Fresh out of university with a first class fashion photography degree, Scott Mason's illustrations have blown us away! Scott is our Young British Talent feature for the month of February, he's 21, based in Portsmouth and graduated from Falmouth University. His fashion illustrations really stand out and are full of colour- hence why we thought he would be perfect to collaborate with Skinnydip, see for yourself!
How long have you been drawing for?

It's the standard 'as long as I can remember' answer really, it's the main hobby I've kept throughout my life, Pokemon cards, Tamagotchi's and crazy bones come and go but drawing has always stayed. One of my earliest memories is being on a ferry to France and having brand new felt tip pens and sketchpad to keep me entertained, even the thought of new pens and pad now gets me excited, I have to be put on a leash if I ever venture into a stationary store.

What brought you into the world of fashion?

As embarrassing as it is, America's Next Top Model is what peaked my interest at first ha, aside from all the juicy drama it was the photoshoots that really captured my imagination. I've been drawing for years but this began to open up my eyes to both fashion and photography, as I wasn't great at drawing back then photography seemed like the clearer option to get my ideas out... however I had absolutely no budget to create and photograph anything exciting so that lead me back to just drawing my ideas out, paper's a lot cheaper.

How would you describe your illustration style?

My styles quite colourful, bold and playful, I love to experiment with my work, especially if I have any old art materials laying around, so I like to change up mediums quite often and make one big mess. I'd hope there's a slight elegance in my work that ties it all together and colour is always a big factor in my illustrations, probably cause I draw a lot of them at night and need that brightness to see what the hell I'm actually drawing.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Sleep is where I get a lot of my ideas from, the stage when you're on the cusp of falling asleep is a creative goldmine. Music is a big factor in inspiration, I like attempting to visualize the tracks or create a music video in my head for it as well as other artists work always ignites the fire in my stomach to want to create and get better ...and then of course there's Pinterest and Instagram which are always a God send.


What's your favourite piece to date and why?

I'd have to say a couple of the illustrations I drew for London Collection: Mens such as Agi + Sam and the Christopher Shannon one, there's a boldness and a freedom to them that I like a lot, neither of them took all that long to draw so it helps remind me that slaving away for hours an hours on a single image isn't necessarily the right path to go down and to trust your initial instincts a bit more.

Which medium do you prefer, illustration or photography?

I'd say illustration comes more naturally to me, but that might just be because it's easier to find a bit of paper than get up and go photograph something, I really enjoy doing both as they both offer something completely different. With illustration I can draw anything that comes into my head but it will never be real, and with photography I can create and shoot something in front of me, however there's a limit to what can be created in real life, so they both have there limits and I like to bounce between the two.
Why did you decide to combine the two forms?
I initially saw an editorial where an illustrator had collaborated with a photographer and thought it would be interesting to attempt and then it just grew from there. I thought as I'm both a photographer and an Illustrator you get a sort of 2 for 1 offer. It's helped me find a style with my photography and it still excites me to add in elements of illustration into photography so you can hopefully get the best of both disciplines combined.
And finally, what's your favourite piece from the current Skinnydip collection?!
It hands down has to be the ipad chip case, those fries look cute enough that you'd wanna eat them and seen as there potato you're sort of allowed, and with the little googly eyes following you around the room like a carby Mona Lisa, whats not to love.
Twitter: @scottwmason
Instagram: @scottwmason
WORDS BY: Sarah Maxwell
Older
Newer