Sunny Gu

Sunny Gu was born in 21st April. She was a Los Angeles-based fashion & beauty illustrator. She was born and raised in China, but then she moved to the United States when she was 13. She started painting and drawing as a hobby. She graduated from B.F.A Otis Collage of Art and Design, she also graduated with honours. As she grew, she encountered people from various of backgrounds, this triggered her curiosity for other cultures. Becoming an illustrator is her dream career, it can become a part of things in so many different ways from editorial, printed garments, decorations, packing design or serves a product campaign. 

Most of her illustrations paint in water-colour. She love the vibrancy and unpredictable nature of water-colour. Occasionally she use graphite or acrylic paint to render some special textures, and also create digital art for surface design and textiles. That is why, all her illustrations are always full of vibrant colours, rich details, and delightful feelings. Her drawing give an impression that like watching an animation of a fashion runway rather than exploring a picture.
She always wishes to find a way to capture and preserve the beauties that she sees, the kindness that she feels, and recreate them in someway. 

All of her clients including Condé Nast, Vogue Magazine, Teen Vogue, Bloomingdales, Macy's, Nordstorm, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana's Swide Magazine, Brian Atwood, South Coast Plaza, Beverly Centre, The Grove, Shiseido, Neutrogena, and HBO among others. She always drawn by fascinating craftsmanship, unique vision, elegant silhouettes, interesting textures, fun color combinations and floral prints. The most inspiring aspects of fashion is that it’s always changing and renewing, it’s about evolution and regenerate designs inspired from a variety of sources. Fashion is timeless. it was the reason why she makes certain designer find her and certain aspects of fashion that inspire her work and makes her to create an artwork. 

Paper Fashion: Katie Rodgers

Katie Rodgers is one of my most favorite fashion illustrators. She began painting using watercolors at age seven. Nearly two decades later, the pastime has become her livelihood. Growing up, Rodgers painted whimsical runway scenes and ladies outfitted in Balenciaga and Dior, a passion she revisited in 2009, when she launched the stylish illustration blog, Paper Fashion, to showcase her work.

Big industries were quick to notice the artist. Coach tapped Rodgers to illustrate its holiday campaign and paint limited-edition bags by hand later that year, while Missoni and Target asked her to sketch models wearing coveted pieces from their collaboration.

Rodgers’s blossoming freelance career convinced her to leave her full-time job as an apparel designer at Reebok earlier this year to focus on her art full time. “I’ve been sketching fashion ever since I can remember,” says Rodgers, who recently began selling stationery and iPhone cases emblazoned with images of Chloé and Dior dresses on the website Society6. “It never gets old to me. I’ve managed to discover what I love to do, and how to do it for a living.”

In addition to her online sales and commission work, the 26-year-old hopes to branch out into wallpaper and other fashion-inspired goods, keeping with the family tradition started by her great-grandfather, who was also an illustrator. “My work is done almost exactly how [he] did it—by hand,” she says. “In such a digital age, it’s nice to know there are still some things that can only be created that way.”

Katie Rodgers' favorite medium for drawing is pencil, watercolor and ink. She also likes working with pantone markers as well for more technical illustrations. However, watercolor and mixed media, especially glitter, has been Rodgers' trademark which I have noticed by following her on Instagram. She is definitely one of those artistic illustrators I cannot stop scrolling their blog down on. Here are some of my favorites from her work.

Igor + Andre

Igor + Andre is definitely one of the best fashion illustration blogs I have ever encountered. If you follow the world of fashion blogging, you would have probably seen some of Danny Roberts' works. The Igor + Andre blog was created in 2008 by Danny and David Roberts as a means of distributing the beauty in Danny's art. During the time, Danny was still a student at the Academy of Art University studying fashion design. While he was there, a teacher pushed him on to pursue a career in fashion illustrating. Since then, Danny centered his focus point almost exclusively on learning drawing and painting. Thus, the blog found its purpose as Danny and David's platform to share their various creative projects with the world.

Danny's Blogger Portrait Series is actually quite well-known. He has even worked with Forever 21, Harajuku Lovers, Lancome, Tiffany & Company, IMG Models, and W Hotels to name a few. Dedication does pay off, as Danny once said "I would draw some days for 15 hours straight till my hands were swollen shut."

Danny Roberts is the half creator of Igor + Andre. He is a visual artist who portrays the high end scene with wit and whimsy. He is known for his signature stylish portraits of famous fashion world-related people and models which offer a fresh take on fashion's vision of perfection. He was honored by being awarded the first featured portfolio of the year on WGSN Generation Now, which showcases graduating talent from the world's leading universities and design colleges. His body of work is mainly a showcase of couture collection paintings and portraits of models. He has already been featured several times in top fashion publications' pages worldwide, in the likes of Vogue Italia, Vogue Paris, and Vogue Japan, to name a few. David Robert is the other half creator of Igor + Andre and he is in charge of dealing with business issues for his brother's creative imagination artwork dealings.

KELLY SMITH

This week I have found another amazing fashion illustrator, her name is Kelly smith. She is a freelance illustrator who is based in Tasmania, Australia.  After she was graduated from The Tasmanian School of Art in 2006 with the Bachelor of Fine Arts, she decided to establish her dream as a freelance illustrator. Since then, she has sky-rocketed to stardom by working with some local and international world-known clients including Vogue Australia, Vice magazine, Mambo Goddess and General Pants co. She was also featured in some editions of Vogue Australia, Shop till you drop, and many other clients' publication media. Because of her passion in fashion, she then continued her career as an illustrator specialized in both portraiture & fashion illustration. Because of her desire in film & fairytale, she always took inspiration from those two subjects to keep on fueling her source of creativity, Kelly's work of art is always a spectacle in itself. Based with pencil strokes and keeping those until the final touches of her illustration, her work has its own trademark. Her fine detailed pencil work captures a likeness to her subjects, either they are objects or people whom she found inspiring. Traditionally and initially created on one layer, Kelly Smith adds in water color to give it a touch of soft translucent color shade without diminishing the effect of her original pencil strokes. Later on, she digitally edits her work by adding subtle hints of color and softness.

In a recent interview, Kelly Smith was asked to give tips on how to be an established illustrator. Her answer was that you had to "... be true to your own style...". It can be tempting to try to mould yourself into what you think you should be or mimic a successful artist. But people will always respond to work that's unique, so embrace that. I learned that I would have to create a style that is entirely my own if I want to pursue a career as an illustrator. Kelly also said that submitting work to as many competitions and call-outs is as essential as well because it would challenge us to be better and better as we are fueled with the feedback and exposure those would offer us with.