RENE GRUAU

Rene Gruau, master of fashion illustration was born in Italy in 1909 of an aristocraic Italian father and a French mother, Marie Gauau, whose name he took. He settled in Paris in 1924 and embarked on his career as a fashion illustrator. His earliest drawing were published in Italy, Germany and England.

While in his young teen years, he managed to sell some of his fashion sketches to magazines in France, Germany and Italy in 1923. He there upon took the maiden name of his artist mother, Gruau, and reinvented himself as Rene Gruau. His mother introduced him to painters and fashion magazine editors who encouraged him to pursue his craft. At the age of 15, he already had a promising career as a fashion illustrator awaiting him.

During the post-war period, he reached the summit of his career as he worked with the most brilliant fashion designers such as Dior, Givenchy and Lanvin, and high class music-halls such as the Moulin Rouge and the Lido - clients whom he continued to work with later on. He also designed costumes and sets for the ballet. By 1940 his drawings appeared in Marie Clarie, Femina and L’Officiel. In 1948, he left for the United States to work for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, before becoming the exclusive artist for Flair.

His art is characterised by his fluid, expressive, and seemingly effortless lines, and by his ability to distill his subjects to their essence for maximum effect - a mouth, a coiffure, a gesture, the structure of a garment is each described so convincingly, and with such graceful economy of means.

Later in his career, he devoted himself to the promotion of fashion accessories, for example, perfumes. He also worked with cosmetic houses, fabric manufacturers, and ready to wear clothing couturiers. Then in 1956, with his posters for Moulin Rouge and Lito, He would storm the Paris fashion scene with his most well known advertisement campaigns, created for Schu-Schu perfume by Schuberth and Bemberg’s fabric manufacturers. A fashion innovator definitely worth commemorating, Gruau’s fashion ascendancy and augmentations can still be seen all over the world.

CEDRIC RIVRAIN

Cedric Rivrain is a famous fashion illustrator and artist from Paris. He has been drawing since the age of 18 and has illustrated and designed for prestigious fashion houses including John Galliano, Martine Sitbon and Yazbukey.

He spent most of his youth at a boarding school in the centre of France, his first drawing was of his mother, a particularly stylish woman who introduced him to fashion. 

His first illustration was actually a double spread for Dazed and confused. Her friend, Yaz Bukey, the jewellery and accessories designer, was offered this double spread to express herself. She liked his personal drawings and thought it would be a more poetic way to introduce herself to have drawing of her fantasy world. That is how he started.

The significance the anatomical plays for him can be seen in the band-aids adorning some of his subjects, it’s all that is covering their bodies of faces, as he nudes over designer clothing. Through bandage and dissection he distances himself from fashion to uncover its inherent beauty. Like most of his work, the book’s illustrations largely grow out of his childhood fascinations- cartoons, anatomy, and, of course, eyes.

Now the focus of his work, he has dedicated much of the book to eyes- specifically, mechanical eyes. He said drawings were better when you find the perfect emotion in the eyes could give emotion. His work is drop dead gorgeous and the way he draws jewellery and shoes is absolutely beautiful. 

The book combines his fashion illustrations, like images of Pivovarova in Balenciaga and Prada, with captivating nudes and chilling crying contraptions. And he think fashion illustration brings some poetry back to the commercial fashion world. It was something authentic and fashion images are all so digital now and with illustration. Rivrain’s book is not lacking in authenticity.

NADIA FLOWER

Nadia Flower is a mixed-media contemporary artist who creates art for clients all over the world. She works with both hand-drawn and digital patterns and paintings which was from excellent fine art painting to textiles, fashion and costumes, also neat illustration for the perspective and advertise markets. Nadia is inspired by her surroundings, a love of Tokyo, and all things kawaii. Her clients include Lily Allen, Nylon Magazine, Coca-Cola UK and Saatchi AUS.

She has always been a drawer since she was very young and really never thought of being anything else but an artist of some sort. She studied a Bachelor degree of Fine Arts majoring in design from Elam University in New Zealand. After that she wet to London to pursue her dream Fashion designer. From then she started doing illustrations and she most probably liked to work with Fashion Industry only. She offers her creativity to clients all around the world incorporating vector work, watercolour and even type design. she has appeared in group exhibitions and book publications in Australia, Tokyo and the United States. Her work is gentle and fragile, but graphically powerful. Her illustrations are a mix of pastels, watercolours and girly girl fashion.

Nadia created her delicate graphical illustration for Bourjois’s advertising campaign 2010. Those designs were commissioned by surprise agency Talents Only in Paris, France. Elegant illustration made by her was found in magazines of 2010 and also displayed for sales in some shops. Her design for Bourjois’s advertise was really appreciated. Her recently completed work is for ASOS in which she illustrated a variety of perfume bottles and her interpretation of their scents emerging from the bottles. She was given complete freedom which allowed to express her creative talents to the fullest. 

Nadia’s Portfolio Pictures are completely line, graphic, attractive, animals, mode, cosmetics, landscape, and romanticism. Her illustrations are very smooth and sharp.

THIRI YADANAR@TIFFANY 

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SOPHIE GRIOTTO

Sophie Griotto is a fashion illustrator from French who has some very unique illustrations in her portfolio. With a style that mixes fashion illustration and trends, Griootto works freelance on advertising campaigns and frequently illustrates the pages of fashion magazine and sites. 

She attended the school of visual arts when she turned 5years old, and the School of Applied Arts in France where she developed her graphic commutation skills. Since i was a child, she started attending art classes and she wanted to become a painter. She started drawing and painting before she could even write. In 1998, she started working for a parisienne art agency whose budget was primarily focused on beauty and luxury, then she found herself working as a story boarder which involved putting ideas on paper for ad campaigns. Because of this job, she became a fashion illustrator and in 5 years time she had mastered how to draw women from different angles and in different situations. 

