Men's Croquis and Clothing

photo courtesy of ZOE SHI

Illustration is vital for fashion design because it is where the creative process begins. It all begins with a paper and a pencil. A clothing will not be possible without the initial visual presentation of a designer to its client.

A croquis is basically how an illustration begins. It follows the 9-heads standard compared to the normal 8-heads standard for anatomy drawing. The fashion croquis is more elongated and more animated compared to other croquis. It is easier for draping fabrics and creating a design through this croquis.

In this blogpost, we will be focusing on men's croquis and men's wear. The men's croquis is slightly more complicated than the female croquis. It has broader shoulders, waist and hips. This blogpost will guide the reader in how to achieve the correct croquis for men and how to create the men's wear designs.

It is important not to confuse men with women, and vice-versa. Women often draw men who like women and men often draw women who look like men. Like fashion itself, looks come in and go out of style, and one season men’s looks can be masculine and masculine and muscular and the next thin, sensitive and more feminine. Despite these seasonal variations, though, there are clear physical differences between the sexes that are independent of fashion, and these must be clearly shown in drawings. 

 While females have more rounded head shape with small, delicate chin the gentlemen need bigger and more rectangular forms. Men have larger brows that are placed closer to the eyes. Their eyes are less rounded and the nose is more defined (often times bigger ). The ears are larger and the upper lip is not as full as the female model. Notice the edge of the chin and the slant in the outer corner of the eye. Generally, men have longer and larger faces than women, but this doesn't necessarily give you something to work with when it comes to drawing a very masculine or feminine portrait. What I find really helps where it concerns the face shape, is by drawing a male portrait with a square aspects to it. The cranium, as you can see in the diagram, has sharp corners as do the jawline and the neck line.

For the eyes, the main thing that can make a female portrait more feminine, is by giving her long lashes that curl outwards, helping to give the impression of the eyes being bigger. You can make them more compact and darker to have it appear as though the woman is wearing mascara. For a male portrait on the other hand, keeping the lashes very short will help draw the eyes appear more masculine, sometimes I don't draw any lashes at all. This might not work well when you're executing a close up, but for anything where the eyes aren't the main focus, I personally don't give male characters any lashes at all to make them appear more masculine.

Another thing you can do to make eyes look more feminine, is to base the shape of an oval, whereas to give a more masculine effect, you can base the eyes off rectangular shapes. Again, for more feminine eyes, you want to draw rounded curves and for more masculine eyes, you can draw sharper corners and use straight lines.

Tricks to make a nose look more feminine would be to make any focus on the nose to a minimum, this is mainly so that the viewer looking onto the portrait would direct their focus on the eyes and lips. That isn't to say you shouldn't give a nose on a female portrait some character. The main thing that could be suggested would be to focus the details along the nostril shape and the tip of the nose, along with the nostrils, leaving the definition and depth of the bridge and ridge of the nose to a minimum. The main way to shape cheek definition would be through the light source and how the shadow hits those areas, but you can add thin lines to show where the cheekbone would be. For a man you are more likely to draw the line of where the bottom edge of the cheekbone is, this will allow it to define the area where the cheek would shape the lower part of the face, giving it a sharp cutoff.

        The tricky difference between male and female torso is in the body outline. Men have no waist. The torso is like a rectangular shape with an inverted triangle at chest level. Never give hips to men figures too. The hourglass shape will make the figure look like a female one. When you draw the men’s arms you need to be more aware of the muscles underneath the skin. The arms are more massive and so are the hands. The arms of your male figure should be at least twice bigger than the female ones you’re used to draw. Men have bigger, more muscular legs. While you’re seeking elegance and finess when drawing the female legs, in men body you want to make them look stable, massive and strong. Notice how bigger the knees are and how close together the thighs are near the crotch. In the small illustration you can see how the women knees are close together, while the knees of men don’t touch.

BUSINESS

TRAVEL

WEEKEND

CLUB/NIGHT-OUT

SPORT

May this blogpost be helpful to everyone who visits our blog. May it be a first timer illustrator or an advanced one. The key is to enjoy illustration and to fully understand the basic rules of art. Happy Sketching!

Contributors:

Illustrators: Marabbi Castro, Kent Villamero, Mary Quimbo

Tracers and Editors: Sofia Ando, Blanche Panimdim, Diane Darnayla

Content Writers: Bea Nuez, Necolie Balaba

Scanner: Genelyn Fernando

Blog Manager: Luke Quismundo

SOURCES:

The faces of Male and Female (2014), Retrieved January 28, 2014, from http://forum.deviantart.com/art/digital/1938707/

Differences: MALE / FEMALE, Retrieved 2015, from http://www.idrawfashion.com/body/basics/111-differences-male-female/

Sanchez, L. (n.d.). Men and Men's Clothing [PPT]