My top ten Fashion illustraters

René GRUAU

René GRUAU was born in Italy in 1909 of an aristocratic Italian father and a French mother, Marie GRUAU, whose name he took. He settled in Paris in 1924 and embarked on his career as a fashion illustrator. His earliest drawings were published in Italy, Germany and England. From 1935 to 1939, he worked with FEMINA, MARIE-CLAIRE, L’OFFICIEL, L’ALBUM DU FIGARO and other magazines. In 1946, he did his first job for INTERNATIONAL TEXTILES, whose covers he designed until 1984.In 1947, his friend Christian DIOR entrusted him with drawing the MISS DIOR advertisement and the famous Bar dress. the New Look was born.In 1948, he left for the United States to work for HARPER’S BAZAAR and VOGUE,before becoming the exclusive artist for FLAIR.In 1949, he devoted his time to advertising: ROUGE BAISER, LIDO, MOULIN ROUGE, BEMBERG, BLIZZAND.Between 1950 and present date, he has worked for the greatest names in Haute Couture: BALMAIN, FATH, BALENCIAGA, GIVENCHY, ROCHAS. whilst continuing to produce fashion drawings for ELLE, VOGUE, FRANCE, MADAME FIGARO and L’OFFICIEL DE LA COUTURE.

This illustration is one of the cabaret, Following in the footsteps of Toulouse-Lautrec in the 19th century, for forty years, René GRUAU was responsible for creating the image of the great cabaret shows of the 20th century

This pictures one lone cancan dancer she kicking her leg up an throwing her hair around giving the effect of the dance of the cancan there is not much of the dress she is wearing on show other than the under side of frills and there is all most a  trick of the eye in to believe there is undergarments on show, though rather sassy it still remains classy. A full figure is used and this gives movement to the page. Four colours are used for the hole illustration black for the legs, white for the frills of the dress, skin colour for face, yellow for hair and for the background a blood red giving more warmth an sex to the illustration. The figure is off  centre but with the leg kicking up puts the dress in the centre. The over all feel of the illustration is vibrant and sassy white the charisma of the cabaret  shows of Paris such as the Moulin Rouge. the illustration looks like it could be inks or paint.

 

David Downton

David Downton was born in Kent, in the south of England in 1959. He studied at Canterbury ( Foundation year 1977- 1978) and Wolverhampton (BA hons illustration/graphics 1979-1981). In 1984 he moved to Brighton and began his illustration career. For the next 12 years - a period he describes as 'wagging my tail when the phone rang' - he worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from advertising and packaging to illustrating fiction, cook books and, occasionally, fashion.

In 1996, the Financial Times commissioned him to draw at the couture shows and since then David has become known principally as a fashion illustrator. His reports from the shows have been seen internationally, in the US, China, Australia and the Middle East, as well as in almost every leading UK broadsheet and supplement.

David’s commercial client list includes: Tiffany & Co, Bloomingdales, Barney’s, Harrods, Top Shop, Chanel, Dior, L’Oreal, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, V Magazine and the V&A Museum. In 1998, he began working on a portfolio of portraits (from life) of some of the world’s most beautiful women, including Erin O’Connor, Paloma Picasso, Catherine Deneuve, Linda Evangelista, Carmen Dell'Orefice, Iman and Dita Von Teese.

In 2007, David launched Pourquoi Pas? the first ever journal of Fashion Illustration. He is a visiting Professor at London College of Fashion, and in April 2009 received an honory doctorate from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

The illustration that I have picked is a crop at the knee and forehead of one single female wearing a bell shaped yellow dress with a simple bow on the front. The colour of the dress is the same as the background so it is cleverly  drawn looks like it could be draw in inks and air brush. There is a use of four colours again with two skin colours , black and then the bright yellow dress and back ground.  The illustration is elegant yet bright it is very contemporary but conveys felinity and beauty.  The figure is the picture an it draws the eye to the garment. The Over all the composition brilliant and very interesting to look at.

