My first steps to drawing fashion models more easily

For as long as I know, I am looking at and making fashion. But there always has been a hiccup in my designing process. Drawing fashion models is something I find very difficult to do. But I decided that that has to change. Therefore I want to share my first steps in this process. Important in my drawing fashion models process is that I already have a bit of a drawing background. But I want to learn how to quickly shape a body correctly.

With this article, I want to show you that you are never too old to learn. And maybe a certain learning decision can help you further in your career.

.Learning about drawing bodies.

The hardest step to undertake for me is drawing the bodies of the models. They are always completely out of proportion. And when I see sketches from designers, that is also the case. But these sketches are still elegant in a way. My struggles are the shoulders and the head becoming too big. Followed by the hips and legs becoming too small. Learning more about body proportions is crucial here. Luckily I have a Dutch book about drawing fashion that has a guide into body proportions.

.A new attempt in drawing fashion models.

I started with drawing a lot of ‘stickman’ types of models. Still, this was a bit weird, because the ones they explain bodies within the book do not have hips. Causing the shoulders to become super big again in my case. I have struggled with this extremely much. And it is still something I find very difficult to do. But these ‘stickman’ drawings did help me with seeing how to make a body movement and already a bit with the proportions of the arms as well.

I do not want to take all credits for the dress and drawing, because I had an example that I wanted to practice with. On the left you see the ‘stickman’ I drew at first to get an idea of the body proportions. I used this as a guideline to draw my own body. And something that I did differently than I usually did, was that I immediately started with drawing the dress. Previously I always drew the body first. But this never (but like, never) worked out well. This quite did!

I also wanted to add some color to the dress. I really like this kind of sketchy not too realistic style. But you can still see very well how the dress should look like. That is really the kind of style I want to go for. And this sketch is not yet where/how I want it to be. But I feel like I am going in the right direction now.

.My next steps.

Sketching, Sketching, Sketching! I am going to practice this multiple times a week now to be able to learn it better and quicker. Now, this sketch was not made within just a few minutes. Something I like to happen in the future. And… I want to use these skills to draw out my first collection. In my mind, I am already working on cool designs. However, I never took the time to actually draw them. My lack of skills in this area really held me back to do that. But now that I have made a start, I want to proceed!

What do you think? And what do you want to learn?