Downtime

Earlier this evening I went to a lecture by the person I deem Fashion's most pre-eminent illustrator, David Downton. It was a great lecture for his new book, Masters of Fashion Illustration, and it was inspiring to hear about him and his experiences as a working illustrator. I've had a fire lit under me to do more real, finished pieces, and this just furthered it. It also helped to chat with a few fashion illustration aficionados after the lecture, including Robert Richards (who handed me a postcard for his new show next week, and excused himself to go back to feverishly finishing up more drawings), my friend Dan Romer and a few other acquaintances. Anyhow, Downton's work is something of a cross between Rene Gruau and the artist who used to do all those wonderful Lord & Taylor ads back in the 80s and early 90s. He talked about how some of his favorite artists had a very graphic sense of designing their illustrations. I took note of that

Being a graphic designer myself, I often don't draw things with a designed layout in mind - it's almost like a separate section of my brain that I refuse to let kick in for my drawings. Maybe in my head, that's work, and drawing is just me. Most of my illustration work lately has been to further my technique - I really seldom care about finished pieces, only that I can actually draw something I set my mind on. It didn't used to be like that, as when I was younger I composed my pieces very carefully, but I usually draw now just for the sake of the drawing, not necessarily for a finished piece. I realized this has to change.