Folds And Shadows - Blog Posts

Clothes

Hi Ennun! Do you have any tips for drawing folds and wrinkles in clothing? I always have trouble with placing them in the right places.

I can show you a few drawings with different clothing so maybe it’ll help you understand.

When you draw clothes, you should keep in mind what kind of fabric they are made of:

lower body:

For pants and such, the folds usually occur around the crouch, the knees and the ankles. For skirts, it really depends on the kind and the length. Skirts made from a full circle have folds at he base, those made with a longer piece of fabrics have folds at the waist (or top) and depending on whether it’s fluffy or not, there’s folds at the base as well, or not.

full body:

When you draw dresses, think of how they hug around the body. For example, baby doll dresses have an upper part that closes in with the lower part under the breasts. Then, depending on the material, you need to draw more or less folds. Also keep in mind that these folds need to go around the boobs, so don’t just make straight lines, give the body volume. 

Same goes for really flowy materials (like drawing 4) When you drape it over the breasts, make sure you show it.

upper body:

For upper body, shirts and such usually fold at the armpits, the elbows, the waist and the wrists. If clothes are hugging the body, then there are folds around the chest and abs area too, and just as with the breasts, make sure they’re not straight lines, because they’re defining the body.

You can draw straight lines if it’s a large shirt, because then the material is so big that it doesn’t really touch the rest of the body, and if it does, it’s just the waist.