Manuel Rebollo.

Manuel Rebollo is a Spanish illustrator/graphic designer who I came across whilst I was looking at fashion on the internet.

What drew me in was the black and white colour pallette that he uses and the seductive way he has of drawing the models faces.

What really surprised me, is his way of incorporating words/letters in his pieces, on their bodies, (or garment?) I have just been experimenting with using text into my own work, so seeing this gives me a good idea of how it could be done.

This is one of my favourite images of his as it's an image of the the face and body, where as his others are portraits, concentrating on hair and face. They are extremely good, but I prefer this style.

To start off, the way he has created the face is beautiful. It looks like he has done it effortlessly. Missing out the eyes, by putting black marks where the eyes are suposed to be, kept the shadow of her left side, incorporating it into a mane of black hair.

As the drawing lowers, by simple mark making and shape, it goes straight into the shoulders and neck.

Then the body is cut off with text, making it look like it's her body shape, which is very clever. Around the text, he has used basic shapes for the arms and even though is is no detail showing that it is attached, one can see where it is suposed to be and how it is posed which I think is excellent.

The legs are my favourite part of the whole piece. Like the arm, they are not attached to the body but yet one can see where and how they are positioned.

I do like how he has used ink as the main medium in the work, as I favour ink myself and as he is a current artist, it just shows that there is still a demand for this way of traditional way of working.

Artists and Illustrators that I admire.

Carl Erickson (1891-1958)

Rene Bouche (1905-1963)

Coby Whitmore (1913-1988)

Kenneth Paul Block (1924-2009)

Bernard Blossac (1917-2001)


Throughout my college years, I was introduced to some of these artists/ illustrators. But as I have mentioned in my previous post, I didn't really take much notice as I was very much into other people. But, as I and my work have progressed through the years, I now look at the greats, as these few show.

Blossac is one artist that I have come across before. His images are so elegant and throughout has a graceful pressure to his lines.

He also has a beautiful way of leaving things out of the image. For instance, when he captures a scene, he will draw and paint the figures, but he leaves out the background, leaving things unsaid.

David Downton says of him, ' No one ever painted the curve of a woman's back with such languid grace.'
Which I believe, is so very true.

Kenneth Paul Block is new to me. I first saw him in Downton's book, and he describes Block,' He was a master of movement and his models, poised to turn on a dime, are as snappy and sinuous as showgirls.'

All he wanted to do 'was draw women in beautiful clothes,' which is what he did to perfection. One of my favourites is image number 4. I adore his use of detail to the women, but then, with such a delicate line, has the background behind them.

I admit, that there are limited few that I so admire, as some of his works are drawn rather crudely. But, having said that, the ones that are drawn like that, do have a hidden beauty. For instance, the detail of a face, he seems to have rushed it but even so, the lines are wonderful.

Coby Whitmore is another new artist I have discovered.

This chap was a little later than the other two that I have mentioned.

I came across him in Downton's book and it is fair to say that I do like his style of work.

He was not a fashion illustrator, though it certainly played a large part in his work. He was known for being America's great 'romance' artists.

His work was for cinema, designing posters and dominated women's magazines in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Whitmore had a great way with drawing, just using pencil. Yes, he used other mediums but I find that I like best, the pencil sketches, very much like the one above.

Even though his characters in his images are so life like, I have to say that what I love most, are the backgrounds. They look in-complete, which speaks volumes.

In previous posts, I have mentioned that I like to use old papers etc, and from what I can see, so did he.

The overall images go together. They compliment eachother. With the lovely detailed figures, surrounded by unfinished backgrounds.

I have been aware of Rene Bouche for quite sometime, but I am thrilled that I have come across this work again!

He seems to have been so versatile. He could do editorial and advertising.

I am in more favour of his portraits and his 'live' images, more that his images of the figure and the women.

The image I have chosen to show here, number 2 is his portrait of Marlene Dietrich.

It was done in the late 1950s and was used to advertise her later concerts before she took her retirement.

I love the simplicity of her face and the almost 'random' black strokes of her hair.

He also did a portrait of Judy Garland which is just as wonderful as this one.

Carl Erickson. I have left, in my opinion, the best until last.

Carl, who went by the name Eric, graced the pages of Vogue for more than 35 years with his elegant and incisive drawings.

I do adore his drawings of the face, as above, and the womans hands and feet, but the more I have researched him, I am in love with the more narrative way he works.

There is one image he has done, which I can't find on the net, of when he and his family had to move from Paris in World War II. It is done with such a delicate hand, black line and no colour at all. Even though it was such a hard time for many people, he still manages to secure the beauty in his work, of such a bad time.

Masters of Fashion Illustration by David Downton

For Christmas, I was ever so lucky to be given this wonderful book by the great fashion illustrator, David Downton.

He is one of thoes illustrators that I have always admired but has been somewhat overshadowed by Tina Berning and Stina Persson in the past.

But not anymore.

As I have studied those two, I feel that I am moving on from them and looking now at other, more detailed and older illustrators from the past.

This has been made easier from the ones chosen by Downton...

Throughout the book, the images start from Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931) to Carl Erickson (1851-1958) to Coby Whitmore (1913-1988) and then ending with Downton and a selection of his own creations.

What I find so wonderful is that the term 'Fashion Illustration' has really been going for hundreds of years, it has only recently been given the title 'Fashion Illustration,' previously just being labled 'Fashion Plates' and portraits.

I do feel that it is a shame that photography has taken over the previous way of capturing an image. I find that it is very interesting to see how an artist/illustrator captures what they are seeing through their own eyes and pencil, instead of taking a photograph with hardly any creativity that they have produced.

I do think that traditional illustrating, all done by hand, hardly touching a computer, is coming back. And with all the books that one sees now, it is quite impossible to ignore it.