Graham Rounthwaite

Graham Rounthwaite was born in England in 1970. He received a BA with honours in graphic design from the Chelsea School of Art and completed a Masters degree in illustration at the Royal College of Art, in London.

From 1996 to 1998, Graham was the Art Director of Trace magazine. He works as a designer at The Face magazine and has appeared editorially in Details, Elle, Raygun, the Guardian and the Telegraph.

His corporate clients include Levi's, Faberge, National AIDS Awareness, God's Love AIDS Charity, Top Shgop and Carhartt. He has worked with many music recording companies including Concrete, Creation Records, RCA, EMI and Virgin. He has worked with publishing firms such as HarperCollins and Orion, as well as for TV and video clients, including MTV Europe, Avex UK and Partisan.

Rounthwaite is inspired by real young street people rather than fashion. His cool kids are unselfconscious and brighten their environment.

He creates all his illustrations on his Mackintosh computer and doubts that he would ever pick up a paintbrush again. He is very attentive to details, coming down to key rings and hair grips. His illustrations have intensely decorative backgrounds, and he pays passionate attention to the right sneakers, stance and labels. These give his characters vitality and looks that go beyond two-dimensional.

His work for Levi's in New York was fantastic. His pictures were projected on huge posters on buildings. He says that his work for Levi's was the most demanding he has done so far.