The Art of Making It Big

How artistic talent and social media are bringing fashion illustrator, Meagan Morrison to the top

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

Armed with some markers, a sketchpad, and a little support from her 126K Instagram followers, Meagan Morrison is slowly taking the fashion world by storm.

Through her blog, travel.write.draw, the Canadian-born, New York-based artist features illustrations of everything from street style to international cuisines. And while her blog’s popularity has allowed Morrison to add world traveler and online influencer to her name, it’s her fashion illustrations that are getting the most attention.

With a few sweeping strokes of her hand, Morrison captures more than just a model in garments, but the essence of the image. She transforms her travel experiences into jumper prints, the dresses she draws into billowing clouds of color, and the people wearing them into subjects of depth and wonder. In short, Morrison is changing the way the digital generation appreciates fashion.

The marriage of Morrison’s two innate loves, fashion and illustration, commenced at the epicenter of style: New York Fashion Week. While sketching models during an Oscar de la Renta fashion show, Meagan discovered her artistic niche.

“When I was still a student, I went to the runway show to document it through illustrations. It was the first time I’d tried it. I found that it honestly informed my illustrations to be [at the runway shows], to hear the music, and to feel the mood of the collection based on the conversations I’d have with the designers. It really interested me to try to convey that in my illustrations.”

While Morrison’s use of traditional art is unique within the photo-saturated fashion industry of 2015, she’s really kicking it old school. “Capturing runway shows actually started with illustrators. They had more access to them than the photographers.” But according to Morrison, “this is the beginning of a revival. I saw this growing interest in traditional art, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

Good thing Morrison stuck with it, because since her initial run-in with Oscar, she’s partnered with several other fashion heavyweights like Calvin Klein, Jeremy Scott, and Anne Sui. In addition, her blog’s continued recognition gets Morrison commissions to create works of art based on her travels with touring companies from Russia to Thailand. Besides being the best job ever, Morrison explains how her illustrations allow her to relay her experiences in fashion and travel better than other mediums:

“Things like photography are very literal, but I think for me, the artwork touches on certain emotional components that extend beyond a photograph, and into the surreal. It’s the imagination; it’s the feeling behind the experience.”

It turns out that people are also interested in the fashion-forward woman behind the illustrations. “[My personal style] has been picked up by my clients who originally came to me for art, but now want me to wear their products. They call it less of being a blogger, but more an influencer.” In fact, Morrison’s self-promotion on social media also makes her a model entrepreneur for 2015, when grit, a steady hand, and a good username seem to be the keys to success in the art world. “I think people connect to you on a very personal level [on social media]. You’re not the glossy editorial that you’d see in a magazine. You’re a real person, a trusted voice, someone people can relate to.”

There’s no second-guessing this social media phemon’s ability to stay grounded through all her success. “This is all the product of really, really hard work. I hope that I stand as an example, especially for young illustrators, that things don’t come easily; you have to make them happen, but if you work hard, your dreams really can come true.”

Proof of Morrison’s ability to capture her dreams comes in the form of her new partnership with the brand Maiyet. Throughout the month of April, she will be designing three bespoke illustrations inspired by three artisanal techniques used by Maiyet in their SS15 collection. The first breathtaking illustration was released last week, and we can’t wait to see what other Morrison creations are on the horizon. In the mean time, Meagan takes Urban Agenda Magazine through some of her most memorable fashion illustrations in this gallery of her work:

: “This is from a magazine photograph of Coco Rocha. It just had this incredible motion to it. She’s sort of leaping in air, and the jacket is caught mid-drop with this striking print and colors. I love how stiff Rocha is in the air, but how everything else is sort of billowing around her.”

: “I played with construction, colored paper, and texture with this illustration. I kept it kind of loose with broad strokes and worked with positives and negatives. You’ll see I’ve cut out a shape for the arms in the blue colored paper, so the white negative space is being used to build the figure.”

: “This is a postcard I did for my trip to Argentina. I went to see the tango dancers there, and I was so inspired by the sensuality of the city; it’s part of its culture, and I wanted to capture that [in this illustration].”

: “This was for the incredible hat designer, Gigi Burris. She had a presentation at the McKittrick Hotel in Chelsea and its 1920s mood snuck in. I think the model played off of that vibe. I love the attitude, the dynamic, and the position of her shoulder compared to the hat.”

: “Ipanema Beach was one of the elements that most inspired me on a trip to Brazil and Argentina, so I made it the aerial shot running through her jumper. One side is the beach with all these colorful umbrellas. The other side is the gorgeous water with heads bopping out of it. She’s wearing her environment in her print.”

: “This was from an incredible Chanel show that had this sort of feminist revolution happening. There was an evolution of the show that began with suits, then the colors became freer, and finally, they had these signs, and this was one of them. For whatever reason, this image has really resonated with my audience. It’s not a precious interpretation of the collection; it’s much more abstract.”

: “I did this illustration in anticipation of going to Buenos Ares and Rio, but I was able to take it so much further coming back from the trip when it became more conceptual. I think it speaks to the whole reason why I advocate for travel.write.draw. It shows how seeing the world for yourself informs your artwork.”

: “When I saw this picture, it was so amazing. It was animated and dynamic. I really wanted to play off the motion of the jacket and take it out of the literal and into more of the surreal with splashes of color.”

: “I love playing off the print in the skirt and making it into something a bit more lyrical having the sunflowers surround her with the dress. It takes you into the fantasy behind fashion.”

: “I saw this jacket and thought it was so interesting how it could be interpreted in just a few strokes. It’s just all these stripes that inform her silhouette. It really interests me how you can interpret an outfit this way and still get a feel for the garment.”