Responsive Brief: Coco Chanel: final work

I chose to work on a brief from Pushkin Press, the aim was to depict a new cover for The Allure of Chanel. I found this quite an intimidating brief as the book had previously been illustrated by fashion illustrator Karl Lagerfeld. The book is about the woman who founded Chanel, Coco Chanel, and goes into the designers mind. In my final outcome I really wanted to depict the true Coco. In order to do this  I did a lot of research and found out about her as a person as well as a designer. Above, is my final outcome for this piece, depicting Coco Chanel 'relaxing' in the middle of reading a book; however I wanted to portray her as alert and challenging the viewer, you have not caught her in a private moment, she is the one who's caught you watching! I used a water colour and pencil sketch scanned into the computer and then worked onto it using Photoshop. I used mainly Layers and the Paint Brush tool. I wanted to keep some hand made elements but also bring some modern elements into the piece by giving her a more realistic look to there face and garments. I spent a while on the pearls as these are such a huge part of her brand identity so I wanted to ensure they were highlighted correctly to draw the viewers attention to them. Below is my original sketch; I painted some water colour basic shapes and lines and then drew over it in pencil.

I researched for some reference images to use for direction on her face and expression; (these were all found on the Vogue Website) 

I loved all of this images particularly the last one as I think this depicts Coco's personality so well, showing the exactitude, presision and perfection in her garments and herself. However I finally chose to use this image (below) as I believe that she connects to the viewer in a way that she would have looked at her contemporaries, not giving too much away but a hint of seduction and analysis. The photograph also highlights her notorious pearls. 

I also used this image of a book for a reference image as she learnt not from private education but through reading and educated herself. I wanted my illustration to depict her caught in a moment of interruption during her reading; the audience enters her world for a brief moment. She's watching you; challenging you.