Stephen began drawing at the State Library of Queensland on Saturday, after an early morning ride on the wheel at Southbank, and a late afternoon helicopter ride over Brisbane on Friday. The image of Brisbane will join a collection of other iconic skylines Stephen has created in his career to date, and will be displayed at the State Library of Queensland.
Linda Pitt Executive Manager of Learning and Participation at the State Library of Queensland says big crowds have come to watch Stephen draw across the weekend. 'The crowds have been enormous, and it has been touching to see people celebrating while Stephen is here'.
Brisbane might be the latest city to make Stephen's impressive world city panorama collection, but it's not Australia's first city to be featured. In April 2010 Stephen drew Sydney city, And they are not the only Australian cities Stephen has his eye on to draw.
'I have not been to Perth and Melbourne yet,' he says. Although it is his first time to the river city, it takes only a ride on the wheel at Southbank, and a short helicopter ride over the city for Stephen's photographic memory to capture the intricate details of the Kurilpa Bridge, the Riverside expressway, and the winding Brisbane River that will ultimately feature in detail on the finished artwork.
'Brisbane in a nice place, it's just like in London...I will draw it from memory. The bridges will be easy to remember, because it is like London Bridge.'
Stephen's artistic talents were discovered at age five when he spoke his first words: 'Pen and Paper', and he learnt how to communicate quickly through his drawing and was discovered to have savant abilities when he began drawing distinctly accurate buildings from his home city of London. Now Stephen is considered a star among artists and is one of just a few people in the world with extraordinary ability to capture cityscapes and architecture in such detail.
His tried and true method when creating a panorama drawing of a city involves listening to his extensive playlist of everything from Motown classics to top 40 chart music, which he says makes him feel happy, just like when he is drawing his favourite things - buildings.
'I like tall buildings because of their style. The new and modern buildings. My favourite city to draw is London and New York.' (via ABC)