Line quality in fashion drawing-

FELT TIP WATERPROOF PENS, whether analog or DIGITAL, are a staple in my fashion illustration practice for their clear and varied line quality.

You DEFINITELY want to add them to your toolkit! (watch the video above to learn why LINE QUALITY matters).

Using a variety of pens can make your line quality in fashion drawing dynamic. Use contrasting line weights to clarify , define, and enhance your sketches, from technical drawings to more creative artistic expressions.

Pitt Pens by Faber Castell have a range of fine line and brush waterproof felt tips for line quality in fashion drawing. Each has their own distinct character of line quality, available in a single set.

Why waterproof pens?

Because I often work my illustrations in gouache, and watersoluble pens would bleed into the water. (But sometimes, a watersoluble pen’s wet bleed creates a creative special effect that we want.)

Tombow, brush tip, water soluble, marker, watercolor, contours, gathers, tiers, back view, movement, flow, sleeves, ruffles, gouache wash, sheer, silhouette, fashion illustration, model drawing, laura volpintesta — Here, brush-tip watersoluble markers’ line quality bleed when they come in contact with water for a unique soft and shaded effect

Ball point, felt tip, brush tip, and fine-line markers and pens are all staples in my fashion sketching kit for situations where I want a very crisp, black line (regardless of whether I want that chunky, bold and thick black line, a tapered stroke, or super-fine line for tiny details). I’m focusing on this today even though PENCIL offers a whole other world of line quality!

Fashion Illustration and Art Supplies- fine line quality ink pen- Laura Volpintesta — Fineline ball-point pen “Precise” is clean and crisp, with only a slight bleed. Fashion Drawing from Zoom Sketch Session- Join here!

One really great way to explore line quality in fashion drawing, aside from the pencil/ charcoal route, is getting nitty-gritty with what is available in felt and brush-tip pens.

Micron pens are super popular WATERPROOF felt-tip black pens .

ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU KNOW whether your pens are waterproof or not before you start using them!

loose, harem pants, gouache wash, stairs, background, composition, stairs, water soluble brush tip marker tombow, model drawing, silhouette, harem pants, Laura Volpintesta — More bleed effects of water the line quality of water-soluble markers. Okay, I made my point!

Nothing can imitate what is possible with fine line pens and varieties of line weight in fashion illustrations!

So, what is line quality?

Take a look at the images below and notice how many different thicknesses of line you see.

Drama and mood in fashion sketching! marker fashion illustration showing line quality and movement by Laura Volpintesta using dual-tip brush marker and design marker — Thick, thin, wet, dry, solid, tapered, bold and delicate line qualities all created with felt tip pens for dramatic fashion sketches.

They’re great examples of varied line quality in fashion drawing.

It’s not just the texture of the line, but it’s thickness and variety of light and dark, constrasting and interacting.

fashion drawing with a variety of line qualities , fashion illustration, online fashion course, Laura Volpintesta — Fine felt pen fashion sketch with a slightly dry-brush-tipped marker line quality used for shadows

FLAT SKETCHING

Flat sketches and technical drawings done with a variety of line quality are easy to read and very descriptive.

I suggest 3 line weights for fashion flat sketches:

use the lightest for topstitching, or super fine fabric edges, if applicable.
use the medium weight line for darts, seamlines that join separate fabric panels .
reserve the heaviest line to show separate layers, (and/or drop shadows) such as deep pleats, collars or overlaps, open necklines or hemlines, vents, pocket flaps, or shadows beneath buttons, laces, ruffles, belt loops, or hemlines.

fashion drawing- flat sketches showing a variety of line weights and descriptive quality- Laura Volpintesta, fashion illustration tribe — Line quality variety makes a huge different in creating dynamic and clear fashion flat sketches for design.

Likewise, when used for fashion illustrations and croquis

they can be used over or under gouache or watercolor to define details and boundaries, stitching lines, facial features, textured surfaces, edges, and more.

