Fashion illustration has been around for nearly 500 years. Ever since clothes have been in existence, and there has been a need to translate an idea or image into a fashion illustration. Not only do fashion illustrations show a representation or design of a garment but they also serve as a form of art. Seamstresses or dressmakers before fashion illustration use the so called technical drawing to interpret their designs to their customers. This is where a croquis originated. As time went by, they started putting in the croquis to add a more realistic touch to the drawings. Thus, conceptual drawing became possible.

Making technical drawings didn’t only stop at the first use of the croquis model. It even became more useful in interpreting the idea of the designer to more understandable sketches for the workers. Flat drawings are important because it communicates detail, silhouette and design quickly and clearly for them. As an illustrator, it is also important to master technical drawing.

An example of a comparison between a croquis drawing and a flat drawing.

(Source: http://bhsmistler.weebly.com/fashion-1/flat-garment-drawing)

This article will be about how to master flat drawings especially for beginners out there. We will start with some tracing exercises. We promise that we will make the learning process easy for you. So grab some pencils and erasers, let’s start sketching!

Flat drawing croquis, Traced by N. Balaba.  From 9 Heads: A Guide to Drawing Fashion, (Nancy Riegelman),2016

This is an example of a flat drawing with the croquis.  The lines are stiffer but the design is clearer this time. You can also compare that in the flat drawings, the technical lines are visible. It is just like drawing a basic garment and just defining the lines for clarity.

For better understanding, we grabbed an illustration from fashion illustrator and blogger, Rongrong DeVoe. This illustration is a conceptual drawing fully-rendered.

Illustration by Rongrong DeVoe. (Source: www.rongrongdevoe.com)

To achieve a good flat drawing, observe first the conceptual drawing or the 9-heads drawing that you made for presentation. Observe the lines, the fall of the fabric that you want to achieve, the positioning of the pockets, buttons and zippers, etc. In this way, it will be easier for you to sketch because you have fully understood the technicalities of the garment. Always think that the flat sketch would be the basis of the pattern of the garment. So to make the right pattern, a technical drawing must be understandable.

If we only base on an illustration like the one above, it would be difficult for the patternmakers to interpret. But if we show them a simplified drawing like the following, it would be faster and easier for them.

Flat drawing: suit. Traced by B. Panimdim, From 9 heads: A Guide to Drawing Fashion, (Nancy Riegelman), 2016 

In the image above, you can notice the broken lines that are also shown. This is to show a more detailed sketch of the tailored blazer. You will also notice the positioning of the pockets and the buttons. In a flat drawing, it is important to show these details. If there is a dart in a garment, it is also necessary to show it in the sketch. However, it is not always necessary to include it in the 9-heads illustration. Remember the difference between the two: Flat drawings are for your employees/dressmakers and conceptual drawings are for your clients/customers. No book has ever clarified the difference between the two though. This is just based on our observation. This tip actually helps us a lot when asked about the two. So we’re just sharing it to you.

Flat drawing: different garments, Traced by S. Ando. From 9 heads: A Guide To Fashion Drawing, (Nancy Riegelman), 2016

This is another tracing exercise of different kinds of blouses. Again, make sure that the details are shown.

Blouse and Skirt, illustrated by L. Quismundo & B. Nuez, 2016

This is now the combination between a conceptual drawing and a flat drawing.

3 piece business ensemble, illustrated by R. Castro & M. Quimbo, 2016

REFERENCES: 

Sanchez, L. (n.d.). Flat Drawing. [PPT]


CONTRIBUTORS:

llustrators: Nuez, Quismundo, Quimbo, Castro

Tracers: Balaba, Panimdim, Ando 

Content: Nuez, Ando

Scanner: Fernando

Blog manager: Quismundo

In fashion illustration, it doesn't only mean that we have to focus only on the females and males. Though, children's wear can belong in any of the two, the creative approach in making the garments more 'youthful' and 'realistic' is different. We have mentioned that the male and female croquis use the 9-head standard in our previous post. So imagine, designing a garment for a toddler and using the 9-head croquis. It will be an abomination to arts, a hilarious mistake of an honest artist. It will be funny. I bet if you were the mother of the child and a designer shows you that drawing, you will be laughing endlessly. So will we.

