Inspiration Scramble | Hollywood & Parisien Nostalgia

Happy October! Inspiration Scramble is the new feature where I share with you all of my favourite links, articles and inspirations. Inspired by all the link love posts, I realized I spend sooo much time on the internet and come across some many gems it would be a shame to waste them. So I'm going to share the best of them here with you guys!

• Not one but two very beautifully illustrated zines about Paris. These illustrations from Priyanka Pandit make my heart ache and ache for Paris. When I was a student and very frivolous with my money, I used to go to there every summer, one time I even spent a week wwoofing in the South of France. Hats off to Iveta K for the tip, she's also an illustrator and a beautiful one at that.

• Just Tell Me That You Want Me. A roaster of cool hipsters team up to cover my favourite band Fleetwood Mac on this tribute album. I'm especially slayed by the Best Coast song. Via my friend Esther.

• Greta Garbo is the best, and why Kirsten Stewart is my favourite. Scandals of Classic Hollywood and Friday Bargain Bin are my favourite features on Jezebel.

• The legendary photographer Cecil Beaton was a compulsive scrapbooker. Did you know that? He'd be a star Pinner if he was around these days.

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• Cool retro letterheads from everyone you've heard of.

• The Gloss on why it's so hard to bring your own lunch to work like a big girl.

• Danielle Meder, one of my favourite blogger and illustrator on the joys of the unplanned career.

• An Andy Warhol quote for artists who are feeling discouraged.

 

30 Day Drawing Challenge | The Rose of the Orient

For the 30 Day Drawing Challenge I've decided to stop taking the themes so literally and instead use them as a jumping off point to see where my imagination takes me. It's so much more enjoyable this way and I think the illustrations come out much more pleasing and more to my style. For Day 17: Favourite Plant, I thought flowers and then remembered this beautiful photograph I saw of Anna May Wong on Pinterest. I did the sketch on paper with Chinese ink (how fitting.) and then coloured it on Photoshop.

Anna May Wong is such inspiration both style and career wise. Did you know The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong made U.S. television history as the first show to feature an Asian-American lead, Anna played the titular role as a art dealing detective (total babe!). Sadly, the show is presumed to be lost so we will probably never see her wielding a magnifying glass, but in the meantime feast her eyes on these beautiful old portraits of the star.

That last video there is such a gem! Her voice is classic. Here is a longer version of that Chinese Costume Party video in it's full 1930's racist technicolour (dis)glory.
So who is your favourite old Hollywood screen siren?