 

Mats Gustafson

Mats Gustafson (Swedish, b. 1951) began his career as an illustrator in the late 1970s, a time when editorial illustration was eclipsed by photography, and watercolor as a conceptual medium had barely been explored. A graduate of Dramatiska Institutet (University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre) in Stockholm, he first applied his graphic sensibility to the art of stage design. This experience translated into illustration when he began publishing his work in eminent international fashion publications. The elegant and subtly expressive character of Gustafson's watercolor, pastel and cut-out paperworks expanded the possibilities of fashion illustration and nearly single-handedly reinvigorated
the genre.

Gustafson’s fashion and portrait illustrations have been included in editorial publications such as French and Italian Vogue, The New Yorker, and Visionaire, and he has created advertising art for Hermès, Tiffany & Co., Yohji Yamamoto, and Comme des Garçons. His work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group shows. Gustafson lives in New York.

The illustration I  have picked here is what looks like a water colour using three colures the back ground is an off white and then a darker cream for what looks like a shirt and then a darker blue teal for a hat and trouser. The figure has no real sex you cant tell really weather the person walking across the page is male or female though momodrome I believe it is a female. The figure is of centre and walking across the page off to the left the full figure can be seen. The illustration feels lite an  clean it is beautifully put together and really is a pleaser to look at simple yet inspiring. Showing a definite hat trousers and hat is all about the garments and the out line of the person. Fabulous.

 

Kenneth Paul block

kenneth Paul Block (July 26, 1924-April 23, 2009) was one of the foremost fashion illustrators of the 20th century. For nearly forty years, he was an in-house artist for Fairchild Publications, owner of Women's Wear Daily, the garment industry trade paper, and its offshoot, W magazine. As chief features artist, he helped transform the once-dowdy WWD into the bible of the jet set during the 1960s and 1970s. Babe Paley, Gloria Vanderbilt, Jacqueline de Ribes, Amanda Burden, The Duchess of Windsor, and Gloria Guinness were among the society women who posed for him.

Block’s incisive yet graceful brushstrokes captured the most important styles of the post-war era, including collections by Norman Norell, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Coco Chanel, James Galanos, Givenchy, Pauline Trigere, Bill Blass, Halston, and Geoffrey Beene. In the introduction to Drawing Fashion: The Art of Kenneth Paul Block, published in 2008, Isaac Mizrahi described Block’s influence: “More than any single designer, he gave New York fashion its sophistication. Because he drew Babe Paley and Jackie Kennedy a certain way, they became what he had envisioned.”

Growing up in Larchmont, New York in the 1930s, Block was enthralled by the glamorous film stars of the era and by the great fashion artists then working for Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. Dance and music also had an impact on his developing artistic style. In 1945, he graduated from the Parsons School of Design.

Block joined Fairchild Publications in the mid-1950s. Early assignments included sketching New York ladies on Easter Sunday as they exited churches in their holiday finery, hats and gloves included. As the gentility of the 1950s gave way to the anarchic sixties and beyond, he always kept pace, though he regretted the loss of dignity in fashion; he missed hats and gloves.

Concurrent with his editorial work, and for a dozen years after his career at Fairchild ended, Block created a prodigious portfolio of commercial fashion art, including drawings made during successive long-term contracts with three of New York’s best-known specialty stores — Bonwit Teller, Bergdorf Goodman, and Lord & Taylor. Other commercial clients included Halston, Perry Ellis, and Coach. When Diana Vreeland joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, she immediately turned to Block to draw the poster for her first exhibit, on Cristobal Balenciaga. He also created a drawing for Vreeland’s “American Women of Style” exhibit.

In  this illustration there are four figures all four are female and all four are of centre but still fill the page not one is completely front on and all are wearing different clothes it almost look like strangers passing in the street. There is a lot of miss match of opposite patens and colours the contrast is outrageous our thought miss match composition of the picture is really interesting and there seams to be two white girls and two darken skinned girls. There is a blue line running through the page an this also entertains the eye towards the back of the picture. There is no back ground just a white page. It looks like water colours and crayons where used to make this picture ant or though vibrant its had white a lonely feel to it as is said like people passing in the street.

