Drawing Fashion from Gesture to Line (VIDEO BELOW)

FASHION drawing from gesture to line

I can’t emphasize enough the power of drawing fashion from Gesture to Line.

Am I speaking another language ?

I’ll explain.

The most common approach- and most frustrating- to drawing fashion is flat, dark, clean, “perfect lines” that aren’t so dynamic or descriptive.

THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM AT ALLLLLLLLLLLL!

Let me be clear!

It’s only a problem if it FRUSTRATES YOU!

plus size leotard model fashion figure study, marker and pencil, with frame, from class session with Laura volpintesta — In this quick fashion figure study, I began with a soft colored gesture in marker, then added definition with pencil lines.

LET YOUR FEELING PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR YOUR DRAWING

(Who are we drawing fashion for anyway? :0)

Today’s drawing techniques will improve your drawing for school or work, but the deepest reasons why you want to draw fashion are beyond that….

The FRUSTRATION comes when you know you want more, and you feel STUCK in a one dimensional world that feels lifeless, dry, stiff, flat, colorless, …

…when what you feel and imagine inside is so much more vibrant. rich, and vital.

men's model fashion figure drawing for fashion illustration and design by Laura Volpintesta online course — Drawing Men: I started with a “wash of gouache” inside of Adobe Fresco App, then worked a sensitive black pencil tool on top

THIS METHOD as a FASHION DESIGN SKETCHING TOOL

Once you have become comfortable with using today’s technique to practice drawing what you SEE, you can start to use it for ideation. creative design drawing,

A page of gestures like this (below), once set up, can be “dressed” in your unique ideas, letting them flow out as drawings right on to the figure.

In the case below, I sketched ONE gesture croquis, then copied and pasted it across my digital page inside an art app.

GOUACHE WASH GESTURE WITH VINE CHARCOAL LINE

TO create the fashion drawing BELOW, I started with a washy wet brush of gouache to map out the shape and placement of the figure in an energetic way.
. That gesture drawing lacked definition but prepared me to go in confidently with my contours, highlighting anatomy and flow!

today’s DRAWING ILLUSTRATION video

has a purpose.

I drew while looking at a black and white Seydou Keita photo.

I purposely used a large, soft pastel (in Tayasui Sketches app) in brown and in white,

to LOOSELY

VAGUELY

and SOFTLY plot out the figures in the photo.

(SEE THE VIDEO, then read on)

beginning your fashion drawing with soft vague shapes

This method of fashion drawing offers several benefits.

beginning with macro-information. PURE SHAPE, not line. When we draw with pure shape, what we are drawing feels “full ” and “whole”. This gives a vital presence on the page, where as empty lines feel..well,….“empty”.
they make more obvious the sense of POSiTIVE AND NEGATIVE SHAPE ON THE PAGE. If those words are new, think of it like this: when drawing fashion or anything else: the figures are the positive shape, the “background” is the negative shape. Each interacts and interplays with the other in the composition of your page.
working very very softly, smudgily and vaguely helps me feel confident, non -commital, non- perfectionist and “SAFE” to make marks that are tentative. It’s like making a MAP of the page and the layout, so that I can “approve it” gently before I DEFINE and get controlled, detailed or specific!
the safety and playful/relaxed state that this process invites makes for more personal, more accurate, and more INTERESTING fashion drawings.

Whether you are aware of it or not, working with this awareness adds a whole new level to how you see and feel while you draw. It has impact.

I always call this step of drawing “undersketching”

Adding line fOR DEFINITION to your fashion drawing

The Fashion Drawing in today’s video is more of a mood sketch (for Eveningwear), but that’s what I wanted!

If you’ve been frustrated by drawing fashion with stiff, dry, tight lines and want to add emotion, motion and style to your toolkit, whether you are working digitally or with analog art supplies.

(And the experience the adventure and joy that comes with that)

Working this way will loosen you up…don’t worry, you can always “tighten up ” again. It’s loosening up and feeling free and safe to explore that we are focusing on.

Contours give style and mood in your fashion drawing

TELLING STORIES THROUGH FASHION ILLUSTRATION

In this live-drawing session exercise, we began with the undersketch gesture /shape drawing made with a soft wash of grey gouache, with a few minutes limiting the time. I do this sometimes to encourages students to focus on the most essential aspects and leave out minor details.

Linear contour details were then added with a fine line ink pen.

Because we want not only to draw something, but to FEEL SOMETHING.

We want to communicate more than only what we SEE.

We want to tell a story! This unfinished piece tells a strong story with mystery and contrasts.

Drawing men for menswear fashion design course by Laura Volpintesta Line quality over digital gesture drawing base — A broad black digital pencil communicates silhouette and detail after I used a digital watercolor wash to drawing a men’s fashion figure gesture.

In my Tayasui Sketches app (above) , I took a brush pen and started to play with key lines to create figures and clothes over that vague base. The soft background takes the edge off of any perfectionist tendencies that may be taking you down when you come to drawing fashion.

Below, a yellow brush tip Tombow marker is the gesture base, and then I added pencil contours.

THIS TECHNIQUE IS EXCELLENT FOR MASTERING THE FIGURE FOR FASHION ILLUSTRATIONS!