This book gives a solid grounding in all aspects of fashion illustration, but it is only a guide to help you on your journey. Sometimes embarking on that journey is the hardest part. Creating something new from scratch is a daunting prospect for any artist. This chapter will help you ensure that your portfolio stands out from the crowd. You will discover how to find inspiration and how to use it.

Discovering sources of inspiration

American painter George Bellows (1882–1925) once stated, “The artist is the person who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably, in the best sense, more wonderful.” This is a tall order for the artist. With such expectations you are not alone if you feel daunted by the prospect of creating artwork, and not the only one who finds It hard to know where to begin. To help you to discover a starting point, this chapter reveals how to find inspiration, how to make visual use of the world around you, and how to apply your observations in creating innovative fashion illustrations, designs, and artwork.

Where exactly do you look for inspiration? As British designer Sir Paul Smith says: “You can find inspiration in everything ... and if you can’t, you’re not looking properly—so look again.” This is good advice. Inspiration for creative artwork is everywhere. Begin by wandering around your home, looking at it with fresh eyes. You will be surprised how mundane, everyday objects suddenly have new meaning and potential. The old wallpaper in the sitting room could be a good background for an illustration, or a photograph of your sister may supply the perfect fashion figure silhouette for a template. The illustration on the facing page has a background directly inspired by old-fashioned wallpaper.

When you open your eyes to the world you will discover that it is overflowing with potential to trigger your imagination. Don’t be put off if you find that your ideas already exist somewhere else. The truth is that few ideas are entirely new; as Pablo Picasso said: “Everything you can imagine is real.” However, when you bring to the idea your own personal response, you provide an original interpretation.

Like all artists, designers and illustrators look for sources of inspiration to develop their work and focus on absorbing new ideas all the time. Read a variety of books and magazines, familiarizing yourself with interior trends, music, and lifestyle editorials, as well as fashion. Theatrical costume and set design can also stimulate interesting ideas. Never be without a camera or sketchbook to capture and record inspirational scenes, objects, or people.

Experiencing other environments through travel stimulates creative imagination and need not involve the expense of going overseas. If you live in the city, visit the countryside, and vice versa. If you are lucky enough to travel overseas, visit local markets and communities, observe traditional costumes and everyday clothing, eat new foods, and recognize cultural differences. By embracing the experience, you will come away from your trip with a wealth of inspiration.

Taking photographs of, or sketching, people you see in the street gives you a rewarding variety of figures and stances for your illustrations. This girl in a busy Paris street stood out because of her brightly colored umbrella and co-ordinating outfit. The image provides an ideal starting point for a fashion illustration.

Vincent Bakkum has created a unique illustration by focusing on many elements of the composition. The background is made up of a pencil sketch inspired by wallpaper. The floating blue bottle draws in the observer, and the model is wearing a painted headscarf that flows across the page like a brushstroke. The artist has used a subtle color palette to create a tranquil mood. Few artists can produce creative ideas without a knowledge base gained from magazines, books, advertisements, and a wide variety of sources. Keep up to date with the latest trends and open your mind to new sources of inspiration.

Keep up to date with the news and world events, television, and film releases. Monitor changes and behavioral shifts in big cities around the world, watching for new trends in cities such as New York, London, Tokyo, Paris, and Copenhagen. For example, how might you apply the trend for knitting cafés in New York or permanent spray cosmetics (whereby colors are applied permanently like a tattoo) in Tokyo to your artwork? And never underestimate the importance of visiting galleries and museums. No matter how seemingly irrelevant to fashion contemporary art exhibitions might sometimes seem, it is worth visiting them. Often the exhibition you least expect to enjoy delivers the most inspiring results.

In museums, too, a wealth of inspiring artifacts and memorabilia awaits your artistic interpretation. Nostalgia for the past will always captivate us. In fashion, for example, today’s garments date quickly yet bygone eras are always a source of inspiration. Every decade sees a revival of the style of a past decade. It seems that it is second nature for us to draw from the past to illustrate the future.

Beach huts seen on an Australian beach have added interesting accents of color to the dramatic shoreline. This scene could be used in a fashion illustration, or it could be that the colors inspire future artwork.

