MILWAUKEE — Imagine being able to draw a city skyline in near-perfect detail after just seeing it once. Well, that's exactly how one artist drew Milwaukee.
The artist is Stephen Wiltshire. He’s considered a savant. After a brief helicopter ride, he memorizes a city’s skyline, like Milwaukee, and then draws it. No reference materials at all. He has traveled all over the world doing this.
“New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C., Tokyo, and Hong Kong," Stephen Wiltshire said, just to name a few.
Wiltshire was diagnosed with autism at three years old. He discovered his passion and talent for drawing cityscapes and buildings while he was a child.
He’s pretty good at it. Not just from a detail perspective - like the shape of buildings, number of stories, or windows. His 10-foot wide drawing of Milwaukee has taken just a few hours. He said Milwaukee was pretty easy compared to other drawings like Tokyo.
"I've done the panorama in Tokyo for 8 days," Wiltshire said.
His canvas for the Tokyo drawing was more than 30 feet long. Wiltshire's original drawings can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
If you see him drawing, you'll notice he is wearing a pair of headphones. Wiltshire loves listening to Motown while drawing - bands like the Bee Gees, Temptations, Earth, Wind & Fire, Heatwave, Marvin Gaye, and more.
When he finally puts down the pen, steps back, and sees his drawing, Wiltshire feels accomplished.
"I feel really, feel good about it, and happy, and I feel pleased about it, and happy my work is done.”
But then it’s on to the next city. He’s already done London, Dubai, Rome, and Madrid. So what’s next?
“I haven't done Vancouver, and I haven't done Milan, and haven't done Montreal yet.”
Wiltshire, the savant artist, is drawing our world as he sees it. And I don’t think there’s much debate. He sees it pretty clearly.
Watch the video of Stephen Wiltshire drawing the Milwaukee skyline here...
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