 

Antonio lopez

Antonio Lopez (February 11, 1943 – March 17, 1987) was a fashion illustrator whose work appeared in such publications as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Interview and The New York Times. Several books collecting his illustrations have been published. In his obituary, the New York Times called him a "major fashion illustrator."He generally signed his works as "Antonio."

Antonio Lopez was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico. When he was seven years old, his family moved to New York City.^[His parents, Maria Luisa Cruz and Francisco Lopez influenced him to apply his artistic talents to fashion.^[ He attended the High School of Art and Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. While attending the F.I.T. he began an internship at Women's Wear Daily which led to him leaving school and working at the publication. Shortly afterward he left for a position at the New York Times.

Lopez worked in close collaboration with Juan Eugene Ramos. He also did illustrations of fashion designs by Charles James.

In 1969 he moved to Paris along with Ramos and was an associate of Karl Lagerfeld; he stayed there until the mid-1970s. Antonio discovered Jessica Lange in 1974.He discovered Jerry Hall and lived with her in Paris at the beginning of her modeling career.Lopez and Ramos also discovered Grace Jones and Tina Chow.

In additions to books of his fashion illustration, the book Antonio's Tales From the Thousand and One Nights was published in 1985.The book was the inspiration for Marc Jacobs' 2007 "Arabian Nights" event.

^{In this picture is have chosen to represent Antonio lopez there are three female figures all standing in a wardrobe or in front of one we can see garments that a hung in the wardrobe and shoes on the shelf by there heads. it give the idea that theses three girls are getting ready to go out picking what to wear two of the figures are in under wear an the other is fully clothed. there is a lot of bright colours used though they are very primary school. the comparison is beautiful and shows off the garments wonderfully in a normal situation. on of the figures is central and the other two are to either side though not all of the figures are straight on or looking towards the frount. the feel is feminine getting ready with the girls to go shopping pretty colours pretty clothes.}

 

 

Stina person

Stina person is an illustrator based in Stockholm  Sweden.

Her corporate clients are Coca-Cola,

 Absolut Vodka, Godiva Chocolatier, Sony Music, Blue Note Records, Atlantic Records, Macy’s Department Store, Bloomingdale’s, UNIQLO, American Eagle Outfitters, Volvo Japan, Björn Borg Clothing, DKNY, Face Boutique, Iben Høj Clothing, Target. 

And her editorial clines Vogue Nippon, Harper's Bazaar, Flaunt, Elle UK, Marie Claire, Madame, Madame Figaro, Nylon Magazine, Squint.

Stina person has lived, studied and worked in Tokyo, New York, Florence and Lund, Sweden, where she was born. She says her illustration style is basically about “finding the right balance between the edgy and the elegant the raw and the beautiful.” To achieve this, she uses ink, watercolor and gouache, as well as Mexican cut paper (used at ceremonies and festivals). Recent projects include the poster for the musical Billy Elliott, the cover for the magazine Flaunt and a summer campaign for Absolut. She is featured in Laird Borelli’s new book “Fashion Illustration Next”, Pao & Paw’s “Clin D’Oiel” as well as the Italian book “Fashionize” by Delicatessen.

In this illustration there is one female figure in the centre of the page she is wearing what looks like high top trainers, boy friend fit jeans with a jacket of some sort. The colours wash in to each other an look fabulous it this is obviously done with a mix of inks an what looks like a batik or wax to hold them in place. The feel of the picture is almost women’s power but under water. The colours give grate movement and sprit to the figure the blues and greens mixed with pink give a tom boy effect  the use of in is very clever as the colours mix you get the grate effect of shadows an creases in the fabric. There is no back ground as there colour mix its self is interesting enough.  

