Illustration: Illustrating your garment

When you are illustrating a garment there are so many things to think about and remember it’s hard to keep it all straight! Here is my thought process for when I am sketching a garment.

-I start with my pre-drawn stylized croqui done in pencil so I am able to erase the body lines underneath.

-With your garment in mind think about the basic silhouette. Is it full is it an hourglass… Then with that basic shape how much fullness and ease either design or fitting is present. Where is part of the garment located in reference to the body landmarks?

-When drawing out the outline of your garment I tend to start at the shoulders and work my way down in addressing major landmarks such as the waist.

-Pay attention to the specific gravity and the affect gravity has on the garment. The direction your croquis is leaning will indicate how the garment will flow.

-The amount a piece of clothing will flow and fall with gravity is affected by the weight and fiber content of the fabric. If the fabric is light and soft, the garment will drape and fall more giving more depth and movement. If the fabric is heavy and has lots of structure, the garment will hold its own shape more and have less drape and movement.

-After the outline has been laid down and the inner croqui has been erased, begin adding the design details. Keep in mind how the garment is flowing and folding on the croqui to continue the movement in the details.

-Once all your details are in place and you are happy with the shape of your garment, outline your finished product with black permanent pens. I like Prismacolor’s set. Use the different thicknesses to indicate the different weights of fabric present in your drawing. After allowing the ink to dry so it doesn’t smear, erase your pencil lines for a clean finished product.

Illustration: Drawing your own croquis

Drawing your own proportional figure is a key factor to drawing a successful display of your fashion illustration. Creating your own fashion figure you can rely on will help you draw well put together garment illustrations quicker and more accurate. Drawing a figure can be intimidating, but with the right tools it’s very simple.

The basic croqui is 8 ½ heads high. A high fashion figure is a full 10 heads high. We will start with the basic croqui.

To draw a proportional croqui, create a figure map for yourself to create landmarks for positions of the body. When starting out it’s easiest to make one head equal to one inch but this can be proportionally adjusted. Create a 9 head or 9 inch figure map by drawing a 9 inch vertical line and a horizontals line at every inch mark. Also mark the 1 ½ line. Label the horizontal lines 0-9.

Now to begin your figure, start by making your figure very geometric.

1.       Draw an upside down egg shape for your figure head. This should fit between lines 0 & 1.

2.       From the base of the head at line 1, draw a rectangle that rounds out on the bottom to the 1 ½ line to create a neck. The neck should be 2/3s of the head width.

3.       The 1 ½ line is the location of the shoulders. Draw a straight line parallel to your marking that is 1 ½ heads long (the length of the figures shoulders. Connect the shoulders and neck by drawing a straight line from the shoulder points to the base of the neck. This will create two small triangles.

4.       Line 3 is the waist location. Draw a line that is ¾ of a head length parallel to line 3. Connect the shoulder points to the waist line to make a trapezoid for the upper torso.

5.       Line four is the crotch location. Draw a line parallel to line four that is 1 ½ heads long (this should be as long as the shoulder length) to draw the full hip. From the waist line draw a second trapezoid to make the lower torso.

Your figure now consists of the head and body and needs limbs. Each arm and leg has 3 points where the limb can bend called the joint socket. These can be represented by a ball.

6.       Draw a ball in the shoulder points and in the full hip to create the shoulder and hip joints. To draw the upper arm, draw tapering rectangles from the shoulders at the 1 ½ line to the waist at line 3. At this point draw another set of ball sockets for the elbows. To draw the upper leg draw two rectangles from the joints at line 4 tapering to line 6. at line 6, draw ball sockets for the knees. From the elbows and the knees, draw two smaller tapering rectangles to make the lower arms and legs. The arms should continue from line 3 to line 4 and the legs should continue from line 6 to line 8. (Key fact: the under arm should start at line 2. Line 2 is also the bust location)

7.       Draw a ball socket at the end of each limb to mark the wrists and ankles, draw rectangles to represent the hands and feet ½ head long to finish off your geometric croqui.

Practice your figure developing it to look less geo metric and represent more of a human figure. Curve and shape the figure making the transitions smooth and fluent. Once you begin to become familiar with your figures proportions, you can turn your figure to a ¾ or profile view by shifting the body angles. These angles can be matching or apposing depending on your desired pose. Have some fun with it and stylize your croqui to your own personality. Just remember the importance of proportions!