Children's wear is sometimes a little bit complicated than the rest. Compared to men's and women's, children's have three categories These are toddlers, youth, and teenagers. In this blog entry, we will be focusing on the children's croquis and so with the garments that go along with it.

In illustrating children in a croquis, the first thing you need to realize is that children are different form adults in many ways, and must be drawn with care if they are to look natural and convincing.Heads differ in their age and stage. To be guided here is the group categories for children:

From 9 heads: A Guide to Fashion Drawing, Nancy Riegelman

Toddler, Illustrated by D. Darnayla, 2016

In this illustration shows a toddler in a full garment wearing turtleneck dress with a ¾ jacket having a straight collar and holding a hand bag. The croquis is about 4 ½ heads. The face is round and there is very little definition in the features. Limbs are rounded and well padded. And only a little of a neck is visible.

Young girl, Illustrated by D. Darnayla, 2016 

            

While in this illustration, a young girl wearing a top with a straight collar and necktie paired with a high waisted checkered skirt, knee socks and black heels. This age group has become longer in the torso than toddlers and necks are defined. The croquis is about 5 ½ heads. Accessories start to become important. Although still awkward in many poses, children of this age are now more fully mobile and can be shown in range of standing, walking and running poses.

Teenager, Illustrated by D. Darnayla, 2016

In this another illustration, a teenager in S curve pose wearing printed graphic top, a Capri pants and high heels. The croquis is 8 heads. The appearance is almost exactly like an adult except the facial features are slightly more rounded. Poses are generally more exuberant than adults, with arms and hips akimbo and considerable attitude displayed. 

Illustrated by L. Quismundo & R. Castro, 2016

This is a group of three teenage female children in pants and blouses and the same group in party dresses. With the poses with arms and hips akimbo and considerable attitude displayed. Way of dressing mimics to adult fashion. Facial appearance is likely to an adult already.

Illustrated by B. Nuez & M. Quimbo, 2016

Lastly this illustrations shows young boys and girls in different occasions. Starting from the right is the young boy and girl going to the beach, boy wearing only swimming trunks and slippers, and young girl wearing X|O printed one piece swimsuit. Next is the young boys and girls going to a party, young boy wearing varsity jacket and toreador pants with transparent glasses and young girl wearing dress coat with fur collar and fur end sleeve, with headband on and socks in a shoes.  And lastly young boys and girls going to a wedding, young girl wearing a full length dress with close shoes and young boy wearing blazers and slacks and close shoes.Again, croquis is about 5 ½ heads. Vaguely still awkward in many poses but necks are defined.

TRACED ITEMS

Traced by N. Balaba, 2016

Children’s bodies and faces have different proportions, shapes and textures to adult bodies and faces. Children’s faces and facial features are soft and round with few planes. Until they are almost into their teens, little bone structure can be discerned in their faces, or muscles on their bodies (That was the main mistake the Renaissance artists made---they drew scaled-down, developed “adult” facial and body features rather than real children’s features).Because of this, children should be drawn with a light touch to convey the softness of their features.

The shapes of the accessories---toys, bags and so on---that children favor at different ages can often be used effectively in a drawing to echo the rounded shapes of their bodies change quickly from year to year and so care has to be taken to draw the croquis that corresponds to their age. The different croquis are shown here and the differences between them should be studied.

Traced by G. Fernando, 2016

The ways children differ from adults other than the purely physical are also significant when portraying them in fashion drawings.

Children are not sophisticated in their facial expressions and bodily poses; they are loose-limbed and playful and often pose in ways that would look silly or awkward in an adult.

Children’s croquis should be drawn with typical natural poses and attention to detail.

REFERENCES: 

Proportions in Fashion Drawing (2013), Retrieved January 28, 2013, from

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/proportions-in-fashion-drawing.html

Sanchez, L. (n.d.). CHILDREN AND CHILDREN'S CLOTHING [PPT]

CONTRIBUTORS:

Illustrators: Nuez, Darnayla, Quismundo, Quimbo, Castro

Tracers: Balaba, Fernando

Content: Nuez, Ando

Scanner: Fernando

Blog manager: Quismundo

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photos courtesy of MAUVRET

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]