Cecilia carlstedt

Cecilia Carl­st­edt is a Fash­ion Illus­tra­tor from Stock­holm, Swe­den. Her work fea­tures mixes between ink, pen­cil and water­color tech­niques. The great use of blank/negative space in her works cre­ates a bal­ance that stim­u­lates the viewer’s imag­i­na­tion. Some of her clients are VH1,  Swarovski, H&M and  MTV.

Cecilia Carlstedt was born in Stockholm 1977. From an early age, illustration was always her medium of expression and what she wanted to do. Cecilia began her A-levels in formal studies in Art and Design in Stockholm, which was followed by a year of more theoretical studies of
Art History at the Stockholm University. Concurrently, she started freelancing as a fashion illustrator for magazines like Swedish Elle. In 1998 Cecilia was accepted into the Graphic Design Foundation course at London Collage of Communication which led to continuing doing a BA in the Graphic design / experimental image making. After finishing the degree she returned to Stockholm to begin working full time with illustration commissioned by a wide range of clients with focus on fashion. Currently Cecilia lives and works in between NY and Stockholm .

Cecilia’s clients include: Vogue, ELLE, NY Times, H&M, La Perla, Victoria Beckham, Absolute Vodka, Swarovski, Ricci Ricci, Sigerson Morison, Victoria Secret, Moncler, Weekdays, SAAB, Electrolux, The Marriott Hotels.

In this illustration there is one single women she is sitting down and the illustration is cropped just below the knee. The women is wearing a very seductive low cut v neck dress that must also have a slit ok the side as she is showing a lot of leg. There is no background and there is no chair or stall that the woman is sitting on. The woman her self is just in white an gray but the dress hair an hat look are coloured  it looks like am mix of media is used, as the dress gives the impression of inks where as the hair and lips are definitely collarge   its also looks like the illustration has been adapted by computer. The feel of the illustration is modern or sexy 50ys there is a vintage feel to how the woman is dressed but with a new age twist. Aslo the way she is sitting is very vintage pin up. The hole composition of the picture is interesting a si looks like its not finished to it lets your eye an mind fill in the last details.

 

 

 

Jerry senuin

artist jerry seguin, aka etsy seller redheather. jerry uses both hand and digital techniques, and uses a variety of materials including watercolors, pencil, he also has formal training in art and fashion, so it’s no wonder he can merge the two together so beautifully . he is from  Oakland, CA, United States and has been selling his work online for the passed two year from what I  can get information on. He is a reactively new illustrator and there is little information on him. I emailed him on jrseguin@gmail.com but had no reply.

Though he is well known for the illustrations that he has done for twining’s  tea these are all inks of women in beautiful dresses. This is how I frist descovered his work.

This is one of the  the ilutrations that is from the twinings tea adverts I have picked this because the ink work is really intresting. There is one women figer she is side on with her back bent she is center of the page . the ball gown is fitted at the top and long and puffy at the bottom. The back brownd looks like white was water colour. The comptiotion of the picture is simple but effective. The over all feel is pretty but bord it seams the figer is all dressed up but not having a good time.

 

 

Nabia flower

PUBLISHED / PRESS - The Beautiful Illustrations for Fashion and Style Gestalten Publishing, “Fashion Unfolding: Illustration” Victionary publishing, “Radical Patterns & Textures”
maomao Publications,Simply pattern Victionary publishing, Print and pattern Laurence King publishing, Semi Permanent, Curvy, Computer Arts, Digital Artist, Printmag, DPI magazine,
Cream magazine, Kinki magazine,

PUBLISHING / MAGAZINES -  Nylon, Marie Claire, Elle, Glamour, Ellegirl, Yen, Instyle, Company, Women and Home, Mindfoods, Amica, Rouge, Focuss Germany, Spirit and Destiny,
Waitrose, Onholiday, Dare, Hot, Midwives, Zest, Soho house, Daily Telegraph, Easy Living, Asda, Wellfit, Verve, Notebook, Headline publishing, Little black dress books, QI Annual,
Chicken house, Piatkus Books

