Croquis templates for sketching Fashion Flats! (videos in this post)
Maybe you aren’t familiar with using a croquis to create your fashion flats. (see some below)
WHY ARE WE USING A TEMPLATE?
If you have a body or garment “template”, that simply means that you have a body or shape that you can use as a foundation to create all of your original sketches to fit a single size.
PROPORTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
That way, your fashion flats and designs will all be consistently scaled TO ONE ANOTHER.
Versus- sketching a huge jacket and then an itty-bitty pair of pants and sharing those sketches together makes it very confusing to “read ” your designs if they are actually not sketched in the scale they actually have in proportion to each other.
TIME and FOCUS SAVING METHOD FOR DESIGN SKETCHING
It’s really handy not to have to start entirely from scratch every time. You can create your own template, or find one online that you like, sign up for the templates and ebook, or try the ones I included here on this page..
I know, it maybe sounds dull, but when you go really deep with flat sketching: details, proportions, stitching, closures, pockets, etc etc.…. You will be so surprised to see that it becomes an INCREDIBLY creative format for fashion design thinking!
FASHION DESIGN COMMUNICATION
Flats are an essential fashion design communication tool professionally and creatively. Used in conjunction with samples, fabric swatches, mood board, and illustrations, you can clearly communicate fashion design details to both yourself, your design or production or marketing team, and clients at every step along the way.
TUTORIAL EXAMPLE
FASHION FLATS VIDEO TUTORIAL: How to sketch a collar on a croquis template
USING A CROQUIS TEMPLATE
How to use a quick croquis template to start sketching/ designing jackets as fashion flats.
LINE SHEETS
BELOW, you see this informal line sheet for a mini-collection features fashion flat sketches, front and back, for each garment. I did those with a black Prismacolor Pencil and you can tell. Doesn’t it look very different than the lineup below it, done with ink pens?.
What they have in common is that they were all sketched over one fashion sketch template/ croquis body (more on this page)
So proportionally, each garment was drawn for exactly the same figure.
EASY TO READ
This way, when viewed, it is easy to see clearly how the garments can be layered and mixed within the collection of offerings- via precise proportions. For example if i’m offering two skirts and one is just 3 inches longer or wider than the other, it is much easier to see that when I sketch all of my designs proportionally.
(Imagine if the skirt was drawn large, and the top was drawn small, how hard it would be to understand the design and concept.– i find beginner students make this mistake all the time)
PROPORTION IN DESIGN is about SIZE RELATIONSHIPS
You see, proportion is relative size. That’s important for fashion flats and fashion sketching!
Because you want to clarify how each part relates in size to the others, as they come together to create one unified shape, look, design; as well as one unified collection.
CREATIVE FREEDOM IN THE DETAILS
I know it seems like a lot at first,
but it becomes your creative stomping ground once you apply yourself to “befriending” what fashion flats are really all about and what they’re capable of.
For example, each of these flat sketches (bel;ow) was used to design off of a single croquis template. SO, it’s easy to understand which dress is shorter, which is longer, which is looser or tighter or more fitted. We aren’t guessing or wondering whether they were just haphazardly drawing bigger, shorter, looser longer.
CREATIVE DECISION IN THE DETAILS
We know that every line was intentionally placed with DECISION!
THIS IS WHAT MAKES YOU THE DESIGNER. COMMUNICATION, DECISION and PRECISION.
Week 3 of the FASHION EXPRESSION EXPERIENCE course includes a workbook for flat sketching that teaches step by step techniques and examples along with templates to get you started sketching right away, and tutorials!!
(Actually, you can start taking that course TODAY and get a new video and resource every week for 8 weeks.) And you know what? It’s my single most affordable offering of the year.
Or check out my whole intensive SOULFUL FASHION FOUNDATION semester course. We’ll go deep into flats there so you can include them in your line sheets and portfolio layouts.
Croquis templates for illustration
I love freehand fashion sketching in the moment, totally off-the-cuff.
Sometimes though, I sketch figures to get myself into the creative mood…. and THEN lay a sheet of paper over them to create new fashion flats OR illustrations.
THOSE CROQUIS can be used as templates forever if I want.
FOR EXAMPLE, these illustrations templates:
for fashion design sketching:
Create them for any market or customer you are designing for:
Even though I usually use posed figures for illustrations and not posed for flats, that isn’t a rule.
YOU CAN CERTAINLY DESIGN OVER A STRAIGHT FIGURE!:
UNPOSED FASHION DESIGN CROQUIS
In the video below, I use a really cool app called Pret-a-Template to sketch design that is tricky in some ways, but really cool in other ways. I don’t actually recommend it for illustration at all, but I like their templates for people who don’t want to sketch their own.
One thing you will especially like is that it comes with a lot of croquis templates that you can choose from. Children’s, men’s, plus size, maternity, baby, shoe, bag, etc…..
How fun is that? Then you can add color and pattern to represent you fashion fabric choices. It’s a great way to get creative on the go!
Have fun,
Laura
