Fashion Drawing For Dummies
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Fashion figures need attitude as well as style. Here’s how to draw a basic fashion figure with a look that rules the runway. Start by creating a fashion croquis, or rough sketch of the body:

  1. Lay tracing paper over a full-body picture of a model from a magazine and use a pencil to trace around the perimeter of her body.

  2. Draw lines to show the angles of her shoulders and hips. Trace a center line down the front of her body and draw an oval for the head.

  3. Break your figure down into basic shapes, using two trapezoids for the torso and cylinders for the arms and legs, as in “a” in the figure. Include circles for the elbows and knees.

  4. Remove the tracing paper from your model.

  5. On a piece of sketch paper, redraw your fashion model freehand, but lengthen the torso, arms, and legs.

    The new figure is taller and narrower and has a smaller head in comparison to the rest of her body. Fashion figures almost always have long, slim torsos and long, slender limbs, which make the clothes look better.

  6. Use a black pen to draw over the areas of the body that you want to show. Erase the pencil lines.

    See the “b” figure.

    Drawing a fashion model freehand with basic lines and shapes.
    Drawing a fashion model freehand with basic lines and shapes.

About This Article

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About the book authors:

Marianne Egan teaches fashion illustration and design, apparel construction, and more. Lisa Smith Arnold teaches art and drawing, including fashion illustration, at Norwalk Community College.?She has also served as creative coordinator and fashion editor at several major publications.

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