ADVERTISING / DESIGN COMPANIES  -  Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saatchi, The TFF agency,TBWA Manchester, e-graphics, This is you agency, Stevewells design, Redactive media,
Begley Hutton design, AKA design, Elmwood design, Dresign Bridge limited, Die Kameradinnen Production, Fabdesign, Timothy Harris Design, Weatpaste, Tristram design,

FASHION - ASOS, Zoe and Morgan, Target, Fornarina, Bourjois, Vivien Sheriff, Kings of Neon, Seafolly, Ponds, ProductRed, Gap, Camaieu, Lovea,Kiltie, Manor, Redkin, IMG wallpapers,
Graniph, Lascivious, Glassons, , Mambo, Rubynz, Sportsgirl, David Jones, Vivien Sheriff, Katharine Hamnett, Jemsportswear,  Littleearth,  Lavoca, Meteor, Longina Phillips, Hurley

CLIENTS - Lily Allen BBC, GHD, Coca Cola, Borders, Boots, Ajax France, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, MVV-Secura,

team@illustrationweb.com
Agent: Illustration Ltd.
Agent: 020 7720 5202

in this illustration there is one female figure in the center of the page she is cropped at the knee. It mainly shows the coat that she is wearing. The figure is wearing a gray fur  coat it has three quarter sleeves and a belt around the waist. Blue and gray are the main colours used as well as black. This illustration has a very cold feeling the patterned back ground give a hint of ice and snow, This makes the coat stand out more  because its put in a situation wear it would be used.  This illustration  gives the idea of a beautiful ice queen it shows little but enough to let your imagination finish the rest of the image. This illustration looks like it has been draw on artist pens an then digitally enhanced.

 

 

Cedric rivrian

Gender

Male

Website

http://www.cedricrivrain.com/ http://cedricrivrain.tumblr.com/

Fashion illustrator and artist Cédric Rivrain lives in  Paris, Spending most of his youth at a boarding school in the center of France  near the convent where Coco Chanel grew up, Rivrain's first drawing was of his mother, a particularly stylish woman who introduced him to fashion. "She'd always bring my brother and I to Paris to go to Chanel or [Yves] Saint Laurent and she would ask for our advice. Fashion was always all around us." His mother can also be credited for his artistic use of makeup: he would "borrow" her shadows and powders to supplement his palette and still uses blush and nail polish to bring another dimension to his often uncanny drawings.

As his father was a doctor with an impressive collection of unusual medical paraphernalia (the artist's antique medical instruments were a gift from Dad), Rivrain had access to 18th-century anatomical diagrams. He learned the intricacies of the human form by drawing them with surgical precision. "It was always fascinating for me to understand the body." Now, when drawing the likes Sasha Pivovarova, Olympia Le-Tan and his favorite muse, jewelry designer Yaz Bukey, whose Plexiglas Andy Warhol necklace hangs from a chair in his living room, Rivrain needs only to glance at them before sketching their bodies in ethereal poses. "Since I learned the body and how it articulates, I know how it's going to move," he explains.

Rivrain's fashion illustrations, like images of Pivovarova in Balenciaga and Prada, with captivating nudes and chilling crying contraptions. "I don't want to differentiate between my art and fashion drawings. I just want to feel free," he says, adding that, "I think fashion illustration brings some poetry back to the commercial fashion world. It's something authentic. Fashion [images] are all so digital now and with illustration, you know there's a human behind it." Needless to say, Rivrain's book is not lacking in authenticity.

In this illustration I have picked there is one female figure she is sitting down with a swan in-between her legs the picture is side on an the figure has no top on but a skirt with small flowers on it she also has high heels , a head dress of feathers and flowers and is holding a necklace round the swans neck. The picture is side on an land scape so the figure is just about fitting in. the hole feel of the picture is feminine and pretty or though there is no top.  pinks and other pastel colour’s are used on a cream almost nutmeg back grownd. It is simperly beautiful.