Any advice/resources on drawing clothing and folds?
1yr
@chrisseo
I am struggling a lot with understanding how clothing and folds drape over 3D shapes and human forms. Does anyone have any advice/resources? Attached is my attempt at drawing a dress and my reference.
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Shelley Plunkett
Agreed with everything on previous comments. Another suggestion, and I'm a nub, but I like drawing clothing and texture for whatever reason. I looks for the shapes in the folds, which often comes down to distorted triangles. So, I rough sketch those in and then do the shading. Shadow and "HIGHLIGHTS" are so important to making a good fold. I usually start dark and bring up to light.
@illustratedspellbook
Martha's advice is spot-on, but I would add that you've got a reference with tricky fabric that is so light (silk chiffon) that it catches air very differently than other, denser fabrics, and acts like it has a delayed response to gravity. If this was a silk jersey (much slinkier) or velvet (heavier, apt to catch on itself), it would create different shapes when tossed up like that and probably not kick out behind without one of the dancer's legs supporting it. This is one of those things where it just takes reference + practice.
Martha Muniz
I think the easiest way to tackle drapery is thinking about the source of the fabric's shapes, aka what are the points holding or twisting the fabric? Once you pinpoint these tension points, it can be easier to manage or break down what is happening as gravity starts bringing it down. There's a video by moderndayjames that I find really helpful on this topic, and he also explains the different categories of folds in-depth: https://youtu.be/S1eR1rcPlHc
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