Click here to visit Stephen Wiltshire's website. Mr. Wiltshire is an artistic savant who is capable of reproducing incredibly detailed landscapes from memory.
1. On the left, click on "My Videos". Watch at least four of the videos and offer a commentary for each.
2. Visit his "Gallery" and browse through his work. Identify his most impressive drawing and his most impressive painting; offer explanation for each.
9 comments:
1. a. Rome Panorama Drawing: This video shows Wiltshire's drawing of Rome, from memory, in perfect proportion. It is very detailed, showing hundreds of houses, as well as roads and large buildings. There is also a river which is depicted.
b. Power of Memory: This video shows Wiltshire in England, memorizing a specific street, then when he is finished looking at the landscape begins drawing what he saw perfectly from memory. It also shows him as a child drawing, and him flying in a helicopter looking out at the ground and then drawing that scene.
c. The Boy Who Draws Buildings: This video shows Wiltshire drawing a scene as a boy. There is "inspiring" music playing and there are no conversations taking place. It also shows Wiltshire's drawing from what he saw.
d. Jerusalem Panorama: This video shows Jerusalem and then Wiltshire drawing his panorama. A woman says that his drawings are very advanced for his age, 10 or 12 years advanced.
2. a. Most impressive drawing: Big Ben on a rainy evening -- this drawing is very detailed and has some color, also shows reflection of Big Ben on the ground which is really impressive
b. Most impressive painting: Manhattan Skyline from top of Empire State -- this painting is very detailed, showing every building in extraordinary detail since there are hundreds of windows visable on each, he also shows buildings farther away across the body of water
Kady F.
May 6, 2009
Visual A
1.a. Dubai Panorama (Zabeel Investments): Date: 12 October 2008
Dubai Panorama is the first video clip that I watched. I really liked how they brought Stephen Wiltshire into Dubai for autism awareness week. He was giving a thirty minute view of the city, a ride that he likes to take alone, and was then expected to draw it on this huge canvas. It was fascinating to see how he drew it from memory, remembering even the construction sites. I learned that his dad died when he was little, and there was someone who kept on telling him to stop crying. He also has personal drawings of people instead of the customary buildings; but these drawings are not shown to the public. It took him only four days, and of those four days he worked 23 hours to complete his amazing drawing, and everyone was absolutely astonished by it. Overall the video was very inspiring and fascinating.
1.b. 60 Minutes: Date: 29 September 1993
At the beginning of the clip; they said that Stephen Wiltshire could not even cross the street, and he learned how to draw before he could talk giving him a new form of communication. Margaret took him on a trip to see what exactly he could draw, they started in Venice where she then published some of his drawings. Many say that his work is just miraculous and that he really is a genius, even if he can not perform simple tasks. His favorite movie is reign man, and he has memorized the entire movie by heart and performed scenes to David Haufman. Even after a year he can still remember the details in a masterful way that leaves people clueless as to how he does it. Not only is he artistic, he was born practically pitch-perfect. He absolutely adores America; especially their cars as in a Cadillac, along with America’s ‘high fives’. Again, this video portrays how people absolutely adore him.
1.c. Boston Tea Party: Date: 24 September 2007
“Leading Architectural Artist of the World” as Stephen Wiltshire the most. His favorite picture is the Town Square, with runs for about 2,000 pounds. His sister takes care of costumers in his store, which is quite fascinating because she is not much older than he is. In his honest opinion, he prefers America over any other country, especially Manhattan. Both people in the clip try drawing the same image, in which Wiltshire excellences quite a bit more at than the other man. In a very short time he created the drawing, sitting down, and it is still amazing while at the same time very inspiring.
1.d. Drawing Buckingham Palace: Date: 17 July 2006
Stephen Wiltshire was named person of the week for many reasons, the same reason why the Queen asked him to draw Buckingham Palace. Wiltshire is from London, England and is quite the celebrity. As he works countless hours to perfect his drawings he always stays very focused on the one specific task. Nothing, not even noise distracts him from his sketches. On every one of the videos people will take notice that whenever he is drawing his is also listening to his ipod; a technique that helps every focus. Every single time he finishes a drawing it is a new amazement, especially because of his technique. He will just look at a building or monument for a short period on time and start sketching out what it looks like starting with the details first before the actual structure. Inspiration is at it’s highest in these video clips due to the endlessly talented Stephen Wiltshire.