A building’s interior structure can be as much a source of inspiration as that of the exterior. Interesting lines for fashion design or illustration can be seen in the timber structure of this wooden roof.

As an artist, designer, or illustrator you are always open to visual stimulation in your normal day-to-day life. Even a trip to the supermarket can awaken new ideas as you look at the variety of vibrant packaging on the shelves. Your journey home might take you past architecture, landscape or gardens whose intriguing shapes and textures trigger your imagination. Your thoughts might be awakened by listening to compelling music, an image in a magazine might inspire a new idea, an absorbing television documentary might activate your creative energy, or a favorite poem conjure up engaging imagery. This type of inspiration is all around you waiting to be discovered.

Collecting inspirational items

Artists are invariably avid collectors of what to the uninitiated eye looks like junk. Accumulating anything and everything of interest is a fascinating way to build an ideas-bank for future design or artwork. Keep everything that captures your imagination, as you never know when it might be useful in the future. Arguments about the amount of clutter you possess might occur with those who share your home, but stand your ground! This clutter could one day make you a famous artist—think Tracy Emin’s My Bed. Art materials, unusual papers, wrapping, packaging, and scraps of fabric are worth storing as you may well be able to utilize them in your artwork. In Chapter Three you will find the work of Peter Clark, who uses found papers, such as maps and cigarette packets, to create delightful collaged fashion illustrations.

People collect all sorts of unusual items, either because they get pleasure from looking at them or because they can see creative potential in them. Many illustrators look for interesting stamps, cigarette cards, key rings, handbags, film memorabilia, calendars, buttons, and so on in garage sales, flea markets, and thrift stores. They then put their own original slant on the ideas generated by their collections. The trained eye can spot artistic potential in almost anything. A collection of bangles right, for example, makes a marvelous starting point for a fashion illustration. Look closely at the colors, shapes, and details, and see how they have been incorporated into the accompanying fashion illustration.

Books form a particularly useful collection, providing a constant and varied source of inspiration. The further reading guide on pages 228–30 gives a list of fashion and fashion illustration titles worth finding. But remember that books on all sorts of other subjects might spark ideas, too. Look in second-hand bookstores for older, out-of-print titles as well as keeping up to date with new titles, broadening your collection so that it offers an ever-expanding variety of ideas. Collecting books is costly so it is worth becoming familiar with your local library. Just browsing through the shelves in a peaceful environment can be a stimulating process. If you take a sketchbook along, you could even practice making some observational figure drawings while you are choosing which book to borrow.

A trained eye can spot artistic potential in almost anything. Look closely at the colors, shapes, and details of these rows of brightly colored bangles, and see how they inspire the background for the fashion illustration by Gilly Lovegrove above. The striped clothing also reflects the brightly colored rows.

Invest in other forms of printed media, too, such as magazines, journals, and postcards. As magazines are printed more regularly than books their content is usually “of the moment.” Such up-to-date images can inform and inspire your artwork. Postcards from galleries can also be an economical way of taking home a little piece of inspiration, particularly if you can’t afford an exhibition catalog. Many artists have boxes of postcards saved from a lifetime of visiting exhibitions that they use repeatedly as inspirational references for fashion illustration.

Maintaining a lively interest in the world is vital for the fashion illustrator, who must combine keen observational skills with creative interpretation.

This fashion illustration by Gilly Lovegrove has been created in a monotone palette to reflect the black-and-white photograph of a Giorgio Armani dress. The floral design of the fabric is instrumental to the artwork.

Visit as many exhibitions as possible because you never know which one might provide valuable inspiration. If the exhibition catalog is too costly for you, buy postcards of your favorite images. This postcard was bought at the Royal Academy of Arts, in London, during the exhibition Giorgio Armani: A Retrospective.

Researching themes

There is no doubt that one of the most daunting aspects of creativity for the artist is being faced with a blank page. The prospect of plucking new ideas out of thin air and arriving at an original artistic solution can be unnerving. This is why it is important to develop a knowledge base from which creative ideas can grow.

