Q&A for How to Draw Fashion Sketches

Observation, attention, and communication are key. Think about what it would look like in real life and if it would work. Also, communicate with your tailor about fabrics that will work with your design and sketches. Sourcing actual fabrics and clipping them next to your sketches would give you an idea if it would work or not. How you convey your sketches and designs in real life will improve your fashion drawing skills.

Begin by printing out some simple designs with clear outlines. Then, put a piece of paper over this drawing, and sketch the outline. Once you become familiar with doing this by imitation tracing, it its easy to gain the skills needed to do the sketches by yourself. Practice like this every day for at least a week and you'll start to feel more confident about doing it your own way.

You don't have to know how to draw to be a fashion designer. Something that you can do is look at different books on how to draw, so that you can do simple sketches of your designs. Also, the more you practice drawing, the better you will become. If you are going to go to college for fashion, then there will be classes that can teach you draw and sketch.

Use shadow effects using pencils, color pencils, crayons, tints, and many others. Make sure you know where you should put shading like shadows and where you shouldn't.

Critique is a very good starting point. Show friends your sketch, ask for their opinions, let them point out the flaws of the design. Constructive criticism is very important in skill and self-development, so embrace it.

It really depends on the size of the person, but the head should be about 1/8 of the height.

There are many ways of drawing a skirt, such as sitting down, in the wind, standing, hanging, just as a skirt, etc. The number of wrinkles and amount of frills you want to add to the skirt matters too. An easy way to start is to look at the skirt drawing of others and then find your own style. For some ideas and illustrated examples, see further: How to Draw a Skirt .

Observation. Try to observe people - the way clothes fit and the way they carry themselves. Consider drawing the elbows, knees and ankles with perfection. Recollect the poses you see, and pay attention to the folds, pleats and wrinkles of the dress.

It varies from person to person. Technically speaking, you can learn how to do this very quickly--but it may take a few weeks or even months before you become good at it and produce work you can be proud of. Once you get the technique down, you should practice as often as you can--preferably every day.

All kinds of pencils are suitable. However I'd encourage you to get one from an art store instead of Walmart for example. Good and cheap brands like Faber Castell and Staedtler are used by professional artists, too! HB and H pencils are the best for sketching in my opinion.

Look in magazines and clothing catalogues for inspiration and ideas. If you have a favorite designer, collect pictures of their work, and keep them in a folder. You can also trace over photos for practice. Once you get the hang of it, you can start drawing your own fashions without references.

A designer is the chief creative force, and sort of dictates the idea or theme behind each of the pieces of clothing. A fashion illustrator provides a representation that follows the designer's theme, and provides sort of a road map that would allow it to be constructed easier.

Try it! Just try drawing people and clothes. Do some research about fashion designing and seriously consider whether or not the career sounds appealing to you.

Yes, but make sure the pencil strokes are light and can be erased easily.

Try not to draw the body and face in too much detail, seeing as how the outfit is the main focus of the drawing. However, if you are talking about drawing in general, observe your own face. Ask yourself, how and where does shadow and light fall upon the facial features? What are the basic shapes that make up the features? This will help you in the long run.

Good observation skills, a steady hand, and lots of practice. There are many articles on wikiHow that can help you learn to draw bodies, like How to Draw a Body and How to Draw People .

You have to put yourself out there and find a contract to go on. You have to be 18 or older for that. Create magazines and blogs of your work to go from there. If you don't need professionals, you can always ask some friends to model for you.

There are a lot of colleges that help to teach you how to draw fashion sketches and to develop them into real clothes. If college is more than you want, try looking for online tutorials. There are lots of them.

You don't need to be an expert in the art field, you just should have a creative mind. This means sharing ideas with friends and close relatives to draw on paper for you. Therefore, it is kind of necessary to understand at least basic art as a skill required in the fashion business.

You could get a fashion design software program like Digital Fashion Pro. You can create fashion sketches with it, and drawing skills are not necessary.

Keep practicing and draw sketches of clothes that you would like to design. Become familiar with fabrics, sewing, etc. and try to go to school for fashion design.

Some people still sketch by hand and some people use digital sketching.

Observe people and their clothing, or just look at yourself in the mirror. Clothing folds along the points where the body bends and fall from the points that stick out.

Inspiration is not mandatory, but having inspiration can help you a lot with your designs and keep your ideas flowing. If you don't have inspiration, you may find yourself becoming uninterested. To get inspiration, look at pictures in magazines and models, and maybe watch some fashion shows online. Take a design you like, and make it your own. Just don't make your designs TOO similar, or else it will be unoriginal.

Make sure it is neat and colorful and has a clear design to it. It will only be 'perfect' when you feel that it has been pushed to its very limits.

You don't have to do either. Only if you want to. But making the legs crossed adds more movement to your sketch.

There are many online sites that offer free courses. You can also ask at your local art supply store if they know of any free or low-cost art classes in the area.

You don't need to paint, you can use markers, crayons, colored pencils, pens, etc.

It does not require taking any measurements until you're sewing the outfit.

You can experiment with different materials once you are done your sketches. You will find some that work and some that do not.