Starting Simple: Learning the Basics of Fashion Sketching

Any sewer should be aware of the fact that sketching is an important ability to have. The sketching generally serves as the road map for all the phases of garment designing, from the fabric and color selection to the actual construction.

Your being a sewer requires you to at least have a basic background about sketching. If you can sketch, you can easily record fashions you see on streets, or work out varied design details and then communicate these ideas to fellow sewers. To learn more on how to make precise, professional-looking and stylish drawings, here are some few tips that you can learn from.

FASHION ILLUSTRATIONS AND FLAT SCHEMATICS

Take a closer look at those ordinary pattern envelopes. You can see two varied but equally essential types of sketches at work. On the back part of the envelope, a schematic drawing shows the garments flat outline, along with the styles and the construction details.

On the other hand, the more appealing fashion illustrations are found on the front part of the envelope. This side clearly shows the ensemble on a body while providing illusions of movements and three dimensional forms.

Flat Schematic

To obtain the perfect symmetry, remember these three basic tips: draw half, fold, and trace. Start by placing tracing paper on top of your croquis and then mark a center part of the front line. On the left part, draw only the garment. Fold the tracing paper, making sure that it goes along the center front line. Trace your markings to the right side; unfold it before adding asymmetrical details like zippers.

Illustrations made Easy

When you begin fashion rendering, start with a photograph or an illustration that has a silhouette the same as the garment that you wish to sketch. If possible, have the photograph or illustrations reduced or enlarged if desired.

Tracing a Photo

From your desired image, trace the outline and the major lines of the clothing and the figure on a sheet of tracing paper. Make sure you use quick pencil strokes. You can try sketching the facial features if desired.

Drawing your Design

From your traced figure, lay another piece of tracing paper on top of it. Start drawing your own design, carefully following the original outline where appropriate. After making the outline, fill in the remaining illustrations by correctly retracing the minor details like the head and the feet, alongside the details from the first tracing. Use pencil lines to darken the sketch.

Coloring and Notating

Lay yet another tracing paper on top of your last drawing. With a fine-point marker, watchfully trace the pencil lines. You can try adding colors, texture or shadows if desired. Annotate your sketch before labeling details.

THE TRACE AND THE FILL APPROACH

The very basic of fashion sketching are very simple: you slide an existing figure of a drawing or a picture underneath a blank sheet of paper and then draw the garments so it will fit the outlines of the figure. The outcome of the drawing will be determined by the genre of the figure drawn.

Use a corquis for flat garment schematic. Corquis is the term sewers use that means the schematic figure illustration of the standard body proportion. For dimensional fashion drawings, use varied fashion photographs or illustrations. You can obtain them mostly from fashion magazines or pattern envelopes. Make these illustrations as your basis.

In fashion sketching, it's not only the right creative idea that plays an important part. Your sketching tools also matter. Fashion sketching requires tracing papers, pencils, erasers, not too opaque drawing papers, markers and colored pencils. Sketching is quite difficult at first, especially if you have never sketched anything in your life.

Try to stay focused. Remember that your goal here is to develop and communicate your thoughts accurately and clearly. Don't worry about making perfect sketches since you are still a beginner. Instead, think of sketching as your first major step to designing and making the garments that you have dreamed of all along.

Fashion sketching isn't that hard to learn at all if you have the will to learn and the passion for fashion. Remember that thru sketching, you can start creating garments from your own ideas and thoughts.