Albert Einstein said that “imagination is more important than knowledge.” However, before most artists can begin to produce artwork from their imagination they need to establish the knowledge base from which they will work. The simplest starting point for this is to select a theme to investigate and develop. This can be anything that interests you, from an antique Japanese silk fan to graffiti art on train station walls—the range of inspirational resources in the world is endless. With so much to stimulate your imagination, it is easy to become indecisive. The key is to be selective, only choosing themes that truly inspire you. Your chosen theme must continue to hold your attention while you explore its creative elements.

A good starting point in the investigative process is to form a list of words that are associated with the theme. This is known as “mind-mapping” or “brainstorming.” A butterfly theme is explored (facing page) by listing the words that spring to mind while concentrating on the image, or idea, of a butterfly. The words create a number of research avenues to follow, the initial subject of a butterfly having a wealth of associations, with almost every word capable of inspiring a new investigation.

The images below show how a theme can also be investigated artistically. Notice how the butterflies have been used to create repeat patterns. The textures of their wings and the symmetrical patterns across them have been represented through painting and drawing. Color studies have been made of many butterfly varieties. The popularity of the butterfly as decoration in fashion has also been emphasized. This exploration shows how a butterfly theme can be used to inspire fashion designers as well as the fashion illustrators who illustrate their garments.

Four studies investigating the butterfly as a theme show different media, including collage, painting, drawing, and cut-outs from magazines, mounted onto handmade paper. The images demonstrate a visual exploration of the butterfly theme, revealing its diversity as a research direction.

This mind-map shows a selection of words linked to a butterfly theme. A pattern of words produced in this way can inspire many ideas for fashion illustrations.

The role of the imagination is as significant as that of knowledge. Once inspiration is found, research material collected, and a theme established, the illustrator conceives a wealth of imaginative ideas. This illustration by Jacqueline Nsirim has been created using a mix of traditional drawing techniques for the figure and Photoshop collage to add the butterflies.

Working sketchbook

A sketchbook is a visual notebook or diary. It is a personal response to the world and can assume many different guises, varying from being a portable scrapbook in which to collect interesting pieces of fabric or pictorial references, to a book of observational drawings and ideas. All may, one day, provide that essential spark of inspiration. A sketchbook provides you with the opportunity to practice design, drawing, and illustration skills at any time and in any place. You can develop figure studies by sketching the people you see at a local park, or on a train, or even by sitting on a bench downtown and drawing the shoppers. Sketching scenery, such as interesting architecture, also helps to create ideas for illustration backgrounds.

Most artists keep sketchbooks in which they experiment with ideas and collect insightful imagery. Picasso is said to have produced 178 sketchbooks in his lifetime. He often used his sketchbooks to explore themes and make compositional studies until he found the subject and concept for a larger painting on canvas. Like Picasso, you will have numerous sketchbooks throughout your education and career. Some you will use for researching specific themes while others become constant companions for recording ideas that will provide future inspiration.

Producing useful working sketchbooks is an essential part of an art student’s development. Academic design and illustration briefs often request a sketchbook containing appropriate research to be submitted for assessment. Ideally, the sketchbook presents an explorative journey around a chosen subject area.

A working sketchbook should be impulsive, experimental, and in constant use, becoming an accumulation of ideas and research from which to draw inspiration for design and illustration. Sadly, this advice is frequently ignored and sketchbooks are produced whose clean pages are decorated with neat cuttings, ordered sketches, and unused material from presentation boards. Generally this method of working results in tedious sketchbooks of carefully planned pages, often with Post-it notes acting as a reminder to fill blank pages. By organizing a sketchbook into a precious album in which the artist arranges experimental work at the end of a project, creative spontaneity is often lost. The sketchbook then becomes a useless tool rather than a rich resource for imaginative artwork.

The “Cold Winter” sketchbook research (opposite) was created by fashion illustrator Cecilia Carlstedt. The page shows various illustrative techniques that became the initial inspiration for a series of commissioned fashion illustrations. Carlstedt uses graphite pencils to draw out ideas for her fashion figures directly onto the sketchbook page. The themes of snow and cold weather are reflected in paper cut-outs and digitally manipulated patterns. The colors that Carlstedt has chosen also guide the viewer to feel the seasonal cold weather. When working as an illustrator for a fashion designer, differentiating between the seasons is vital. A brightly colored, sunny illustration would not be the best advertisement for a collection of winter coats, for example. This sketchbook page sets the scene for further inspirational illustration or design work and can be referred to time and time again.

