Fashion Drawing For Dummies
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Waistlines come in all shapes and sizes, even in fashion drawing, but the basics remain: a woman’s waist is curvy, and a guy’s is relatively straight. Hips are wider and curvier on women and straighter and thinner for men. Hips are the widest part of your lower half.

To draw a waistline, check the lines of proportion and use the head count to properly place the waist.

To create the waistline:

  1. Draw a figure and count down 3 heads.

  2. Draw a horizontal line for the waist.

  3. To shape the man’s waist, draw a line that starts in the armpit and angles down and in at the waist. For the woman, start the line at the armpit and create a line that curves in around the middle of the 3rd head and then flares out, creating an hourglass shape.

    Curve the line at the waist for a woman and keep the line straight but tapered in for a man.

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Using the head count, the pelvic area and hips fall within the 4th head down in your figure drawing. Hips serve a very important purpose, aside from the rocking and wiggling action they convey: the pelvic region is part of the body’s core.

To mark out the hips and pelvic region on a woman, follow these guidelines:

  1. Starting at the bottom of the 4th head, draw a horizontal line for the crotch; place the V of the crotch on that line.

  2. At the top of the 4th head, draw a curved line for the waist. Starting from the sides of the waistline, draw the sides of the lower torso: Use a line down each side, ending at the horizontal line for the crotch. Draw a couple of downward arcs to represent the tops of the legs.

    In women, the hips are often just a little wider than shoulder width.

A man’s hips tend to be narrower than his shoulders. The entire hip and waist area is boxier on a guy — his waist is just slightly narrower than his hips.

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About This Article

This article is from the book:

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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