Steampunk Women's Fashion Illustration

Here is a comp of the first set of steampunk fashion for women I played with from the pencil drawing to the color rendering.

Second set (jacket) of steampunk fashion illustration for women.

Hello All,
Finally back after some time with new work. Never done this before, but after a recent mission to find my wife some new clothes for V-day and navigating my way through the online women's fashion world  - something of an unexpected adventure and sometimes a nightmare - ended up inspiring me. Since I had first heard of the movement, everything steampunk has fascinated me and I have been very drawn to the nuance and aesthetic of the fashion and culture of it. Whether or not you agree these images above are real steampunk, I am calling it steampunk fashion since it is the only thing I can closely relate my design to with some point of reference.

In the two pieces I have put together a full look which includes a large-brimmed hat and feather that has a half-veil of net, patent ankle boots with gear and wing details, gauntlet gloves with red lace and detail, a blouse and leather and lace corset top set to make any adventuring woman envious, and skinny breeches with blue lace and gator-type details, and last but not least is the trench coat with blue lace, folded French cuffs and collars and pink details. Most of the white splotches are to indicate shiny spots which tells you what sort of material most of the items are made from. I know, they look pirate-y, and a little steampunk-ish, but overall I think they turned out fun.

As for colors, well, those are just colors. There are reds browns, golds, and a few blues in order to break up the ruddy tones. These are largely a reflection of my own tastes mixed with creative impulse and knowing what, in general, make up steampunk most color palettes I have seen with the blue as an addition.

So, as most artists know, the only way to get something out of your head is to get it on paper and that is what I tried to do here. Like I said, I have never actually done a piece solely to do fashion illustration, but this sounded fun and I deemed it necessary in order to exercise the demons haunting my dreams after the long hard search for Jen's V-day gifts. I would see sweaters and ankle boots when I shut my eyes at night! No longer!

I thought it would be more useful of a post if I should each step for the sketches rather than just finished pieces. I also wanted to get the raw and real effect by leaving the notebook details on the images to drive home that I actually have these hand drawn on pages of my notebook. You will also see a list of products used below.

Thanks for your time - feedback appreciated.


Products Used:
Dixon Ticonderoga 1388-2/HB Soft pencil
Faber-Castel Flip open sharpener
Sakura Color Products Corp. Pigma Micron markers
Sanford Prismacolor blend-able markers
Picadilly Inc notebook

References
"Fashion Illustration: Inspiration and Technique", by Ann Kiper from D&C publishing 2011


PS - I swear I wasn't thinking of Carmen San Diego at all during the making of this! After posting this, I just realized it looked a lot like her costume.