The best way to begin creating a useful sketchbook is to gather research material from a variety of sources. This can include any or all of the following:

• observational drawing
• painted visual studies
• color studies
• photographs
• collage
• relevant imagery, for example from magazine cut-outs
• fabric swatches
• found objects
• internet research
• exhibition information
• artist/designer references
• postcards
• historical references (text or visual)
• personal recollections

Research for a “snow” theme has been collated in Cecilia Carlstedt’s sketchbook. She has used a mixture of different media to build up the page, creating paper, cut-out snowflakes, painted and printed snow, and sketches of garments and models in various poses. The artwork has been mounted into her sketchbook for easy reference and keeps a cool, snowy color palette appropriate to the theme. This collection of research will provide Carlstedt with inspiration for future fashion illustrations.

When you have found an inspirational theme that interests you, explore it further to discover your own personal artistic response. For example, look closely at the patterns, textures, shapes, and colors in an image that you find appealing, then experiment by reproducing and interpreting them using a variety of media and techniques in a sketchbook. Sketchbooks are available in a variety of sizes. Some are small enough to fit into your pocket for convenient location drawing, while the bigger ones can be used for larger-scale artwork. The paper used in most sketchbooks is a good-quality white cartridge paper, but you can also choose brown or black paper, or paper for a specific medium such as watercolor or pastels.

Buy a durable sketchbook with a hard back and strong binding. Investing in sketchbooks that will last a lifetime is worth it—in years to come your visual studies might inspire you to produce new work. Keeping sketchbooks also gives you the pleasure of looking back through them to see how your skills have progressed.

Here, graduate fashion designer Craig Fellows lets us into his working sketchbook to see how some chickens on a farm ended up becoming the inspiration for a beautiful hand-printed womenswear collection. Fellows’ sketchbook pages show how he developed a range of prints using his ink sketch of a chicken as a starting point. He added quirky phrases and text that have since become his trademark. Fellows experimented with color digitally before adding his most successful prints into his sketchbook as a reference point for future design. He also scanned his newly printed fabrics into Adobe Photoshop to create a clever digital presentation board for his portfolio. Again, documenting this style as a point of reference in his sketchbook. Fellows’ working books provide a wealth of information that would enthuse anybody who views them. Most importantly, they are a constant source of ideas for his own career as a fashion designer.

Moving forward in his research Craig records his textile print ideas in his sketchbook. He documents some of his accessories (above right) by adding photographs and print examples to the pages. Craig continually builds records of his ideas in this book which will provide a valuable source of inspiration for his career as a fashion and textile designer.

An unusual starting point for a fashion collection, graduate designer Craig Fellows researches chickens in his sketchbook. He has taken photographs and mounted them to build a new picture. He has drawn the chickens and given them their own unique characters, and added some of his own humor by experimenting with text.

As a designer it is a good idea to record fabric and trim costs and availability. You never know when you may need a similar button or a particular shade of fabric again in the future. Craig Fellows makes notes on everything linked to his collection in his sketchbook. His design sketches are also included alongside the photographs of the finished garments and printed textiles.

From inspiration to illustration

In 2004 Danish knitwear designer Iben Høj (www.ibenhoej.com) decided she wanted to do something different to promote her fashion collection. What she didn’t realize back then was that her simple mail-out folders would become collector items of the future!

Iben Høj’s womenswear collections are understated and sophisticated with an emphasis on unique details and refined craftsmanship. She follows her own path, working instinctively, and avoids being pulled into the vacuum of isolation by creating her own magical world of beautiful clothing, illustration, and art.

When asked about who gets to see the world which Høj and her label inhabit she says, “Aside from showing the current collection on my website and the forthcoming collection at fashion fairs in Copenhagen, New York, and Paris, I print a new folder each season and this is used as a direct mail-out. I call it an ’appetizer,’ as it is small and only gives a hint of the collection.” Høj carefully selects inspirational illustrators and artists from all over the world to promote her label using their own distinctive flair.