She works with more traditional tools like inks and pencils but also with her tablet graphic Wacom. And she works on an illustration much like a fashion designer: mood boards, sketches, selection of fabrics, creation of styles. Most brands she work with use photography, and with these clients her style is rather realistic. She work for Swatch Jewels resonated internationally. Since 2008, she showcased her digraphic canvas at the Galleries Lafayette Maison in Paris. She worked for Dior, Clarins, Wolkswagen, Elle Magazine, Shiseido. She also illustrated a style book “Cultive ton look” and Katie Fforde’s  cover books. 

She loves her job because her art can be applied in different fields, and this is the beauty of it. She enjoy her French touch and great sense of fashion a lot.

BY 

THIRI YADANAR @TIFFANY 

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Stina Persson

Stina Persson is a fashion illustrator who’s known for her ability in using watercolours, ink and gouache and creating amazing works of art for popular magazines and brands like Absolut Vodka, Godiva Chocolatier, UNIQLO, DKNY, American Eagle Outfitters, Vogue Nippon, etc. She was born in Sweden in 1972, and has lived and studied in Tokyo, Florence and New York. Today, she lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.

She has always loved making things, from muffins to art work to ceramics. Then it comes naturally to look at other people’s creations. Her favourite subject to illustrate is faces, women, and letters. And lately more and more organic shapes and patterns. When she was little, she used to draw girls with intricate hats, big smiles and colourful dresses. 

Her fields of work have included literally everything, from skateboard design to shrimp salad packaging and interesting Japanese and New York-based fine art projects.Her incredible watercolour paintings from the collection called perfectly flawed were inspired by getting off of the computer and being less than perfect but really I think that she has achieved a higher level of perfection in her newest collection. Something that you can only find in work completely done by hand, and kept away from the coldness and digital rendering of a computer. Her work is mesmerising and amazingly influenced by the timelessness of the fashion from 60’s and 70’s. When working with ink, she like to use wooden sticks that she pick up from the ground to draw with as they seem to make an interesting line. For colour, she use Doctor Martin’s transparent dyes, acrylics or paper collage.

She likes the beautiful things, the pretty patterns and the creative people. But the sad, anorexic girls, the snobbism and the conglomerate fashion houses she can do without. The goal with her work is making the ugly prettier and the beautiful a little edgier.

By,

Thiri Yadanar@Tiffany 

Petra Dufkova

Petra Dufkova was born in Uherske Hradiste, Czech Republic, Petra initially studied art at technical school for applied arts.She moved to Munich, Germany and in 2008, graduatedfrom the International Fashion School Esmond, with a Pret-a-porter collection.During her education at Esmond, she participated in numerous projects and contests, including winning Best Illustration award with her collection at China Fashion Week. 

Petra's fashion, beauty and lifestyle illustrations combine traditional methods, with a modern look. She gets her inspiration from books, magazines, exhibitions and fashion shows. Petra currently works as a freelance illustrator, stylist and fashion designer in Munich, Germany. What I love about her technique is that her lines are so perfected, almost as if they had been created using a program. This makes her work look so crisp and modern, which is exactly why her main focus is on the edgy world of fashion illustration. However, her pieces are almost too good to feature in the 'throw-away' context of magazines. Hailing from the Czech Republic, illustrator Petra Dufkova’s use of watercolour gives a romantic contrast to the sharp lines favoured in her sketches. Not typecasting her subject to the female form, Dufkova looks to everyone and everywhere for her inspiration, including the past. A favourite is her portrait of Audrey Hepburn; so accurate in her execution it almost seems life-like.

 

Her moodier work based around taupe, beige and dark grey showcase her artistic versatility; too many illustrators focus on the lighter side of life. Her black on white illustrations portray the darker, more emotional. The series that focuses on facial portraits and palm trees reminds me of the under-side of Hollywood, the un-publicised, shadier side of celebrity.

BY  

THIRI YADANAR@TIFFANY

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Sarah Hankinson, Australia-based illustrator from Melbourne is one of the best illustrator nowadays. She lives in St Kilda and illustrate from a studio in Windsor.

She captures the pulse of modern style with her classic illustrations, which pair soft splashes of colours and meticulous line work to portray control and impulse, form and silhouette. Sarah’s illustration style is elegant, youthful, and strongly fashion orientated, many of her pieces focusing on the female form and made up from a variety of mediums including inks, charcoal, pencils, cut paper and fabrics. Some of Sarah’s clients include Harper’s Bazaar Magazine, Maybelline New York- Austraila and US Target. In 2012 Sarah co-founded The Windsor Workshop a co-working studio space in Melbourne’s South and is also half of creative services agency Santiago Sunbird.Her first published illustration was in Girlfriend Magazine and  she treated each illustration job as a path to gain exposure therefore more work. She love fashion and follow many models so it was natural for her to draw this kind of imagery and progress her career on this path. Sarah’s work is a combination of traditional handmade and digital collage. Inspired by her travels and an avid collector of random ephemera, she finds and stores interesting bits of old paper, maps, photographs and various objects, which have all become strong elements in her work. For every new project she has a unique sift through the many random piles, sketchbooks and pads that have accumulated around her studio selecting suitable elements as she goes. Well known at art school for her numerous layered and collaged sketch books, Sarah still, continually collects and documents new and inspiring collage material/ephemera in this way.

And her words of wisdom for other freelance illustrator is

        "Work hard! Don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t happen straight away it takes time and commitment. If you are passionate you can make it happen".