Fashion Illustration I SS2 Fashion and Garment Making Lesson Note

What is Fashion Illustration?

Fashion illustration is the art of drawing clothes and the human body in a way that shows a design idea. It is different from “fine art” because we aren’t just drawing a person; we are drawing how a fabric moves, how a sleeve hangs, and how a dress fits.

Why do we illustrate?

1. Communication: To show a tailor or a customer exactly what the finished outfit will look like.
2. Exploration: It’s cheaper to change a design on paper with an eraser than to waste expensive Ankara or Silk fabric!
3. Record Keeping: Designers keep “lookbooks” of their sketches so they don’t forget their best ideas.

The “Designer’s Eye”: As an illustrator, you must start looking at clothes differently. Don’t just see a shirt; see where the seams are, how many buttons it has, and where the collar sits on the neck.

Your Professional Tool Kit

You don’t need a computer to be a great illustrator. Some of the world’s best designs started with just a pencil and a scrap of paper.

Essential Tools:

• Pencils (H and B): Use H (hard) pencils for light, thin “guide lines” that you can erase easily. Use B (soft/black) pencils for the final dark outlines.
• Eraser: A good quality “kneaded” eraser is best because it doesn’t smudge the lead or tear the paper.
• Fine-liner Pens: Once your pencil sketch is perfect, use a black fine-liner (0.1 or 0.5) to “ink” the lines.
• Tracing Paper: This is a secret weapon! You can draw a body once, put tracing paper over it, and draw ten different outfits on the same body.
• Colored Pencils/Markers: To show the color and texture of the fabric.

Understanding the “9-Head” Canon

In fashion drawing, we don’t draw people with “normal” body proportions. To make clothes look more elegant and dramatic, we use the 9-Head Figure.

What does this mean? Imagine the height of a person’s head. In a normal person, the body is about 7 or 7.5 “heads” tall. In fashion, we stretch the legs to make the figure 9 heads tall.

The Basic Breakdown:

• Head 1: The actual head.
• Head 2 to 3: The torso (shoulders to waist).
• Head 4: The hips and pelvic area.
• Head 5 to 9: The legs and feet (this is where the “stretch” happens!).

Pro Tip: Always start with a “Balance Line” (a straight vertical line from the neck to the floor). This ensures your model doesn’t look like they are falling over!

Drawing the “Croquis”

A Croquis (pronounced kro-kee) is a quick, rough sketch of a fashion figure. It is the “template” you draw your clothes on.

Steps to Draw a Basic Croquis:

1. The Spine: Draw your vertical balance line.
2. The Shoulders & Hips: Draw two horizontal lines. Hint: In a fashion figure, the shoulders are usually wider than the hips.
3. The Joints: Draw small circles for the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. This helps you “pose” the figure.
4. The “Meat”: Connect the circles with soft, curved lines to create the arms and legs.

Movement: If you tilt the shoulder line to the left, you must tilt the hip line to the right. This creates a “natural” pose that makes the clothes look more realistic.

Basic Sketches – Adding the Clothes

Now that you have your croquis, it’s time to “dress” the figure. This is where you become a designer.

1. Draw the “Outline” of the Outfit: Don’t draw every tiny detail yet. Start with the big shapes. Is it a flared skirt? A tight bodice? Puff sleeves? Draw these lightly over your croquis.
2. Gravity and Folds: Fabric is heavy. It sags at the armpits and wrinkles at the elbows and knees. Draw small “U” or “V” shaped lines where the fabric bunches up. This makes your drawing look “human” and real.
3. Details: Now add the buttons, the zippers, the pockets, and the top-stitching. These small details tell the tailor how to sew the garment.

Summary Task: Take your pencil and draw a straight vertical line. Try to divide it into 9 equal parts using the “head” measurement. Practice drawing just the basic frame of the 9-head figure five times.