Fashion illustration is the art of sketching ideas on paper to have a clear view of how you want the design to look like. This is like a visual communication which is done using drawings, illustrations and paintings. Designers sketch their ideas on paper using different sketching tools like pencils, colours, brushes and even ink. They put their ideas on the paper just the way they imagined it. The same colours, patterns and style they have in their mind so that when they are designing it on the fabric, all the new ideas popping into mind don’t let the original ideas slip from their head. Whenever there is a new idea in mind, designers put that on paper with the original idea and whenever they think they are losing their design they get back to the original idea.
Before learning about what is fashion illustration let’s know what is fashion?
Fashion is an aesthetic expression for a particular place and time which is generally related to the clothing, footwear, lifestyle and accessory one is wearing at a particular period. It is generally dependent on the trend running in the market. These trends last for a season or sometimes less or maybe more. This depends on the craze among the people for the trend. If the craze in public goes wild, then trends can last for two or more seasons but if the craze in public is comparatively less, then that trend would last for less than the whole season. But at the same time, there are few trends which change according to the weather. Like every weather has its comfort, the same way every weather has its fashion. Like in summer, flats and shorts are in trend and winters, jackets and boots are opted by people.
Fashion trends depend on the craze in people who decide which trend will stay and which trend will not. To impress the crowd you must have all the skills and talent as a fashion designer. But before studying in detail about fashion designing, we shall first start with the very basics of this field that is fashion illustration or fashion sketching.
Fashion illustration is also known as fashion sketching which is used as visual communication of ideas. Designers make the illustration of the designs and ideas they have so that they can have a perception of what the initial design was when they have a bust of new ideas running in their minds.
These illustrations are made using pen, graphite, paint and other means to put the base idea on paper or digitally. But, fashion illustration dates nearly 500 years back(1). Ever since clothes were introduced the need for illustration has been in demand. As there is a need of keeping the design original while making the costume. This made us use fashion illustration. There are different types of illustration depending on the complexity of the drawing.
Before learning about the types of fashion drawings let’s look into the things that are required for this.
● The first and the most important thing we need before making a fashion drawing are pencils. Having all types of pencils in your bag gives you ample room to test your imagination and skills in fashion illustration.
● Sketchbooks are the next important thing needed for fashion drawing. Pencils are not useful if you don’t have paper to draw on.
There are different types and sizes of papers available in the market like A4, A2 and even pocket sketchbooks. These pocket sketchbooks are useful when you are traveling and an idea pops up in your mind. You can directly put it down on paper rather than waiting till you come home and draw it because till you come back, the idea can slip out of your mind.
● Next comes a bond paper or an 80GSM paper which are high-quality thick papers. They come in all sizes and different textures. We all know that many sketchers use different tones and textured paper as it gives a completely different response to different ink. This way we can get an additional room of texture to work with.
● Pastel colours and colour pencils are the next things everyone needs to have in their bag before starting with fashion drawing. As these give a colourful idea of what design we are thinking of. These colour pencils let us show the shade of the fabric we think about while imagining the idea in mind.
● Markers are the next item in the list, as the outlines and margins are made using them. This makes it important to have different types of markers with you, while making fashion drawings.
● Last but not the least, you need an eraser. There are different types of erasers available in the market like a needed eraser, rough eraser, or non-dust eraser. And having these is very important to correct the mistakes in the drawings.
Types of Fashion Drawings
Flats
Flats or fashion flats are the two-dimensional representation of the idea or an outfit. These sketches are usually black and white and are made using the software. These sketches are made with all the details in them.
Tech Sketchbook
This is just the updated form of flat sketches where the flat sketches are made in two-dimensional form but the details in the sketch are given in text form. The details are very brief and are written in words.
Specifications
This is a more detailed form of making an outfit. This method is used to present an outfit in front of the clients where the specifications like the fabric used, trim used for fabric and even the colour of the fabric used is specified in the sketch.
There are many ways used for fashion illustration or fashion drawings by different designers. To learn more about fashion illustration join a fashion designing course. If you are searching about the best colleges for fashion design, then Hamstech is the right choice for you!
