2. What? Fashion Illustration is the communication of fashion that originates with illustration, drawing and painting. The illustrations are usually more stylised than a traditional portrait.
3. Fashion Illustrators today work in a wider variety of modes than ever before. There are 3 categories for the artists of fashion illustration. These are The Sensualists, Gamines and Sophisticates and the Technocrats
4. Senualists Sensualists are classified as being strong and silent. They work in the fine arts tradition with paint, textures, ink, colour,, woodblocks and stencils. E.g. Ruben Toledo
5. Technocrats The Technocrats are those who employ digital means in the creation of their images. Technocrats draw but do not finish off with illustration. They digitally transform the illustrations and work towards the end computer generated product. E.g. Jason Brooks
6. Gamines and Sophisticates Gamines and Sophisticates generate imaginary worlds inhibited by flamboyant personalities. Their work is fugitive and utilizes the elements of caricature and cartooning to formulate the characters. They are playful and by making whimsical reference to older forms of fashion illustration in their work, both undermine and renew the field. E.g. Jordi la Banda
7. Where? Fashion Illustration is usually commissioned for reproduction in fashion magazines, as part of an editorial feature.
9. And for the purpose of promoting fashion makers, fashion boutiques and department stores.
10. Why? The work of fashion illustrators is both descriptive and expressive. A fashion illustrator's drawing conveys more than simply the appearance of a model and the apparel she wears. These artists stylize a great deal to achieve the effects they seek, exaggerating some aspects of the clothing and figure and diminishing the significance of others. It is the personality or character of the look that is the subject of most fashion illustration. Because fashion illustrators can often communicate the personality of clothes or of a designer in a more personal and particular way than can photography, they are essential participants in the fashion industry.
