clothed figures
CLOTHED FIGURES HOW TO DRAW…
The folds of clothing are often sketched on as an afterthought, yet if they are handled badly, they can break the spell of the most life-like artwork. Author Michael Massen explains why understanding how a fabric behaves is the key to a more realistic drawing
T
o draw the figure well is one of an artist’s pre-eminent challenges. Drawing the clothed
figure adds an additional layer of difficulty to that goal. Some uneasiness in drawing
clothing is understandable. Whereas the model’s bones and muscles don’t rearrange themselves from pose to pose, the fold patterns of a garment usually will. This is especially true in loose, “classical” drapery, or freer, less constraining clothing, such as a cloak or skirt. It is natural to feel frustrated when an unstable jumble of folds appears and then disappears from about the figure. But although it’s tempting to simply settle for a ‘best guess’, or to roughly sketch a vague visual indication into one’s rendering, these are bound, in turn, to betray that sense of uncertainty to the viewer. Fortunately, certain principles exist
that govern the formation of all folds. And once they are understood, you should find it much easier to represent clothing with increased speed, clarity and accuracy. The important thing to keep in mind
is that folds do not form at random. Folds are simply the end result of some force acting upon a pliant material – cloth, in most cases. True, some folds, such as pleats or gathers, are physically sewn into a garment. But for the most part, they appear (and do so consistently) because of some action, or series of actions, that the model has taken in the interval of time between getting dressed and posing in front of the artist. By mentally reconstructing this
history, one can make greater sense out of an arrangement of folds, and ultimately use this information to create a stronger drawing.
Furthermore, in looking for these general patterns of behaviour, you are likely to find that the folds of clothing do not vary as much in their greater conceptions as in the smaller details, and that it will be easy to subsume these details into the broader pattern.
CASE STUDY
Let’s take a look at the seated model wearing a skirt in figure 1. If we can formulate the differences between what we know the basic structure of a skirt to be and its final appearance here, we can construct for ourselves a conceptual history that will help to clarify what is going on in the resultant fold formations. I have selected three areas (marked A, B, and C) as particularly revealing parts of the drawing. Even without looking at one directly,
we already have a fairly good general idea of what a skirt is – it’s a tubular garment that is narrower at top, where it encircles the waist, and wider at the bottom, to permit
FIGURE 2, ABOVE When the model is standing upright, gravity will cause the cloth to fold upon itself in vertical furrows
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FIGURE 3, RIGHT This ‘compression band’ effect occurs when a tube of cloth is compressed, such as the waistband of a skirt Reprinted from The Artist’s Guide to Drawing the Clothed Figure: A Complete Resource on Rendering Clothing and Drapery
Artists & Illustrators 55
COPYRIGHT © 2011. PUBLISHED BY WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS, A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE, INC.
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