BENEFITS OF INK PENS for FASHION SKETCHING

A lot of students (including myself when I was a student) choose to sketch with a bolder ink line before painting the sketches, because gouache has an opacity that softens those crisp, dark, thick or bold black lines significantly once you add color to your sketches.

This is helpful if you find that your pencil fashion sketches or croquis are losing too much of your fine line details once you add color to them.

Waterproof, fine, black lines are clean and smudge proof, yet indelible. NO BLEEDING when you paint over them!!!!!!!!!

In Soulful Fashion
Foundation Immersion Online Course,

modeled after the Parsons School of Fashion Design classes I’ve taught for more than two decades, we discuss these techniques and many more, starting from basic model drawing, through developing concepts in your croquis book and presenting your original design collection rendered in finished illustrations.

I’m so excited to share these techniques to enhance your line quality and see your vision be born on to the page!!

gouache fashion illustration by Laura Volpintesta, fashion illustration tribe. — Pitt Pen brush tip marker was used to detail and finalize these illustrations that come to life step by step in Swatches to Gouache online course.

And see, it’s not only for black-and-white work. Above, you can see I used the brush pens over paint to emphasize details and give a “finished” feeling.

live model fashion drawing with brush pen's dramatic line quality. Laura Volpintesta, Fashion Illustration Tribe — The line quality of a brush pen has so much variety from a single tip. Laura Volpintesta, live fashion model drawing sessions

Laura Volpintesta, fashion drawing, Fashion Illustration Tribe, live model sketch with brush pen — LIVE SESSION model sketching in real time is a great opportunity to explore, experiment and try new things.

Waterproof? Yes, if they aren’t digital they’ve got to be waterproof,

and you really need to distinguish which pens in your kit are waterproof and which ones aren’t so that you’re NEVER surprised. PAINT WILL BLEED YOUR INK IF IT ISN’T WATERPROOF!

Watercolor line drawing fashion illustration with bleed into gouache and wash! Wet media over marker from online live zoom sketch drawing sessions. CLICK TO JOIN US!

(A water-soluble pen, don’t get me wrong, can make really cool effects when you want it to, too.

When wetted, they blur and bleed into the wetted area and the line becomes less defined. That’s line quality in fashion drawing too.

Generally I’ve always found watercolor pens to be less black than waterproof pens, too, taking on a bluish or brownish cast, so be aware of this distinction as well).

fineline felt tip pen line quality, fashion illustration. highwaisted wideleg pantsuit with pinstripes, backshadow wash — PRECISE ball-point black ink pen fashion illustration with gouache, notice the areas that bleed into the paint. LIVE SKETCH SESSIONS WEEKLY clikc to learn more

SOMETIMES INK IS WHAT YOU WANT! see these articles for inspo and ideas.

Fashion illustration fashion drawing using water SOLUBLE Rose-Art marker, (slightly dried up) on textured paper has some nice effects... — Watercolor marker fashion drawing before application of water.

Adding water to a water-soluble ink fashion drawing creates washes and bleeds, which are a lot of fun, as long as you are expecting them! — Water brushed over watercolor marker sketch during fashion model drawing course. JOIN US!

Adding water to a water-soluble ink drawing creates washes and bleeds, which are a lot of fun, as long as you are expecting them! Talk about LINE QUALITY in fashion illustration! It’s a special effect! This is a maternity fashion image using Tombow brush tip/dual tip marker.

Excellent for hand-writing as well as design and detail sketching for fashion, Uni Ball Deluxe Waterproof ballpoint ink pens is one of my all-time favorites for my fashion work

What about Waterproof BALLPOINT pens?

