Illustration is often a necessary process to consolidate the idea for your next hat or collection of hats. It is most useful when assisting the client to see the vision of splendor you have in mind for them. The sketch is often no more than a few lines to capture the gesture and style of the hat and an opportunity to perfect the scale and proportions. Sometimes when the sketch requires more detail I’ll break out my trusty Derwents to get the mood or theme across with pretty coloured highlights and occasionally I’ll draw a cheeky lil outfit suggestion.
Sketching gets the idea out of your head, is much quicker than making the hat and allows you to revisit the concept at a later date. A little bit like a catchy tune or a poem that might pop brightly in your mind for a brilliant but fleeting moment, unless you get it down on paper its gone baby gone! So for every hat that gets a pen and ink memento there are many, many more floating about in the ether.
