Spring 2009 Fashion week

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

interesting illustration by David Downton

These are covers for the bi-monthly Korean magazine, Shinsegae style.

these illustrations are David Downton's recent works. i was really interesting to me.

Shinsegae is one of top luxuriour department store in Korea. they usually make monthly magazines to offer their target customers. it is like Neiman Marcus's monthly magazines.

his works were used for the magazine's covers...it's really interesting to me...

my favorite illustrations by David Downton

when i see David Downton's illustration at first, i felt it is similar with Gladys Perint Palmers.

Both of them have similar work methods. i just feel David Downton's illustrations are more sharp and clear than Gladys. both were usually using ink on paper. they would like to use pastel and water color to apply color on their drawings. David and Gladys are creating a movement and demention with vivid color scheme and fluid lines and so on. both illustrator are really focusing on simplicity, but both are giving an important point in their drawing and emphasize that enough in their drawing. i think there are no more ways to explain or represent fashion or runway examples. i can read trends and important or key factors in their drawing. in portrait and runway examples have really clear identity or profile in David and Gladys illustrations.

David Downton's history or timeline of illustrations

David Downton's illustrations from 1999 to 2007

from left top to right bottom...

in 1999, he mainly used water color on paper and he also used with pastel, ink or pencil.

in 2000, ink is mainly used in his drawing and gouache also used for drawing on paper. and he also started to use acetate overlay. he used water color and pastel.

in 2007, he used water color and ink with charcoal.

some interview information about details in his works

Lets talk about your work methods. How do you arrive at the elimination of detail?

For me this is the hardest and the most interesting thing. In order to leave something out, first you have to put it in, or at least understand how every thing works. I do dozens of drawings on to layout paper taking the best from each one as I go. When the drawing looks right I start to eliminate, to de-construct if you like. I keep working until it looks spontaneous.

What methods do you use to apply colour?

It depends on the result I want to achieve and what is most appropriate to the subject. I use watercolour or gouache for small scale pieces. If I need flat saturated colour I use cut paper collage and then apply line using an acetate overlay.

What about the pure line drawing?

I use black Indian ink on acetate or paper.

from http://www.daviddownton.com/

Gladys Perint Palmer

[Biography]
Gladys Perint Palmer
Gladys Perint Palmer studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London, under the guidance of illustrator Elizabeth Suter. She continued on to the Parsons School of Design in New York where she focused on Fashion Illustration and in the early 80s’ was appointed Fashion Editor of the San Francisco Examiner.
Born in Budapest, Hungary she now lives in San Rafael, California with her husband, the writer and Opera Producer Simon Palmer.
She is an esteemed illustrator, writer and tutor and is the Executive Director of Fashion at San Francisco’s Academy of Art. In honour of her achievements Mayor Gavin Newsom dedicated May 24th 2006 to be Gladys Perint Palmer day in San Francisco. Covering the European Fashion collections her reports feature in top publications including, The Sunday Times, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Russian L’Officiel and Vogue as well as contributing to Elle and Espresso Piu for Anna Piaggi. Advertising clients have included Oscar de la Renta, Dior, Valentino and Chanel as well as Neiman-Marcus and the Metropolitan Museum.
Perint-Palmer has exhibited internationally in New York, San Francisco, Milan, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong and London, including the Picture This exhibition at St. Martins’s school of Art, London (2005).
In 1998 the Fashion Book, published by Phaidon Press, named her one of 500 people of influence in fashion since 1860. Assouline published her book of drawings and captions, Fashion People, in 2003 and she is working on her next book.

David Downton

[Biography]
David Downton
David Downton has attended Paris Haute Couture shows for more than a decade. His illustrations chart both the back stage and front of house of the couture world. His portfolio includes portraits of models Erin O’Connor, Lily Cole, Linda Evangelista and Carmen.
His reports have appeared in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Saturday Telegraph, Harpers Bazaar (Australia) and The Independent as well as Visionaire and Vogue and he was commissioned to create an illustrated couture portfolio for Vogue China.
Commercial clients include Tiffany's New York, SAKS 5th Avenue, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Burberry, and the British Fashion Council. His work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Conningsby Gallery, London (1998 and 1999) and at the Couture Voyeur show at London College of Fashions Fashion Space Gallery (2006). Downton has also collaborated with supermodel Erin O’Connor on a number of occasions including shows at the Rootstein Gallery, New York (2002) and at the Joyce Ma Gallery, Palais Royal, Paris (2003).
In 2006 he was commissioned by Brown’s to design the Christmas window display and invitation for their South Moulton Street store. His work has featured on the front cover of a special edition of Jane Austen's Emma, produced by the Daily Telegraph†and on the cover of Cally Blackman’s 100 Years of Fashion Illustration (2007).