Noel Chapman - Creative Fashion Drawing: A Complete Guide to Design, Styles and Illustration

Noel Chapman trained in fashion and textiles design. He is a consultant designer specializing in womenswear, knitwear, market and creative intelligence, who works with a wide range of clients throughout Europe, the USA and the Far East. Noel also writes on fashion-related subjects and lectures in fashion, textiles and knitwear design. www.noelchapman.com

Judith Cheek trained in fashion design at St Martins School of Art before specializing in illustration. She works with a wide range of clients across all levels of the industry and her illustration work covers fashion, beauty, health and exercise, cookery and food. www.judithcheek.co.uk

We would like to thank everyone who has so generously given their time and their work to this book, and to say a special thanks to Yvonne Deacon for her huge contribution and for freely sharing her thoughts and ideas. Without everyones generosity this book would never have happened. Sadly, Elizabeth Suter died before the book was finalized. Her drawings are a most valued and stylish contribution thank you, Elizabeth.

Copyright of the illustrations reproduced in this book remains the property of the contributing artists.

Unless otherwise credited, all drawings and illustrations in this book are by Judith Cheek.

Cover credits Front cover, left: Judith Cheek; right: Getty Images/Lauren Bishop. Back cover, left: Yvonne Deacon; all other illustrations: Judith Cheek.

This edition published in 2013 by Arcturus Publishing Limited
26/27 Bickels Yard, 151153 Bermondsey Street,
London SE1 3HA

Copyright 2012 Arcturus Publishing Limited

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person or persons who do any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

eISBN: 978-1-78212-890-8
AD002037EN

This book is aimed both at designers who want to brush up their fashion drawing and illustration skills, and at would-be designers who want to learn how to draw and illustrate fashion from scratch. It is about learning how to draw fashion ideas better how to record and develop your ideas, whether for your own enjoyment and purposes, or in order to help you on your way towards a career in the industry, where being able to draw and record fashion is a real advantage.

What does the design process involve? What do we mean by inspiration and research and which comes first? And how do drawing and illustration fit into this puzzle? These are some of the questions this book aims to answer as it charts the processes and activities of fashion drawing and designing.

Whatever the particular discipline of the designer and, arguably, of the artist too, the need to draw reasonably well is paramount, despite the popular if nave opinion to the contrary. However, what qualifies as a drawing, and particularly a fashion drawing, depends very much on the individual and whether or not the drawing is fit for purpose. It is at this point that we may meet with some confusion: what is the difference between fashion drawing and fashion illustration? To put it simply, fashion drawing is what designers do first to record and develop their design ideas, and secondly to convey those ideas to others, for example to the machinists and factory workers who will be making the garments. A fashion illustration is often commissioned by a fashion designer, a magazine, or perhaps by a PR team to convey the ideas of the designer. It may be intended to articulate something bigger than simply the clothes the concept of the collection, or more generally the idea or desired image of the designers brand. This idea or image may encompass all kinds of intangibles: it could for example be the task of the artist to express an attitude, or a perfume, and so while the illustration may break many of the rules of fashion drawing per se, it provides a medium through which a designer may express their ideas. Regardless of the reasoning behind the fashion drawing or fashion illustration, the result needs to fulfil its aim: to be fit for purpose.

Neil Greer

This digitally produced artwork was hand-drawn using a pen and tablet and the computer programme Painter.

Let us start by considering fashion drawing, which is the art of rendering the human figure, clothes and accessories in an attractive and comprehensible manner. To understand the processes and reasoning behind drawing fashion, it is important to appreciate the stages that a designer may go through in the course of the creative journey. The designer may have an idea, and will need to record that idea to draw it effectively and commit it to paper before it gets away. That idea then needs to be developed and refined, which usually involves a process of redrawing, of questioning and evaluation. Does the image depict what I was thinking about/trying to express? Are the proportions good? Is the silhouette right? Are the details correct and in the right place? Does the colour balance work? The cutting and construction of the garment are also part of the design ethos and require due consideration and attention. These are just a few of the many judgements that need to be made, all of which will contribute to the successful realization of the design. Both the idea and the final outcome may evolve dramatically from the first sketches, and the processes of drawing and design are inextricably entwined.

Katharina Gulde

Client: ONLY Bestseller Hand and digital drawing combined.

This book will guide you through a series of tutorials and aims to help you create better, more professional drawings. It will also endeavour to encourage your own personality to shine through by showing you different possibilities across a range of media, techniques and styles.

We shall talk about equipment and materials, from the most elementary to a range of more specialist and experimental media, including a little about computer drawings and their use but first you need to be able to draw by hand. In order to do this we reveal how to draw a model: the human figure static, posed and in movement that will later be dressed. This is always the starting point and we shall examine in detail how to accurately depict proportions and details such as hands, feet, heads, hair and faces. It is important to point out at this stage that choosing the styling and look of a drawn figure is just like selecting a live model for real garments; the look and attitude have got to be right for overall success the wrong model with the wrong hair and look wont wear the designs well.