There is a very good reason for working in this way. “When I originally decided to print a mail-out folder for the Spring/Summer season 2005 I knew I wanted to do something different. I wanted to show something atmospheric, with the essence of my design at the forefront rather than just the clothes on a model.” Høj often found that when working more conventionally with a model on location, the shoot suddenly becomes about the girl, her look, and the styling. She asked herself, “How can I show my designs to the public in a more clean form, a simpler way?” The outcome was a striking mail-out containing three photographs of actual designs very simply pictured on a hanger. To complement these, each season she commissioned three illustrations by a new illustrator or artist.

The idea of a collaborative process between designer and illustrator was born and Høj began researching. “I love fashion illustration books and have various publications such as Fashion Wonderland and Romantik lining my shelves. Once I had found individual illustrators whose work I liked, I viewed further work on their websites and contacted them directly.”

With so many illustrators out there it was a difficult decision to pick just one to promote her style. Happily, Høj’s first choice in 2005 was fellow Scandinavian Cecilia Carlstedt. “I absolutely love Cecilia’s illustrations—she has a lightness, which just suits my work perfectly.” (See examples of her work in rendering fabric on pp.75, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90, and p.186 for an interview with her.) For the second collaboration Høj chose Danish artist Cathrine Raben Davidsen. She had admired her work for a long time, believing her creations to possess “great power and an eeriness.” Høj was unsure if she would want to work with her, as she is not a fashion illustrator, but a fine artist. Luckily the request was warmly welcomed and the Fall/Winter 2007 collaboration was a resounding success, resulting in some truly unusual knitwear representation.

An Iben Høj sketch of a garment from her Fall/ Winter 2007 collection.

An Iben Høj sample knit of the detailed knit used in the same garment.

The finished Iben Høj garment of the sketch opposite photographed for the Fall/Winter 2007 collection.

The artist Cathrine Raben Davidsen’s powerful representation of the same garment. This illustration, along with other works by Cathrine were the basis of Høj’s Fall/Winter 2007 mail-out folders.

“... a collaborative process between designer and illustrator”

— Iben Høj

On working with Høj, Raben Davidsen comments, “Iben is a very sensitive person, and was very open to my world and views, so she gave me total freedom to enter her world. At the time I was working with a spider theme (Arachne’s Web taken from Ovid’s Metamorphosis) in my own work. Iben’s knitting reminded me so much of these intricate and very complicated webs.” When asked about her decision to work in a fashion environment Raben Davidsen says, “Knitting is associated with the female voice, a theme that I am very interested in. I can really relate to Iben’s work on many different levels, especially as my father was a fashion designer who worked for Yves Saint Laurent. Fashion has always been part of my life. In my own work I often use elements from fashion and look towards the big fashion houses for inspiration. At the moment I am working on a series of prints in collaboration with the Danish fashion designer Stine Goya.”

“I give the illustrators free rein to create what they like.”

— Iben Høj

Design sketches, knit sample, and finished garment from Iben Høj’s Spring/Summer 2008 collection.

Stina Persson’s paper cut-out’s, the perfect technique to illustrate Høj’s delicate knitwear for her Spring/Summer 2008 mail-out folders.

The following season saw Stina Persson take the reins with a mix of watercolor and paper cut-outs. (Persson’s work appears in the showcase section and on the back cover.) Persson describes how she came to work with Høj. “In 2007 I had a show at New York gallery hanahou called ‘Immacolata and Her Friends’ where I had drawn 40 portraits of Italian women in ink and collaged Mexican papel picado (perforated paper) on top. I was still really into creating portraits this way when Iben contacted me about the collaboration. The beautifully cut tissue paper of the papel picado happened to be a perfect match to Iben’s dream-like knitwear. I also liked the contrast from the strong, bold ladies in ink and their delicate paper-thin clothing. This is how I saw Iben’s designs and the women wearing them.”

