IN CONVERATION WITH SCOTT W MASON

We caught up with British Fashion Illustrator Scott W Mason who spoke to us labout the beginnings of his glittering career, the materials he loves to work with and his advice for the fashion illustrators of the future.

Hi Scott, thanks so much for taking time to speak to us on what must be such a busy period for you with London Fashion week just passed! If we could start from the top, can you tell us what inspired you to pursue the career of a Fashion Illustrator?

Drawing has been something I’ve always done since I was a kid, I used to want to become a comic artist until I discovered fashion photography when I was a teenager. I just became obsessed with the drama, fantasy and attitude of it. But being 15 I couldn’t exactly call up Naomi to model for me, so I started drawing my photoshoot ideas which took my work down a more fashion route. I ditched drawing for photography during college but half way through uni I came back to illustration (despite being on a 3 year photography course) and haven’t stopped scribbling since.

This may be a strange question, but could you describe what a Fashion Illustrator is?!

Ha I get this question more than you’d think, most people don’t know what a fashion illustrator is, even my mums like ‘what is it you do again?’. Fashion illustrators are not fashion designers like a lot of people think, we’re essentially illustrators who specialise or focus on fashion. We’re illustrators whose main source of inspiration is fashion, so if a fashion brand is looking for illustrations, elegant images for campaigns, or if magazines are looking for runway coverage they can call on us. TBH I think fashion illustrator now refers more to a style or focus of work rather than the role itself, as plenty of fashion illustrators work for clients outside the fashion bubble.

With it being London Fashion Week could you tell us what you’ll be up to over the coming days?

If you’d asked me a few years ago I would have said running around London trying to go to every show/presentation possible, filling endless sketchbooks and producing coverage for a blog, but in my old age I’ve taken more of a backseat with fashion week. It’s a huge influx of inspiration with all the new shows but now I’m more choosey about what I illustrate. Whereas before I’d stay glued to my desk sketching a few looks from every shows, now it’s more a case of browsing the shows online and bookmarking any looks that I like to use as inspiration later on. I am going to challenge myself to be more productive this fashion week though, so expect an abundance of scribbles.

In terms of your style of illustration its immediately recognisable as a Scott W. Mason. How did you develop this unique aesthetic and how would you describe it for our readers?

I just recorded the ‘style’ module for my drawing course funnily enough, so all this is fresh in my mind. A style comes from lots of research, pooling inspiration from a tonne of sources and endless experimenting. I think it’s one of the most asked questions by artists ‘how do I find my own style’. A mistake a lot of illustrators make is pulling inspiration from a single source, instead of just being inspired by one artist, get inspired by 10, taking inspiration from those 10 plus your own experiments and trials is what results in a unique style. I find it’s hard to define your own style so now I cheat… posting work on social media and illustrating at events you get people’s reactions and definitions to your work so I just cherry pick from those, let’s go with ‘abstract, bold and energetic’.

Anyone who follows you on social media can see how prolific you are. How has this benefited you and do you have any tips for artists/illustrators on how best to use this tool to keep your audience engaged?

Full disclosure, had to google what prolific meant. I’d say social media has benefitted me as I know a few of my clients have found me through it. I’ve been sharing my art online since I was about 12 so it’s always been part of the package for me. But I’d say consistency is key, which is rich coming from someone who takes months long breaks after one solid week of posting. Think of social media as planting seeds, each day or week you post something, you’re planting a seed that in a year or 5 you look back and there’s a mini forest that more people will stumble upon. Don’t worry about blowing up overnight on socials, focus more on being consistent because that’s how careers are built. I have a whole module about Instagram on my business course which runs through how to make a career out your illustrations if anyone needs more advice…

You can tell you’re never without a notebook on the go! Can you tell us what your go-to products are for fashion illustration?

I’ve started putting a pencil behind my ear when I leave the house now as a way of forcing myself to draw more when out and about, but I worry I just look like I’m going to quote you for a rewire. Out the house I love taking a 2b Pencil and a Moleskine sketchbook, although I spilt strawberry daiqirui on my one last time so maybe don’t take it absolutely everywhere. But proper fashion illustration wise I use Winsor & Newton fineliners, Liquitex ‘Heavy Body’ Acrylic paints, Promarkers and colour pencils.

In your career you’ve worked with some of the biggest brands in the world from Louis Vuitton to Selfridges and Apple! Is there a particular highlight? Something that stands above the rest you’ve particularly proud of.

Not so much a particular project or anything but recently I was at an event for Louis Vuitton and I’d released my drawing course that week, whilst I was setting up my course sold out and after that event I needed to get home and finish up a project for Winsor and Newton, so it was more a moment of ‘am I low key living my dream?’ Also whenever I hear my parents say they’re proud of me, soppy but true.

So post LFW madness, what has the rest of 2022 got in store for you that you can let our audience in on?

Straight after LFW I’m relaunching my illustration course for the next 15 artists, so you’re your eyes peeled on 30th September! You can find more information about that here www.fashionillustratormasterclass.com and then we’re entering into the festive period which is normally a busy time for events so I’ll be illustrating live for various brands and working on some personal projects in the mean time! Also I’m going to focus on Tik Tok over the next few months so wish me luck…

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