Another Fashion Sketch Group ZOOM session wrapped up yesterday…
I thought that today I share examples over this page to peer into the close up of the random studies that came out of this week’s session and give you some ideas how you can experiment with and explore your art supplies, in or out of Fashion Sketch Group.
Each week on zoom I curate warmup poses for quick studies during the first half hour or so. I also curate great Jazz, world and Brazilian Music to bring us into a vibrant flow state and emotive, imaginative world where creative expression naturally bursts through.
Fashion Sketch Group is designed to be a “free “, open -ended, studio-art course space.
A CONSISTENT date where you can always count on a fashion and figure drawing / sketching oasis in the middle of your week-
and feel the effects of this cumulative momentum building your experience and confidence as you PLAY , EXPLORE, and FLOW with your art supplies!
For me and for the members of our cozy mini-mastermind, this is some serious FOOD FOR THE SOUL!
Art Supplies
In today’s post I’ll focus on the art supplies I used.
THERE ARE NO RULES regarding the use of art supplies! I’ll just be sharing what I used on a random Fashion Sketch Group date.
The goal for sharing today is to share tips and spark inspirations for art supplies you may want to bring
Fashion Sketch #1:
For the fashion sketch above I started with an oversized round , pointed watercolor brush in this Model Drawing Session. I used this with a diluted brown gouache wash so that I could “feel out the figure” loosely in a casual, relaxed way.
My intention was to then get more specific and detailed by coming in with a soft artist quality colored pencil. (Prismacolor Premier are the softest I’ve found)
I felt into the contours and volume of the curly hair, added facial features to bring the “character” to life, and crystallized the contours of the garments.
Smooth satin ribbons on toe- shoes (I love sketching dancers for the expressions in the figure!), the stretchy soft jersey top, twist arm positioning, and the draped gathers (or were they pleats?) across the hips (is that a belt?? A skirt? An accessory?
Finally, I felt everything was blurring together so I quickly added a sheer layer of blue to her shirt using the side of my colored pencil, and white for the tights and belt, to be true to the original fashion image we worked from and add some color-blocked visual differentiation to each garment.
PRIORITIZING WHAT YOU SEE:
(This is where the teacher within you steps in and guides you) Quick poses are designed to incourage MINIMAL THINKING and MAXIMIZED FEELING!
Examples of ESSENTIAL INFORMATION to capture during the quick FIGURE DRAWING warmups (WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?):
proportion, size, essence, movement and flow, gesture, balancing figure on feet, “attitude”, feeling.
As time in a real-time fashion sketch gets longer (5 minutes to 20 minutes) , it allows my next priorities to come forward.
- features (face, hair nose and mouth, hands, feet),
- clothing silhouettes (pure shape)
- defining layers of garments (what’s over and under what)
- form: shading and highlight
- construction: seamlines, finishes and garment details
- contours- to describe the texture of the fabric or the fit of it.
…And of course color and print – these all get added in longer poses.,
MIX IT UP!
the above are suggestions and rules are meant to be broken :0)
Digital Fashion Sketching
This timelapse takes a longer pose and speeds it up into 30 seconds using a freehand sketching app on my iPad Pro. I used AdobeFresco in this example which I teach in my iPad Illustration and design course along with other apps so you can pick your favorite.
Notice how I still begin with a soft quick gesture “map” of the figure,
then slowly building in details layer by layer.
It seems like magic , but it’s just one true mark and observation at a time.
This is why I am AlWAYS encouraging you to draw from observation to always be growing your “vocabulary” of fashion design detail and texture , etc
This way, when you want to sketch up something from your imagination, you have a lot of experiences and effects to draw upon and draw WITH.
WHISPERING TECHNIQUE
Whispering is the antidote to the eraser.
It’s my name for the practice of working soft, soft, every so softly….
We can whisper a fashion sketch into existence, as the unseen becomes visible little by little.
Whether we are creatively designing, technically sketching, or fashion sketching from observation… we always have the option to whisper.
Sketching softly and light allows us to “say, but not say”- to make a note on the page JUST ENOUGH to be able to respond to it, to
Whispering is how we “MAP OUT” a thought, shape, stroke or idea, with the sense of FLEXIBILITY that knows it can be changed, shifted, reworked, moved in a moment,
(by listening, moving, watching, feeling- to what we see in our imagination or in our physical view)
AND that none of this needs to be eradicated or erased
And that the visible PROCESS is beautiful and intelligent in itself…
AND THAT WE CAN ALWAYS BECOME DARKER, MORE CRISP/ CLEAR OR MORE DECISIVE as the sketch evolves and the idea becomes more concrete and certain.
