Guest post: Richard Kilroy

Photograph by Haruki Horikawa

From Liverpool and now based in the heart of the fashion capital, surrounded by amazing artists and inspiration in London, Richard Kilroy is a highly successfull illustrator. 

"Richard Kilroy's work is routed in the elements of composition, suggestion and simplicity, combining aspects of photorealism with loose and suggestive line. Graduating from Leeds College of Art & Design in 2010, he currently lives in London.

In late 2010 he was selected by Christian Dior and Somerset House as one of five illustrators to produce an original work for 'Dior illustrated: Rene Gruau And The Line Of Beauty'. His most recent commission was to produce a portrait of professor Louise Wilson OBE for her birthday.

His newspaper fanzine on fashion illustration, DECOY, includes original illustrations by himself, Julie Verhoeven, Richard Gray, Tara Dougans and features work and interviews with Jasper Goodall, Cedric Rivrain, Si Scott and more. The second and third issues are currently available from his website.

Richard Kilroy is also currently working on a book with Vivays publishing on the best of contemporary fashion illustration, due for release late 2013.

To date, Richard's clients include Christian Dior, VMAN, Topshop, Onitsuka Tiger, Volt Magazine, Ponystep, Husk, I.T Post, Start Boutique and more."

Illustrations Richard Kilroy.

Richard has let us in on his fashzine DECOY:
"Decoy is my fanzine on fashion illustration, born out of wanting to explore my own work and the work of others, and to simply have fun putting something together that's full of genuine enthusiasm for fashion illustration. In the first three issues I've been lucky enough to feature some of whom I consider to be the greatest illustrators in the industry, with original works by Julie Verhoeven, Richard Gray and Tara Dougans, and features with Jasper Goodall, Ricardo Fumanal, Si Scott and more.

The name came from the idea of what a Decoy is. Something distracting, something visual that's meant to drive your attention. And basically it's a good simple name. It's important to me to have it on newspaper or a large print run. Who wants to see illustrations when they are just a few inches big?!
It's not meant to be a glossy magazine, restricted by deadlines or advertising. That's the joy of self-publishing. It's important to me to keep this aspect no matter how much Decoy evolves."

 

Julie Verhoeven 'Looker' for Decoy issue 2

 Richard Gray for Decoy issue 3.

You can buy the latest edition of DECOY (check out the blog for artist updates and latest inspirations) from Richards site here, his site is well worth adding to your favourites list as new illustrations are constantly being featured and it's great to see how his work is developing. 

Richard Kilroy's work combines the inspirations of the artists he is so lucky enough to feature in his first fanzine, complementing the photo realistic illustrations of models' beautiful faces with the perfect translations of high end fashion. 

With the anticipation of Richard's first book combining the works of top contemporary fashion illustrators, we're excited to know that Richard approached one of Nook & Crannys long standing stockists, Peggy Wolf!

Many thanks to Richard for sharing a peek into the fashion illustration world.