Fashion illustrator Jason Brooks on capturing cities and its people

SINGAPORE — It seems like there has never been a better time to be a fashion illustrator — just ask Jason Brooks. The Brighton-based Brit artist, who was behind music brand Hed Kandi’s sultry pin-up girls and did work for Vogue, L’Oreal, Coty, and Virgin Atlantic, said the rise of fashion on social media has helped fuel both the number of young illustrators joining the industry and brands tapping them for collaborations.

“There’s something about the interaction between the artist’s pen and the object, taking the time to draw something. You can feel the artist’s heart and mind at work,” Brooks posited, having joined Instagram rather recently himself to share his work. “There can be more emotion and even information in a drawing than in a photo, which can be quite static sometimes. Illustrations can be different and surprising.”

This is evident in his meticulous work for Japanese healthcare brand Ora2, for which he created a “city” with three go-getting female characters.

“Ora2 city is an Asian city with European influences — it’s quite a hybrid. I drew influences from the modern cities I visited,” he said about his creation. “It all started with Ora2’s CEO Yoshihiro Kaneda discovering my work. He’d seen my first book Paris Sketchbook and saw that there was a potential for a collaboration. That was one-and-a-half years ago. We worked together with an advertising agency and it has been fun.”

Q: You have published sketchbooks for Paris and London, and are now working on one for New York. How different are these cities?

A: I find them all fascinating — in the people, fashion and architecture. Paris is elegant, historic and atmospheric; London is forward-looking, complicated and diverse; while New York is ambitious, grand and glamorous. But if you ask me, it’s hard to beat Paris for fashion. It leads the world in many ways in that respect.

Q: Will you be doing a sketchbook for an Asian city?

A: Yes. I’d love to do a Tokyo book. I’ve been doing a lot of drawing while in Tokyo and I’m taking a lot of sketchbooks back to England.

Q: How do you do your research for these sketchbooks?

A: It’s a lot of groundwork. I basically spend up to a month walking, taking the subways, taking photographs, sketching as I go along. Sometimes people do look at me funny if I stop suddenly on the subway and start sketching. Or they look at me like why (am I) photographing the ground? I just accept that people might think I’m crazy. Cities are saturated with images and things, which provide plenty of inspiration.

Q: But you’re not based in a big city.

A: For me, I like being near the sea. I can see the sea from where I work. It’s also good for my two kids who are eight and 12. I enjoy the fresh air and the British countryside. SERENE LIM