AND THIS IS WHAT I CALL “PERFECTION”!
WHAT IS A SKETCH?
A sketch is a conversation—with imagination, an evolution, an experiment, a process, a moment, and idea, a question, a curiosity. A discovery, a mirror, a possiblility,
for me, the very DEFINITION of a “sketch” is that it is in motion, transient, active, processing, ever-changing, developing, reaching, expandable and stretchable.
A sketch is a garden. A sketch is fertile. A sketch breeds more sketches.
A sketch is inspired, enthusiastic, imaginary, ethereal, open-ended, felt.
It’s a step before the finish, the concrete, the completed act.
ITS IMPROVISATION
and it’s all I really care about. IT’S WHERE LIFE HAPPENS.
It’s vulnerable, open, receptive, intentional, aspirational…
and directional, focused, forward-moving
A sketch is a dance between goals, decisions, boundaries, structure, execution, visions, ideas…. and receptivity, response, mystery, emotion, and feeling that guides and flows invisibly by intuition.
Gouache and pencil warmups
Here I used dark blue which has more presence on the page being darker. This means my line has to be dark enough to still have contrast with the base or it will just disappear into oblivion.
Paper for fashion sketching
This paper wrinkles when wet, but I use SKETCH paper because it’s informal and affordable, keeping me in a spirit of “practice” and play.
if I’m taking a longer pose more seriously, I’ll use Bristol, Multimedia, or watercolor paper for sure.
Even then, when I use thicker paper, I’ll tape it down on all four sides to keep it from wrinkling or needing when I work wet.
I won’t release the tape until my work has dried completely.
Charcoal pencil for fashion sketching
Charcoal pencils aren’t all the same so don’t give up too quickly!
Allow yourself to try a few if you can.
I always opt for a very soft one. They smudge very easily, but just look how responsive , sensitive and bold they are!
Giving charcoal a chance in any form will DEFINITELY extend the range of your expressions and abilities in drawing. TRUST me, Even if you “don’t like it”, it’s because it’s stretching you.
As you use charcoal pencil, ask yourself what is going on for you and notice what new feelings and experiences it is revealing to you!
“Charcoal is a teacher”.
I used charcoal in this fashion sketch study OVER a yellow ochre Prismacolor pencil that I used to lightly sketch and map the pose and garments FIRST.
Then I gave crisper form to the fashion sketch via the charcoal pencil.
Prismacolor Colored Pencils for Fashion Sketches
I can’t say enough how much I love the texture, softness and sensitivity of – especially- Prismacolor premier colored pencils (even though they break so much).
I wish I had a video of the creation of the image BELOW.
Because of the camera angle, there is a strong FORESHORTENING effect: for example how the foot appears much larger than the head/ face.
In order to approach a drawing like this, especially this one, I made a map of circles and ellipses— rather vague, soft shapes, head, forearm, knee, foot, in order to capture the PROPORTION (relative size) and PLACEMENT of the major masses and pieces…. BEFORE GETTING SPECIFIC about ANYTHING.
“WHISPERING” AGAIN!
The model was wearing a knit top and a ruffled tulle skirt- I love how I was able to capture the fine ruffles on the yellow skirt.
I used much softer colors in my interpretation than the actual fashion photo I worked from, which also gave an enjoyable sense of fresh feeling, personal style, feeling, and transformation of what I saw originally.
OIL PASTELS: Bold and textural expressions
HOW TO BEGIN YOUR FASHION SKETCH COLLECTION JOURHEY
I shared courses on this page that are currently open for you to dive into the pool of self discovery, adventure, confidence and satisfaction that comes from taking your love of fashion– design, craftsmanship and art– and pouring it into developing and refining these skills.
Whether you use for your career or simply for the profound gift that cultivating art and beauty brings to your life…
This experience is transforming and ripples out.
To me the greatest richness of life comes through this deep listening to what is within us, and bringing it outward, communicating, sharing, growing, noticing where our fears are and growing beyond them lovingly, and….
Most important of all, creating beauty with love and humanity in a world that is increasingly offering us flat, square, uninspired industrial fashion design and architecture.
ART and BEAUTY and TRUTH are alive WITHIN US.
let’s begin!
love
Laura
