A fashion artist works with fashion designers and art directors to design creative and artistic visual images of a garment through the use of digital and traditional artistic media. The artist is commonly asked to create images to entice buyers to want to purchase fashions, and is tasked with using his or her sense of fashion to develop a central theme for a project. The artist will often make several different renderings or digital images of the fashion in different situations and even on different models. Fashion artist jobs are usually found in advertising, the fashion industry and within individual design studios.
Once a clothing designer has produced a new lineup of garments, a fashion artist is commonly called in to create an advertising image intended to start a buzz in the fashion industry. Many times, the artist will use several different types of media to create the image desired. From pencil drawings to watercolor and digital, computer imaging, the fashion is brought to life and given an attitude by the artist. When all goes well, the artist will arrive at a design that will have would-be buyers flocking to the stores to buy the garments. Occasionally, this type of excitement is caused by featuring a particular model, celebrity or location in the artist's rendering.
From very prim and proper renderings to modern art imagery, the job of the fashion artist is to lend credence to the fashion. By placing the fashion in an unsuspected or unconventional location, the fashion artist has the ability to draw increased attention to the garment. This type of scenario can be as simple as drawing a swimsuit model wearing a bathing suit in a snow setting. By placing the garment in an unsuspected location, the fashion artist has effectively drawn increased attention to the product. This is also known as a type of shock advertising.
When using digital or computer-aided media, the images have the ability to be enhanced or air-brushed. This allows the artist to alter the fashion and the model to aid in giving a desirable appearance to the image. Commonly criticized for depicting a much smaller waistline or longer legs on a model, a fashion artist uses the technique to add appeal and desire to the garment. Some fashion designers will use only one artist exclusively to promote a fashion lineup. This is beneficial for both the designer and the artist as it allows the designer to design toward the style of the artist's rendering strength and the artist to have a clear understanding of what the designer likes.