Illustrator Flashback: Jason Brooks

Jason's style is as infamous as it is recognizable. Widely copied, it arguably became one of the most identifiable illustrative styles around the millennium era. His work for Hed Kandi dominated mainstream illustration, and had such huge influence during the peak of Ibiza's popularity, that Hed Kandi continued to commission illustrators to replicate his long limbed, glossy lipped, narrow eyes beauties years after he left.

As his style continues to evolve (F.I.G and his website currently display his more recent hand based / less digital works), it's great to discover this in one of my old copies of The Face, dated way back from January 1993. Completely hand drawn without a digital alteration in touch, you'd be forgiven for not thinking these were by Brooks. The 'Bovril Babe' being the only giveaway to his future work. It's always exciting as an illustrator myself to see just how much an illustrator's style has changed over the years and seeing the development there. More flashback posts will happen for sure when I can. Have fun reading the quotes (click to enlarge)

New Exhibition, NY: 'Fashion Illustration: A Contemporary Look'

Fashion Illustration: A Contemporary Look

September 6 – December 1, 2012

Brooklyn Public Library  |  Central and Brooklyn Heights

To coincide with New York Fashion Week SS13, Fashion Illustration: A Contemporary Look will be the largest American showcase of established fashion illustrators in over a decade.
The exhibition aims to bring awareness to the art form, its history, and to showcase its practical applications. On display will be work commissioned and intended for editorial and marketing purposes.  Viewers will have a rare behind the scenes look at the inspiration and creative process that goes into big budget advertising campaigns.

Also neatly coinciding with the release of Antonio Lopez: Fashion, Art, Sex and Disco, never-before-seen images from Lopez will also be on display, including (unreleased) photos and videos taken by Antonio of friends, models, and colleagues Jerry Hall, Grace Coddington, Pat Cleveland, Grace Jones, and Karl Lagerfeld.

It's a shame that living in the UK, I'm not going to be able to make it there myself, and urge anyone in the U.S with an interest in fashion illustration to go see this. Viewing the original works of others is important to an illustrator. Not only does it give you a better insight into the illustrator's methods and techniques, but it's also interesting to see what original pieces look like before going through any retouching. When viewing the work of Rene Gruau for example, it's fun to spot where corrections have been made and what has been altered or tidied when used for reproduction. Something fascinating but also reassuring to illustrators like myself.

Featured artists:

Richard Haines

Autumn Whitehurst

Sarah Singh

Anja Kroencke

Carlos Aponte

Samantha Hahn

Marcos Chin

Jennifer Lilya

Elaine Pedler

Izak Zenou

Don Oehl

This select group of established illustrators have been featured in major publications including Vogue, Elle, InStyle, WWD and Daily Candy for brands and retailers such as, Chanel, Givenchy, Tiffany, Ray Ban, L’Oreal, Victoria’s Secret, Sephora, and Henri Bendel. A great line up that spans illustrative styles significantly. Autumn Whitehurst's digital renderings for examples are in sharp contrast to the energetic sketches of Richard Haines. Examples are included below.

Don Oehl

Autumn Whitehurst

Richard Haines

Sarah Singh

Jennifer Lilya

Special Events include:
       Panel Discussions
       Fashion Film Series
       FREE Fashion Illustration Classes
       Live Demo with Fashion Illustrator Bil Donovan
       Author Events:

Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers by Laird Borrelli

Antonio Lopez: Fashion, Art, Sex, & Disco by Roger Padilha & Mauricio Padilha

20th-Century Fashion Illustration: The Feminine Ideal by Rosemary Torre

The Opening Reception is at the Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch on September 6th, 2012 at 6 p.m.  For more info Join their group on Facebook.

Julie Verhoeven, an update.

It's hard to keep up with the amount of work that Julie has been producing over the last year or so. Her consistent output has seen a major storm of high profile commissions and exhibitions over the last few months, producing yet more incredible work that defines her unique style and approach.




The Princess Diana tribute at Kensington Palace, March 2012.

