the more I felt comfortable with it. I created a blog, went on twitter to meet other illustrators and started taking part in competitions and collaborations. I did a lot of assignments for Amelia’s Magazine, especially during London Fashion Week, which gave me a huge confidence boost. I was published in Amelia’s book of Fashion Illustration and was asked to do live fashion illustration at the launch, which I never thought I’d be able to do. The rest, as they say, is history. 
I’m currently involved in a couple of very exciting projects. It involves another book on Fashion Illustration, a website and also a Children’s book, which has been a major dream of mine. It has been an very good year so far, I have to admit.

IR: A Personal statement about you or your work:

JF: I take inspiration from everywhere: books, photographs, a dress, a certain color, a pattern… I feel that everything is beautiful and worthy of observation. Drawing makes me incredibly happy and I am a firm believer that when you put love into your work, it really shows.”

To see the whole feature, click here.

♥♥♥

// The colors of Tajikistan

The road to Afghanistan. – No, I wasn’t scared. :)

That’s me. Photographed by my dad at the end of the trip. :)

Tajikistan is beautiful and inspiring. It is quite overwhelming at times, as expected, but it really is a whole new world to be discovered. The sights are great and the mountains are wonderful, but what I really loved the most were the people. They are so polite and sweet. Everyone I met went out of their way to make me feel welcome and at ease. Definitely the kind of hospitality you don’t see everyday.

If anyone’s thinking about going to that region I definitely recommend it. Do make sure you stay for a minimum of two weeks though, so you can visit the Pamir Mountains. They are located in between Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China and include a bit of the Himalayas. Unfortunately, I only had 10 days and didn’t quite make it over there. Maybe next time.

Lots of love from Lisbon and a very happy Easter.

♥♥♥

// Souvenir from another world

I just returned from a 10 day trip to Tajikistan.

It was wonderful. Central Asia, with all its contrasts, sights, amazing mountains and truly delightful people, is really another world.

While I’m sorting through my pictures and preparing a more detailed post, here’s a little sketch I did whilst over there. I left it as a present to my dad, who has been working in Dushanbe for the past year or so.

Lots of Love from Lisbon.

♥♥♥