Mastering Fabric Folds: Bringing Texture and Realism to Fashion Sketches
One of the main things that distinguish a fashion illustration from a sketch is the rendering of the fabric. Fabric tells the viewer that the garment is made of silk, denim, or any other fabric. Fabric folds, drape, is creased or bunched. There are highlights and shadows. The folds and creases are smooth or sharp. Depending on the fabric, you may see the texture, and perhaps even the weave of the fabric. Study the garments that you wear and see how they hang, fold, and crease. When you fold your jeans and put them in your drawer, look at the sharp creases. Watch the way your silk blouse drapes when you sit or move.
Before I go into the steps for drawing folds, it’s worth discussing the 3 basic types of folds: Compression, hanging, and stretch. Compression folds are folds that are formed when fabric is compressed, like the folds at the inside of the bend of an elbow or knee. Hanging folds are folds that are formed when fabric hangs loose, like the folds in the sleeve of a shirt or dress. And stretch folds are folds that are formed when fabric is stretched, like folds formed by fabric stretching over the shoulder. Compression folds typically look like radiating folds, that come out from a focal point. Hanging folds can form U folds, or cylindrical folds, that follow the gravity line. And stretch folds typically look like several parallel folds that are held against the skin of the body. Mastering the way to draw these three basic fold types will give you the building blocks to be able to draw most garments.
Lighting is an important factor in determining whether or not folds appear three-dimensional. The different parts of a fold must be lighted separately: the light side, the core shadow, the reflected light and the cast shadow. The light side follows the fold as the brightest light appears along the edge of the fold. The core shadow follows along the bottom edge of the fold. The reflected light is the area where the fabric is shadowed and has a shelf where the fabric is hanging and will not get any direct light. The cast shadow is where the fold appears to be darkened because the fold is lying across the body or the object it is sitting on. Without this consideration, even a well-drawn fold appears flat, and with it even a quick sketch gains a depth and texture that makes the viewer want to reach out and touch the fabric.
Shading is also very important in the rendering of the fabric. If the fabric is transparent like chiffon or organza, you would want to show this through delicate transitions between colors and the stacking of the layers. If the fabric is nontransparent like wool or leather, you would want to emphasize the transitions of value and the highlights on the folds to show the fabric is solid and hard. If the fabric has a print, you would want to show how the pattern distorts when it stacks. Striped fabric wraps around itself at the folds. Plaid fabric compresses. Floral fabric stretches. The pattern should appear as if it was printed onto the fabric and not that it was lying on top. Getting all these details correct can establish the time of day, time of year, or even the background of the character through the choice of fabrics alone.
That being said, the more you draw fabrics in your personal work, the more you can refer to the mental database of solutions when drawing for editorial and commercial pieces when time is a constraint. A lot of illustrators have a fabric study sketchbook where they spend time drawing particular types of fabric draped on a figure, or in mid flow. Eventually it means you can look less and less at your reference, and be more able to draw garments that look truthful even if you made them up. Fabrics also convey the way the garment hangs, the weight of it, the way it should feel when you touch it, and the narrative the fashion is trying to convey.