Part of a huge restoration of Kensington palace, this was arguably the most profilic commission. Julie was requested to interpret famous moments of Diana Princess of Wales' life as a mural wallpaper. Being so quintissentially British in style and personality, Julie was the ideal candidate for such a brief. The illustrations struck the perfect balance between the poetic, almost fairytale imagery of the notion of 'the people's princess', while her active and aggressive brushstrokes and colour kept the whole thing from turning potentially too nostalgic or safe, a path that would be incredibly easy to go down. Julie's trademark style gave the commemorative wallpaper a fresh and exciting quality whilst reflecting the poignancy and more saddening aspect of her demise. To be able to do this and still create a faithful representational homage to Diana AND keep the palace happy, is a bit of a feat.

Some readers of the Daily Mail (Fail) however were not so enthusiastic as me, when commenting an article on the commission, which Julie rightfully laughed off herself. One comment which managed to sum up the work perfectly was the following: "Julie Verhoeven's illustrations really capture Diana's vulnerability and elegance. Simply beautiful. It's all very 'fashion', but then so was Diana.... I think she would have loved this"

whilst one not so in favour read:

 "Why oh why do these so called artists try to be edgy..usually failing! The sketches look like something a bunch of 8-10 year olds would do fro a school project! The colouring is also tacky. It might not have looked so bad if the had stuck to the original colours of the clothes and especially the flowers! And can anyone explain why there is a cow in the sketch of the wedding photo? How much more elegant it would have looked if the chosen photos had been reproduced on the wallpaper"

An idiotic comment in my eyes but I think even Julie would appreciate that her style manages to piss some people off.

Continue Reading . . .

Aitor Throup Studio: Daily Sketchbook Archive

The Aitor Throup studio are currently posting daily images of Aitor's illustrations on their facebook page, most of which I haven't seen before. A while back I made a large post of as much of his work I could find and it's great to see that it has proved one of the most popular posts on here.

Images are still currently being posted but I thought I would share a post on what has been uploaded so far. Make sure you follow the group here on facebook to keep updated.

Guglielmo Castelli

"I don’t know if I’ll be an illustrator or an artist, if I’m gonna work in a team or by myself; the only thing I know for sure is that I have to create, to animate worlds or for me it will be the end.

We artists are incredibly egocentric."

Excerpt from interview with Jou Jou Villeroy.

This quote recalls a recent discussion I had with someone over the differences between defining an artist or an illustrator. What are the different definitions and how are they interchangeable? The main fundamental difference is that an artist creates work for themselves, and an illustrator creates work for clients. However this casts a grey area over how you would define an illustrator producing 'personal work', but urgh, I feel that discussion needs a post on it's own! Eithey way, it's fair to say that regardless of the purpose, the finished piece should speak for itself.

(Looks from Prada Fall Winter 2010.)

A personal favourite, and great insight into Castelli's process and perception.

Guglielmo's work certainly evokes a more fine art approach, and despite being a 

regular contributor for Vogue Italia's website, he produces a large amont of solo material. At just 24 it's intimidating how much he has produced and in such quality, already planning his third solo exhibition. 

The tortured twisted figures of his solo work and the play on perspective are of course reminiscient of Francis Bacon's work, but the first time I saw his work I was reminded of Yoshitomo Nara, the hugely successful Japanese pop artist. Flat areas of bold colour and a general sense of isolation and melancholy are all similar running themes, and the characters that hover between a state of child and adulthood create a vision both surreal and engaging. I actually spotted a photo on Guglielmo's tumblr showing one of Nara's works in the background, so it's safe assume there is some influence or inspiration going on there.

While some of the figures in his solo work appear tortured, their faces obscured, hidden and facing away, the characters in his fashion directed works are lighter in mood, less contorted and even occasionally pleased and smiling. Prada and Comme Des Garcons seem to be his favourite collections to interpret, but as you can see beneath, his work for Vogue Italia's site has seen him illustrate a varied range of designers.

I'm a big fan of his play on proportions and soft colour palette, and at 24 he has already created a strong identity which will no doubt continue to develop. Make sure you follow his site here.

All images from Guglielmo's site and Vogue Italia's.

Prada Mens

Prada

Proenza Schouler

Maison Martin Margiela

Prada

Prada

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