As a young child, Erin fell in love with the arts and continued her passion through the Fashion Design Program from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. As well as being an avid swimmer, and accomplished pianist from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Erin works as one of the world's elite models traveling the world over for fashion magazine photoshoots. From Elle magazine to the covers of Harlequin romance novels, we bet you have seen Erin's beautiful face before modeling brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Chloe, Chanel, L'Oreal Paris, Matrix, Nars, and MAC. Since winning FluevogCreative's Radio ABC contest, Erin has decided to now focus her career as a Fashion Illustrator.

I have had the opportunity to gain inspirations from all aspects of my life. While traveling around the world as an international model I worked extensively with accomplished photographers, stylists, makeup artists, creative directors, and other models creating beautiful pieces of art. I'm currently building my portfolio, and after 4 years of study in Fashion Design and 2 years of traveling and working as a model, I have gained inspiration and have found my passion in expressing myself creatively through Fashion Illustration.

On her first pair of Fluevogs:

I was overseas in Asia working as a model, and an Australian girl whom I was rooming with owned these amazingly sexy pair of heels. They were black and made of faux-reptile leather with a 4 inch gold heel and gold lining. I absolutely loved them! Whenever, she wasn’t at the apartment or I knew that she wouldn’t be home for the night, I would sneak them on and go out clubbing. When I got back to Canada, the first thing I did with some of the money I earned modeling was buy a pair of Fluevogs for myself! My most recent pair is the black Melissa boot with the super pointy toe and ankle cuffs that fold down or stay up. Sigh.

On entering the FluevogCreative contest:

I’ve always been involved somehow in the arts and after graduating from the Fashion Design program at Ryerson University, I’ve been contemplating where my career should take me next. Aside from the design aspect of Fashion, I really love to draw things. From here I decided to give it my all in the world of Fashion Illustration and began to put a portfolio together. While I was working on a piece, I needed inspiration for a pair of shoes that I was drawing and immediately thought to visit the Fluevog website. After much shoe browsing/shopping, I stumbled upon the Radio ABC Fluevog Creative contest. Of course I was intrigued and immediately took on the challenge!

On the inspiration behind her winning ad Voggin' Out:

My inspiration for this illustration was taken from the famous 60s phrase coined by Timothy Leary, “Turn on, tune in, drop out”. Timothy, a Harvard psychologist and hippie guru, believed LSD and marijuana were gateways to enlightenment and came up with this catchy phrase to promote the benefits of drugs. My main objective was to incorporate that psychedelic feel - the morphing of the shoes into the headphones, the floating heads, and the colourful background. I featured both a male and female in the illustration as I felt that the unisex appeal of the shoe was very important. Also, I’m a big fan of drawing faces, so I knew this element would be incorporated into the design somehow.

The creative took around 5 days to complete. Research, brainstorming, and notebook sketching were done on the first. The illustration of the floating heads, the headphones, and the shoes were done on the second. The last 3 days were spent on arranging, re-arranging, second-guessing myself, and seeking out others opinions.

On what the dreams and future hold for Erin Hamelin:

My ultimate dream is to be a successful illustrator, working alongside some of the top fashion designers in the world. I want to travel the world, experience life to its fullest, and eventually give back to my community by exposing kids and adults the arts and creative expression.

Keep an eye out in Bust, Juxtapoz, UTNE and Wax Poetic magazines for Erin's winning design in print.

www.erinhamelin.com