Key facts about Stephen Wiltshire
Stephen Wiltshire was born in London in 1974. He is known for his incredible drawings of cityscapeArtwork that shows a city scene..
Stephen can draw from memory after seeing scenes for a very short time.
When he was three years old, Stephen was diagnosed with autismA lifelong disability which affects how people interact with the world..
He first communicated with others using his drawings as he was muteUnable to speak..
Stephen was awarded an MBEMember of the British Empire. An honour that is awarded to a person by the King or Queen for a particular achievement. for services to the art world in 2006.
Stephen Wiltshire's cityscapes
This is a drawing of Stephen Wiltshire's large-scale artwork of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong from 2005, which was 10 metres long. It includes:
- a cityscape
- horizontalA horizontal line goes across from left to right. and verticalA vertical line goes up and down lines
- perspectiveA way of making art look three-dimensional.
- a variety of drawing techniques including hatchingUsing lines to create light and dark areas. and cross-hatchingUsing lines that cross over each other to create light and dark areas.
Watch: Stephen Wiltshire and his work
Activity: match the drawings
Activity: draw from memory
Stephen Wiltshire uses his amazing memory to make drawings with lots of details.
Try and use your memory to draw an image. You could:
- simply think of something from your memory
- look out of a window
- find an image in a book or use an old photograph
- look at an object in the room you are in.
Try to remember as many details as you can, then look away and draw everything that you can recall.
Stephen Wiltshire's factfile
Did you know?
- Stephen Wiltshire draws every single day.
- His motto is do the best you can and never stop.
- Stephen is a fan of American cars.
- At school, Stephen would often draw his teachers.
- Stephen's first words were paper and pencil (just like the artist Pablo Picasso).
Quiz
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