“The beautifully cut tissue paper of the papel picado happened to be a perfect match to Iben’s dream-like knitwear.” —Stina Persson

Of the German illustrator and artist Tina Berning, Høj states, “I bought her book [100 Girls on Cheap Paper]—and fell in love. She has an amazing illustrative style and creates portraits of alluring, strong women. Her style is both old fashioned and yet so modern. It suits my ethos and design perfectly. Working with Tina was like a match made in heaven.” Tina Berning also felt they shared the same work ethos and mutual respect for each other’s creations. “I immediately fell in love with Iben’s knitwear and the idea of creating drawings that could accompany her fragile pieces of wool and art. She provided me with fabric samples and sketches of her new collection and I was allowed to do whatever I wanted. Many clients tend to forget that the more freedom I get for a job, the more I want to give of myself. I have learned to work with strict briefs, but those without any restrictions are always the ones that I liked most, and that I would spend all the time in the world working on. They are also the ones that the clients are most satisfied with.”

Berning completed three drawings, interpretations of Høj’s designs on old, found paper. She chose china ink and gouache, leaving the paper background itself enough of a space to tell their stories. Everything was created by hand and the original drawings now hang on Høj’s walls. (See opposite for examples of Tina’s work and p.188 for an interview with her.)

Finnish illustrator Laura Laine was the choice for 2009. Her work can be seen in Chapter Five where Iben Høj’s fashion design presentation is examined in greater detail. Høj describes her pencil-and-watercolor women as “fluid, languid, and bewitching.” Laine’s light but striking drawings were a perfect illustrative representation for the Iben Høj label.

With talent like this exhibited by Høj every season, it’s no wonder that collectors frequently request back copies of her imaginative mail-out folders. But in a fast-moving, fashion-dominated world where designers are always working two seasons ahead of themselves, how does the collaboration process actually evolve? “Following the initial introduction I tell the illustrators about myself and my work,” says Høj. “I then run through all the facts about the actual job; the timeframe, the number of illustrations required, the inspiration for the collection, etc. I then send a package containing photographs of mock-up styles, design sketches, pictures of knit techniques and a color card. If they have different modes of working, I let them know which style I prefer. Amazingly, they never see the finished garment before completing the project. The photographs are only taken when the collection is finished and ready for sale. Within this framework I give the illustrators free rein to create what they like.” Høj must find this process exhilarating. How magical to pass on these facts and in a few months see these realistic but dream-like representations of her knitwear.

A design sketch, a knit sample, and a finished garment from Iben Høj’s Fall/Winter 2008 collection.

The garment above (along with a few more) are shown here in the Fall/Winter 2008 mail-out folder illustrated by Tina Berning. The folders always follow the same format, but each illustrator brings them to life in a different way. Tina Berning’s strong women exude beauty and personality across Høj’s pages. The garments are photographed so that the delicate nature of the knit is highlighted. It is so refreshing to see the garments and their illustrative representations side-by-side in this lookbook format.

When asked to pick an artist (living or not) to illustrate her collections Høj doesn’t hesitate, “I’d probably choose Kiki Smith, because her art is a constant inspiration to me. It would be exciting to see what she could make out of my work! My latest inspirational discovery is the artist Jacqueline Marval (1866–1932). Her work is amazingly beautiful and so strong. Her sense of detail, color, and style would I know be wonderful in one of my folders! I also adore the paper cut-out artist Su Blackwell. She makes enchanting, fairy tale cut-out stories from books—so fragile, poetic, and inspiring!

When it comes to commissioning an illustrator or artist, Høj buys the original artwork together with the right to use it. Although she owns the copyright she would never use the work for anything other than the agreed purpose. “After I’ve compiled the folders and used the illustrations on my fashion week stands, the work is just for my private pleasure on a daily basis!”

Referring to Iben Høj’s folders Tina Berning says, “It is always the same design, but the inside reveals a new world with each issue, a new illustrator and a new collection. It is always exciting to receive the new one in the mail. Iben Høj’s folders or lookbooks are a wonderful example of how a strong frame opens a huge space for anything, any idea, any style, any technique, any artist, without ever loosing the concept. To illustrate this, I always show them to new students when I teach at art school. It is just such a good example of how consistency is rewarded time and time again!”

Høj says she agrees with Tina Berning’s mantra, “A drawing a day keeps the doctor away!” She also reminds illustrators out there to “find your own style—practice, practice, practice—and aim for the stars!”

“.... collectors frequently request back copies of her imaginative mail-out folders.”