"Drawn To Couture" Francois Berthoud for V Magazine 83.

As previously mentioned, the new issue of V magazine is a bumper issue of illustration, with highlights from Ricardo Fumanal, Francois Berthoud and Jo Ratcliffe, amongst others.

Featured here is the super elusive Francois' six page editorial Drawn To Couture, which looks great in V's extra large format. Love or loathe the Miley Cyrus cover, this is an issue worth collecting.

Click to enlarge.

New Talent: Fiongal Greenlaw

Last week menswear designer Fiongal Greenlaw showcased his Graduate MA collection for Royal College of Art's Menswear, a selection of brooding and dramatic tailored looks in exquisite proportions, and will no doubt go on to higher successes in the industry.

Fiongal however is also a skilled illustrator, and with this post I wanted to draw attention to his brilliant illustrative work. Included here are all featured graduate portfolio works, whilst there are more on his official site. His work is defined by his forlorn and hunched male characters, usually lug-eared and with foppish hair, often haloed with ornate patterns and sometimes sporting huge horns, suggesting mythological inspiration.

Full graduate collection on Vogue.co.uk

Fiongal Greenlaw. Graduate MA Collection 2013, Royal College Of Art.

Ricardo Fumanal for V Magazine 83

Ricardo's six page editorial profiling the industry's top designers, is now in newsagents worldwide. Arguably one of the most in-demand illustrators right now, expect to see more work by Ricardo for V in the near future.

Miuccia Prada for Prada

Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen

Jil Sander

Frida Giannini for Gucci

Rei Kawakubo for Comme Des Garçons

Phoebe Philo for Celine

Additional promotional image by Ricardo for V Magazine:

Flashback: Julie Verhoeven's illustrations for Mel B - Word Up

I've written rather a lot about Julie's work on the blog of late, so this will probably be the last for a while. These were left out of a previous post, until I recently discovered more works from the project via V&A's archive, and felt compelled to post up.

Looong before I knew about her work, I was given a free promo cd-rom (yes... this was a long time ago, way back in '99) for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (no, it was not me who went to see it, I was 13). 

This was around the time that computers were only able to start coping with full screen video, BEFORE MOST OF US EVEN HAD PHONES!! The cd-rom included various music videos from the film's soundtrack.

This one stuck with me the moment I saw it and has always remained a personal favourite. I even love how the graphics have dated somewhat crudely. It wasn't until years later when my friend had purchased Julie's Gas book that I learned it was indeed her who was responsible for the storyboarding and dark sexual imagery.

While not necessarily referenced in Julie's main career highlights, the fact that a Spice Girl had such an alternative video (Mel G as she was known at the time was heavily preggers), coupled with the fact it's a translation of Julie's brilliant works and the impact the video itself had on me, means I'll always be a fanboy over it. It's a fascinating insight for any creative to see how the works have been translated into motion.

All of the illustrations featured here are either from the archives at the V&A or scans from the Tank book. Screengrabs direct from the video.

Mel G - Word Up

Storyboard Illustration: Julie Verhoeven

Director: W.I.Z

CGI: Pison and The Mill.