Dutch painter Roxy van Bemmel creates striking portraits of fashionable women (and sometimes men), which are loosely based on her daily observations. Inspired by the people that cross her way in the street, the pictures she sees on Instagram, or her own imagination, her characters are vibrant, unapologetic, and very much in fashion.
Since graduating as a fashion designer from ArtEZ Arnhem in 2017, she started focusing on doing what she has always loved: drawing and painting from a fashion point of view. Bemmel’s background in fashion design makes her understand the high fashion garments she illustrates from a designer’s point of view.
“Most of the time I brainstorm in my sketchbook and make small 15sec sketches to figure out the composition and pose,” she told I Love Illustration, describing her creative process. “Sometimes I only sketch one, sometimes I need more, but they always help me figure it out before starting on a big blank paper. I start by drawing with colored pencils and sometimes markers for the big gestures and sketch, then I will move onto acrylic paint if it’s needed. I sometimes work digitally as well, but I always start with a drawing on paper which I will then transfer into Photoshop.”
Her work also involves collaborations with magazines, doing editorial illustration and working from concepts, as well as collaborating with other artists. “Freelancing makes me schedule my own time and this is absolutely what makes it worth all the extra work and uncertainties,” she says. “Being my own boss and deciding for myself what to do that day is incredibly rewarding. All the work I put in is coming back to me at some point, if I get lazy it doesn’t. I love that on a sunny day I can decide to go outside and meet a friend and just continue working in the evening. At least for me this makes me much more aware of the time I actually have instead of working a 9-5 job every day.”
Here are some of her finished products:
