LINCOLN CENTER — While fashion photographers snap anything that walks inside the New York Fashion Week tents, one Chelsea artist takes a quieter approach to capturing the stylish set.
Tim Bush — whose day job is illustrating children's books with names such as "Wanna Buy an Alien?" and "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" — takes time off each year to focus his pencils and ink on the chic crowds at Fashion Week.
"I love to draw in public and this is such a great occasion," said Bush, who illustrated his first published children’s book 20 years ago.
Bush often stands unnoticed just outside the commotion of the photographers who fill the Lincoln Center's plaza, creating quick street-style images that he posts on his blog Studio Hermit.
"With everyone posing for photographers, I get a better look," Bush added, referring to the 30-second glance he needs to create a drawing.
Bush said that coming to Fashion Week helps him practice his art and get a different perspective on the human body.
"Even though I live in Chelsea, this is not something you see everyday — the shapes, the styles, the varieties," he added.
Bush's attention to detail gives him a different take on what trendsetters are wearing and how they are wearing it.
"The [high-heeled] shoes that I am watching walk past are insane, but they actually need to accommodate a human foot," Bush said. "So you see a different foot from something than what is in flat shoes."
Each drawing takes Bush 4 or 5 minutes to complete in pencil and either brown or black ink. Occasionally he uses hot pink accents, a color he is seeing a lot of at Lincoln Center this Fashion Week.
Bush says he has also seen a lot of blue, lemon, black and white, and hot pink along with plaid patterns, big hats with floppy brims and full skirts.
"Everything is more exaggerated [at Fashion Week] so you see it more clearly," he said.