David Downton has established a reputation as on of the worlds leading fashion artists, his success started in 1996 when he was commissioned to draw at the Paris couture by a Sunday supplement, his works from the shows have appeared in V Magazine, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, The Times, The New York Times, Telegraph Magazine and most recently Vanity Fair amongst others.

His commericial client lists includes lots of big name brands such as : Chanel, Dior, Tiffany & Co., Topshop, Joyce Hong Kong, Harrods and Estée Lauder and the V&A Museum.

In addition David has produced portraits (from life) of some of the world’s most  iconic women: Cate Blanchett, Dita Von Teese, Erin O’Connor, Catherine Deneuve, Iman, Linda Evangelista, Rachel Weisz and Paloma Picasso.

He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates by London College of Fashion, Academy of Art University San Francisco and the University of Wolverhampton and edited at the time the worlds only journal dedicated to fashion illustrations “Pourquoi Pas? A Journal of Fashion Illustration”. 

He was appointed the first ever fashion artist in residence at Claridge’s hotel in London in September 2011, he has been commissioned to draw the “hotel’s most illustrious guests from the world of style and fashion”.

His first monograph “Portraits of the Worlds most stylish women” was published in 2015.

Hankingsons caught my eye when researching different illustrators as he uses the colour black in big blocks, which contrasts against the white to make a bold image.

Like Hankingson, most of his illustrations are waist upwards, they also include colour however the whole image is not completely in colour. I will consider this when im choosing the clothes for my model to wear. The faces in the illustrations look quite serious which adds edge to the designs, to represent this I will have to think about the lighting I use as it will bring the look together.