2. Stephen Wiltshire’s most impressive painting is the one of the Empire State Building at night on July 6, 2006. The reason for the amazement is how he remembered which lights were on in the windows of the building and which were off. He really captured the city’s atmosphere is a way on a true artist does. Wiltshire’s most impressive sketch is Buckingham Palace, completed on July 16, 2006. This sketch stands out for many reasons, one of which is that the microscopic details of the structure are very clear to the eye. In general, Wiltshire is very impressive to everyone because he does all of his works with just a piece of paper and pencil; no tools or tricks will be found up his sleeve.
I hope I'm doing this right...
1. "Half Way Through"
-In this video you can see that he doesn't plan his drawings too much. He start on the sides fills in a little bit of the middle and does the other side. I think that this video shows how talented he is.
2. "10 Metres Canvas"
-This video shows how detailed his drawing actually are. That they aren't just sketches. By zooming in it shows the detail in the drawing, and shows that he remembers every little detail about the city/town/scene that he is drawing.
3. "Jerusalem Panorama"
-This video actually shows the drawing when it was started and the drawing when it was finished, an shows him drawing it all. It also shows a section of Jerusalem and then Stephen's versionof it in his drawing. It also said that he can tell you the year and the model of any American classic car without flaw. He also said that Jerusalem was the hardest to draw, yet his drawing was extremely detailed and very well done.
4. "Drawing the Interior of St Pancras Station"
- This video actually shows the place he's drawing more close up, and then shows the drawing. In this you can see how detailed the place is and how difficult it looks to draw, and then you can see Stephen's drawing and how amazingly acurate it is.
1. Stephen's most impressive drawing (to me) is "1949" I think this is the most impressive because there are words on the busses and signs. This shows that he remembered all the words that were on the busses and all the words that were on the signs and was able to draw it perfectly.
2. I think Stephen's most impressive painting is his "Empire State Building at night" oil painting. I think that this is very impressive because when I first looked at it very quickly it looked like a picture, and when I looked at it longer I realized that it was a painting. I think this is impressive because it's very detailed, with lights and reflections on the water. To me, this is a very impressive painting.
I liked the Madrid Panorama video because it showed how he does his drawings. I think it’s amazing that he reproduce everything exactly as it is from memory.
In the BBC London video, I liked how they showed work that he did when he was just a child and compared it to his work today. Even back then his drawings were extremely detailed and done from memory.
I liked how in the “Drawing Buckingham Palace” video, it showed that he can draw using different techniques. Instead of sketching with pen and ink from memory, it showed him sitting down and sketching the building first from pencil, while he was sitting in front of it.
The video “Just before finishing the Rome Panorama” zoomed in and really showed how detailed his drawings are. I thought it was cool how that picture was curved realistically around him.
Although I find all of his drawings very impressive, I really like his two drawings “Las Vegas at Night” and “Some Yellow New York Taxis at Park Avenue at Night”. I like the way that he drew the reflections in the street. I also think it’s cool that he was able to make them very realistic looking, while still including a bit of his own style.
I was really impressed with his painting “Manhattan Skyline from top of Empire State”. From the thumbnail, the painting looked exactly like a photograph. Out of all his paintings I thought that this was the most realistic looking one.
1. I watched the Dubai Panorama, the Jerusalem Panorama, the Madrid Panorama, and the London Panorama videos. The Dubai one was really cool because it was the first one I saw. He was just like whizzing through and getting everything so perfectly. The Jerusalem one was in Hebrew so I couldn't understand it, but it was really cool to see him complete that one as well. Then I saw the Madrid one, which was also really cool to watch. Last was the London one. There were bigger buildings in this one so it was easier to see. I think he is an incredibly talented person, without a doubt.
2. One picture I absolutely love of his is "Big Ben on a rainy evening." I think it is incredibly well done and it really looks real. I think the reflection on the water on the ground is phenomenal. My favorite painting of his is "Manhattan Skyline from top of Empire State" because it is so vivid. The colors are great and there is still so much detail; it's absolutely incredible.
I.
1. Person of the Week Video
This video tells the viewer about Steven's artwork and shows them taking him to a place and then he must recreate this infront of them. He does it in a little over an hour, perfectly, in a different manner than most artists paint. They also talk a little about his dissability.
2. Drawing Buckingham Pallace
In this video, Wiltshire recreates the Buckingham Pallace. It is amazing how detailed and accurate he creates it just by looking at it from a distance.