I LOVE roller-ball or ball-point (Uni-ball,Vision, Precise, for example) and felt-tip fine point fine-line pens. (I used gouache with a ball-point line for detailing below).

gouache, wash, layers, maxi prints, patterns, layering, turban,ballpoint pen, ink, wide leg pants, shadow, contours, buttons, perpective — FROM SWATCHES TO GOUACHE ONLINE COURSE-CLICK TO LEARN MORE

BALLPOINT INK PEN Precise Vision V5 (finer) and V7 (a bit thicker) are excellent writing and sketching pens. I love making notes in my journals and sketching fashion with these pens, but they are NOT WATERPROFF

FELT-TIP INK PENS:

In the design houses I’ve worked at such as Gap, Target, CKJeans, and LOFT, we always used MICRON pens in a variety of widths for handsketches and illustrations. These can be purchased a-la-carte or in sets.

Line quality with black fine line felt tip pen for fashion by Laura Volpintesta — Fashion Illustration using felt tip black pen/ marker during weekly Zoom sketch group, CLICK to learn about joining!

MICRON are waterproof felt tip pens used by fashion designers, technical sketching and illustrators. Notice the variety of widths that are available for a range of line qualities

Whether felt or ball-point, fine-line black ink pens for fashion illustration are an excellent option for detailing and textures. Also fantastic for giving some facial details!

PITT pens by FaberCastell I always recommend them for students and for my own use, I like to order packs of pens in a range of sizes.

Waterproof Prismacolor brand fine line markers are also waterproof and come in a range of thicknesses, available in a mixed-size pack for flat sketching and fasion illustration.

Even Prismacolor now has a pack (includes 5?) of waterproof felt-tip pens that includes a range of tip widths. So it’s easy to have line quality in fashion drawing that’s varied even with relatively fine pens!

There have been times when I worked consitiently with Sharpie markers for the unique line quality that they offer. SHARPIES ARE THE ONLY PENS IN THIS POST THAT BLEED THROUGH PAPER! They also have a strong smell. It's always good to have one in your kit though. — There have been times when I worked consitiently with Sharpie markers for the unique line quality that they offer. SHARPIES ARE THE ONLY PENS IN THIS POST THAT BLEED THROUGH PAPER! They also have a strong smell. It’s always good to have one in your kit though.

(I know we all love Sharpies too, but they smell WAY too toxic for constant use and leave a round dot at the end of lines…. which actually can be really fun WHEN YOU WANT that.)

laura Volpintesta ,line quality in fashion drawing, brush pen — Brush tip marker in black worked from live fashion model drawing session capturing the ribs and soft wrinkles in knit jersey dancewear

FASHION SKETCHING WITH DIGITAL INK

Brush tip pens are AMAZINGLY expressive for fashion, and thankfully have become imitable even in Adobe Apps , Procreate, RePaper app, Tayasui sketches, and others I teach in my digital sketching course by choosing a comparable brush ( as used in our company logo!). It’s SO EASY!

Here, there is no tapering or pressure sensitivity in the sketching lines. Apps offer different options for the tips of pens and brushes to get the effect you want. Digital ink pen fashion design development sketches in ipad croquis book by Laura Volpintesta on ipad -CLICK TO LEARN MORE

digital fashion croquis book Laura Volpintesta. These digital fashion sketchbook design croquis use digital ink pen and "gouache" effects to color block and clarify elastic inserts, gathers and ruffles in the illustrations. Laura Volpintesta — These digital fashion sketchbook design croquis use digital ink pen and “gouache” effects to color block and clarify elastic inserts, gathers and ruffles in the illustrations. Laura Volpintesta

Pigma Brush tip pen by Sakura is waterproof, permanent, archival quality DRAMA for fashion sketching

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRUSH AND FINE LINE pens

Brush tip pens give immensely more line quality and variation for flair and excitement, while a fine-tip pen explains information in detail or creates incredibly light-handed patterns, textures, or edges.

Sometimes I love to take a Tombow marker in soft beige and use it to lightly sketch out my figure before detailing the crisp lines with a pen or pencil as a “step two”.