by The king has appointed his first “digital” artist to catch a state visit to overseas: a former fish -and -chip -shop employee who was rejected by large art schools as traditional.
Fraser Scarfe, 38, is the official travel artist in Italy. According to reports, the king admired his choice of the medium in the form of an iPad mini.
Scarfe, who is now taught at the Royal Drawing School, recorded scenes from the journey of the king and queen to Rome and Ravenna on the device and said that he was very interested in showing how screens can be used creatively instead of just scrolling through content.
He joined the royal family for the four -day state visit to Italy, with the king looked at some of his works on the flight home.
Scarfe called the appointment an “honor and privilege” and said that it was a “no breeze” to accept the commission and be “let go” to catch the king and the queen, and the people they met her.
During the trip he created 15 digital work, reaching an iPad with his finger or pencil.
He also carried a traditional sketchbook with him in which he made observations in the pen on the way and created another five or six paintings.
He is the latest of the king’s 42 Royal Tour artist. The first was appointed by the then Prince of Wales in 1985. Since then, 69 tours have been drawn and painted in 95 countries.
The position is paid for by the king and was inspired by his own interest in art. As an enthusiastic watercolorist, he is committed to seeing the works for himself as soon as the artists have ended their collections and share his thoughts.
“A different way of grasping things”
“It was an honor and I am very happy that his majesty appreciates the importance of the arts,” said Scarfe, who was previously commissioned to record his view of the crowning glory.
“Everything [the King does] is so well documented by the press and the media [but] Having an artist leaves a different way of grasping things.
“I know how important it is for his majesty to support artists and to get involved in the creative industry.
“As a painter himself, he is always interested in seeing the interpretations of different artists like the tour.”
The king had to see and spoke David Hockney, a pioneer of painting on an iPad, and spoke with Scarfe about his Italian pieces on the plane on the way home from the tour.
“His majesty was very interested in saying that I should use it as an opportunity to work in the way I think it is right … no restrictions,” said the artist, who had added that he had tried to conquer the big events, key locations and “quieter moments”.
He began his working life in teen age and early 20s in a fish and chip shop called Mantles in his house in Horncastle, Lincolnshire after his applications were rejected to London art schools after secondary school.
Scarfe founded his own studio and began to create works of art anyway before he “stumbled” a course at the Royal Drawing School – formerly Prince’s Drawing School and founded by Prince Charles in 2000.
“We don’t want to lose the time -tensory opportunities to produce paintings and drawings, but I think it is really important how we see how the digital technology can support the creative industry and improve it,” he said.
“I hope that more people use their more creative devices instead of always consuming content.”
His digital method that an app called Procreate uses enables him to work with a colored palette while only wearing a small electronic tablet.
You will now exist as a permanent recording of the tour, some of which are likely to enter the royal collection.