3. The Boy Who Draws Buildings
This video is of Stephen when he was a younger boy. He looks at buildings and draws them specific and 100% accurate. His drawings from when he was a boy are a little less mature looking than the drawings he does now, but they are exceptional just the same.
4. Tokyo Panorama Drawing
The toyko panorama drawing is rediculous. He has rememberred every street, street sign, stop light, building, window, every brick, the water masses, etc; and has reproduced it perfectly, without mapping out a sketch before hand. He just draws with detail right in the begining.
II.
1. New York Subway Train
I think the New York Subway Train is one of Wiltshires most impressive drawings. It is very realistic like all of his other sketches, but this one sticks out more than the others; especially because in the 'Person of the Week' video, he states that this is his favorite.
2. Chrysler building with street scene in New York
I love this drawing and the colors used with the pencil. He does many sketches using pencil with color, but this is my favorite.
1. I think its interesting how he started drawing as well as he does at the age of 7 or 8.
the Dubai panorama is also extraordinary for someone to do just from memory.
the Jerusalem panorama is cool too, so is the Madrid one.
2. The most interesting drawing for me is the Toronto Skyline because its a bird's eye view and it's very difficult to draw buildings from a high angle, and he did it so well. the most interesting painting for me is the 1949 painting because only the buses are painted in and it makes it a lot more attractive.
1. The first video I watched was London Panorama. Stephen began by taking a helicopter and viewing the city of London, memorizing the skyline and location pf each building, down to the tiniest details. After the helicopter trip the video moves on to the drawing of the cityscape. When Stephen begins he doesn't draw streets for an outline but instead he gets right to it, starting from the middle and fanning out as he goes along. The drawing will take about 5 days and a couple of different materials are used, a pen, pencil and an oddly shaped thing. While he was nearing the end a group of students showed up to ask questions. Setphen politely awnsered all the students questions, when he finished the drawing it looked amazing.
The second video I viewed was shorter than the first but began the same way, Stephen took a look around the city of Hong Kong. It doesn't show him in the helpcopter but I assume that he did. Stephen begins to draw in front of a crowd in what looks like a museum, surrounded by a few other drawings of his. It looks like it's Christmas time in China. A bunch of on lookers come to view his work and the video ends with Stephen looking very proud of his work.
This third video shows Stephen epressing his art in a different form, music. Stephen is amazing at art but this shows he's not too shabby at music. Thie video is basically Stephen playing the piano and singing. At first it is hard to tell wether or not he is talented in the music department, I found the video somewhat unclear in the begining. As the video goes on and draws to a close, it is easy to tell that he has more to offer the world than just his incredible drawings.
Once again the fourth video begins as a helicopter ride over Madrid. He then takes a ride through the city and looks at it from the top of a building, taking in the large scale of the city. Stephen begins hid drawing from the very begining by drawing thin lines on the paper. He begins his work of art in front a crowd, news stations and cameras buzzing all around, asking questions and interviewing in the process. To me is seemed like the news casters were testing his accuracy even while being spoken to. If that is the case then they were proven wrong. Stephen then finishes the Hong Kong panoram within the same video, it is amazing.
2. The painting I found to be most impressive is Manhattan Skyline from top of Empire State. They way he painted this looks so real, it feels like I’m looking at a photo but it has the quality of a painting. It is amazing how each and every window is individually painted. The gray layer over New York is also very realistic. In every photo I have seen there’s always a gray haze over the city.
My favorite drawing is the drawing of Stephen and his girlfriend. I don’t know if someone took a photo and showed him or he drew it from scratch, but it looks very realistic but doesn’t give up looking like a piece of art. They way he draws people is very proportionate, everything is in place and it’s different from all the cityscapes I saw while scrolling through the list of artwork.
Stephen Wiltshire's work is amazing. he is autistic and develops slowly but that has not stopped him from becoming a well known artist. He is very gifted and is able to memorize whole cities and draw them from memory. Although he might not be good at reading and writing he shines in art. I have watched a few of his vidoes and find it amazing how much detail he puts in his artwork. My mom works with autistic kids and when I showed her the vidoes she was amazed. She aslo showed others who work with her and they too could not believe he was autistic. It just goes to show how little we know about autism and what people with autism can accomplish; there is still show much to learn about the human brain. Stephen Wiltshire shows that anything can be accopmlished know matter who you are or what condition you are in.
Emily B.
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