Critique on drapery
3yr
Anubhav Saini
Hello everybody i am currently learning about drapery.The goal with these drawings is to understand zig zag folds and how gesture affects the drapery. Please can anyone critique.
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3yr
Hey, @Anubhav Saini! Thanks for reaching out, and sorry for the delayed reply!
Nice drawings! I see @Steve Lenze has already given you some valuable help. One thing I’d definitely highlight is to never forget to consider the primary anatomical forms underneath the clothes, which are the ones that will mostly affect how the drapes sit on top and how their fold patterns may look. In this case, the primary forms are the cylinderish forms of the arms and legs.
Another thing I’d encourage would be to not worry about copying the references so closely - instead, take the reference just as a starting point or something to eventually consult, but mainly see if you can design the folds in your drawing based on what you understand about how they should work (which involves considering the forms underneath, the tension points, the fabric material and sometimes a little physics like gravity, pressures or the presence of air inside the drapes).
I’m wondering if you’ve read Burne Hogarth‘s book “Dynamic wrinkles and drapery”. It contains some really handy explanations on how to design believable clothing on the human figure. There might be other resources I’m not aware about which contain similar information, so maybe do a little Google search? Anyway, for this type of drapery study you’re doing, I believe that information on drapery drawing and design could be just as helpful as getting good reference to study from (or perhaps even more helpful, as it can free you from just copying what you see and allow you to come up with innovative solutions in your drawings).
Hope this helps.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you very much sirr it is really helpful and i have not read Burne Hogarth book dyanamic wrinkles and drapery but i will also currently I am going through Aaron Blaise course on costumed figures and drapery
Hey Anubhav Saini,
Good idea to study folds, you will have to deal with them all the time. My rule of thumb is to simplify the folds to the ones that help me. In other words, I use the ones that help sell the perspective, show where anatomy effects the folds, and which ones create the most interesting design. This takes some practice, but by looking at how other artists simplify folds, and use them to their advantage, will help you to design them.
Hope this helps :)