In  videos 2 and 3:

I WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO USE YOUR FASHION FIGURE SKETCH as a CROQUIS TEMPLATE to sketch your original design ideas onto! (FUN FUN FUN)!!!!

AND THESE ARE YOUR KEYS TO BEGINNER FASHION DESIGN SKETCHING.

Put all of these skills together and you’ll be  WELL ON YOUR WAY!

ABOVE:  are some examples of fashion garment design sketches  visualized as FLATS.  This mini collection was sketched over a croquis template, which gave all of the garments for the group the same look and relative size. 

On the importance of scale in fashion design sketching:

It is always really important to sketch all of your garments to a single body scale to  communicate clearly for a particular project. All bodies are welcome and celebrated, but focus your fashion design collection sketches for one body at a time!

BELOW: a sample UNPOSED fashion croquis body to use under your sketch paper to sketch onto.

(Of course you can adjust the croquis body for different collections, but for one collection of design ideas, use one body at a time).

SO LET’S BUILD A STRAIGHT AND A POSED FASHION BODY FOR BEGINNER FASHION DESIGN SKETCHING!

IN THE NEXT VIDEOS:

See how you can use Sketch paper (lighter and thinner than “drawing” paper)for fashion design sketching to see the body through the paper while we dress it up into our new fashion design concept ….based on the fabric swatches/samples we decided to design with. In this video: You’ll see that I used a day lit window to trace clean and more refined versions of my fashion design sketches onto the not so transparent Bristol paper...  Light boxes are also great tools for tracing.

As I trace, I can add or subtract details and “fix” things that seem to want adjusting  in my designs or drawings. Tracing will give me a new copy on the better paper for watercolor/ gouache sketching my final illustrations after I color up my informal sketchbook page.  Another way that I use tracing as a fashion design sketching tool is simply to retrace my favorite design sketches so that I can create even more variations of a beautiful piece. For example:

1. What does the back view look like?  (I trace my front garment’s silhouette, but then sketch up the back view  details.)
2. How does it look with longer/shorter/wider/sleeves or different armholes?
3. Sketch up different lengths or silhouettes for a pair of pants
4. Explore different neckline shapes on a single garment
5. Switch up details in the garment without changing the silhouette- by moving darts
6. Try different collar shapes, cuffs or hemlines
7. Offer different closure options
8. Moving pockets, plackets, embellishments around on the body.
9. Transfer flat sketches onto the finished illustration page
10. Trace the same outfit or collection several times and try recoloring or refabricating it several different ways.

Stay tuned for the next step, I’m uploading the videos step by step. Keep the LOVE in fashion!  What drives YOU!! I can really help you develop your vision and skill while creating a body of work in my INTENSIVE SOULFUL FASHION FOUNDATION IMMERSION COURSE – a semester-sized COURSE based on my Parsons classes that I have taught for over 25 years!! (whew!!) I also offer an all-access pass to ALL of my courses as a single program with certification based on my decades of teaching and designing experience. Click around the footer, header, and sidebars here on the site to see my other courses:

• from FALL/WINTER fashion design portfolio, to
• EVENINGWEAR illustration and design portfolio, to
• DIGITAL FASHION ILLUSTRATION using ipad apps for faces and design techniques,
• to Fashion Design Infusion (8 hours of Masterclass Replays Bundle plus projects and exercises), to
• Swatches to Gouache (illustrate, design, and present a collection with prints using gouache and pencils ).

OR solidify your foundation with Patternmaking and Draping Techniques! My broadest overview for beginners in fashion sketching and designing  is FASHION EXPRESSION EXPERIENCE – check it out here. Check it out if you’re curious or share if you know who needs it! xo and where is it all headed???….