Stephen Wiltshire has been drawing his entire life. As a child, he was found to be autistic and the only way teachers could get him to speak was to take away his art supplies. One specific teacher took a shine to young Stephen and began entering his work into art contests, though people had a hard time believing a child could create such detailed drawings at such a young age. At just 7 years old, the nation turned their collective eyes on Stephen, which got him his very first commission. At just eight years old, Stephen was hired by Prime Minister Edward Heath to create a drawing of the Salisbury Cathedral. Stephen’s career had begun, earlier than people even make it to high school.
I bring up Stephen today to emphasize just what amazing skill and talent this man possesses. He’s had works published since a very young age but his most recent endeavors are truly made of wonder and amazement. To this point, Stephen had created countless drawings of things around him from cars to friends to sketches of celebrities. In May of 2005, he was invited to draw the largest panoramic drawing ever created of Tokyo, and this created an exciting challenge. Things really get exciting when you find out that he did it over a 7 day period after less than an hour of studying the Tokyo cityscape.
Stephen first took a 30 minute helicopter flight around Tokyo, taking in every detail. He was then taken to the roof of the Mori Building, 54 floors above the city. With no other inspiration or reference, Stephen Wiltshire would drew for 7 days, morning to night to create the 10 meter long panorama of Tokyo.
After his Tokyo panorama experience, Stephen has drawn Rome, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dubai, Jerusalem, London and New York on canvasses just as enormous. His most recent trips took him to Sydney, Shanghai and Brisbane and I’m confident there will be plenty more to follow. Stephen loves what he does, and it’s heartwarming that he’s given the chance to fly around, study the cities, draw the cities and become famous for it.
Due to the fact that his panoramas are sold as prints, high resolution photos are hard to come by, but a quick look around his website rewards both pictures and videos of Stephen working and creating these works of art.
Source – StephenWiltshire.co.uk
