How to Draw Fashion Figures
Are you feeling frustrated because you’re still struggling with drawing a pretty fashion figure?
On yesterday’s lesson, you saw that the first thing you have to learn as a fashion designer or fashion illustrator is how to draw fashion figures. It’s the very first thing in the schedule on any fashion college, on any fashion illustration course, and on any fashion illustration book. So, it’s important that you keep up with this subject, so the rest of the illustration’s elements (clothing, color, texture, background…) look at their best and work together to have a beautiful fashion illustration.
I also shared with you how hard it was for me to draw fashion figures, and how overwhelmed + frustrated + disappointed I felt about the fashion drawing methods out there. And now you know always there’s an easier way to do the things that are difficult to you, and I assured you that you can create pretty and proportionate fashion figures – and that you can create them easily 😉.
So, if you’re just starting with fashion drawing or drawing fashion figures is kinda hard for you – whether it is because the method you’re trying is too messy or too complicated or too vague -, during today’s and tomorrow’s lessons I’ll show you how to draw fashion figures.
On my course Fashion Drawing | Figures + Poses, I talk you about:
- What are fashion figures
- When and how to use them
- Why it’s important to create your own fashion figures
- Pros and cons about creating your figures and using templates
- The most popular fashion figures
- All about proportions, and how to draw fashion figures step-by-step (in different poses and views!).
And, now I’ll borrow part of my course, and I’ll share some of the topics above with you, right here right now 😃
Are you ready?
Great, let’s begin!
What are fashion figures?
Well, short and sweet, a fashion figure is the body you draw for your fashion illustrations. It is the body in which you draw your fashion designs or the clothing that you want to feature in your fashion illustrations.
Usually, the fashion figure has not the real human proportions. Instead, it is elongated, so it looks more stylish. To make sure the body doesn’t look weird, you should extend the figure’s body from the waist so that only what is below the waist is affected.
But, as a fashion designer and fashion illustrator, you can create a fashion figure with the proportions, size, and style of your choice. Actually, when you’re more advanced at fashion drawing, it is desired that you create your fashion figure, so it is part of your illustration style.
As a fashion designer, the fashion figures are used in different stages of the design process and beyond, like:
- Sketching Phase. This is where you start creating different ideas for a collection and unfolding the designs that will be part of it. Fashion figures in this stage are crucial because they can give you a clear idea and vision of how your designs will look over the body, and how they’ll interact with the rest of the collection. The fashion figures used in this phase are frequently basic, looking to the front or the back. And when there’s any particular detail on the side, then you can use a side view of the fashion figure.
- Final Illustrations for the Collection. When you select your final designs for the collection, you may want to create some final illustrations for each outfit to represent not only the garments but also the mood and the vibe of the collection. These illustrations can be used to create the collection presentation, to show them to other persons on the team, and also to present them to potential buyers. The fashion figures in this phase could be more playful and less basic (I recommend that the fashion figures go with the vibe of your collection), so manipulate the figure, create different poses, and make your fashion figures match your collection.
- Tech-Packs and Specification Sheets. On tech-packs and specification sheets you’ll find the flat version of the garments. But, if you want to clarify certain details (or really make sure the people taking care of production understand your designs), you can add basic fashion figures featuring the garments of your collection.
- Portfolio. In your portfolio, you must include your best work, the collections you’ve created, and of course, you should include the outfits of those collections featuring them on the human body (fashion figures).
As a fashion illustrator, the fashion figures are used in all the phases of the process, unless you’re illustrating only a separate piece of garment, accessories, or footwear that isn’t being used by the person. And of course, fashion figures are one of the most important elements in your portfolio.
So you see why fashion figures are important whether you want to be a fashion designer or fashion illustrator.
It’s essential that you know how to draw fashion figures because they’re key in all the phases of the design and illustration processes.
Creating your own fashion figures VS Using templates
What if you just don’t really like to draw fashion figures and want to opt for templates?
Well, that’s a great option, especially for beginners and fashion designers who want to focus on the design of the garments and skip the hassle of creating the bodies. And that’s perfectly fine.
But, if you are a fashion illustrator you want your illustrations (and that includes the fashion figures) to be completely yours. And, the fashion figures you create + use for your fashion illustrations must be aligned to your style as a fashion illustrator.
So let’s see the pros and cons of both.
Creating your own fashion figures.
Pros
As a designer, you can come up with poses and bodies that you can’t find on the Internet or books. And the fashion figures you create will have your personal touch making your whole work and portfolio more interesting, cohesive, and authentic.
As a fashion illustrator, the pros are super obvious because the body is part of the essence of your work. The body language, the style you use to draw the figures, and every single element in them is part of your style, and they can determine if your style and your work are unique and genuine. – And I know you want them to be as authentic and special as they can be, so creating your own fashion figures will help you to accomplish that 😉.
Cons
They can be more time consuming. Whether you’re a fashion designer or illustrator sometimes you just need to get things done as quickly as possible, and creating your own fashion figures sometimes is not a choice – or is it? 😛
SUPER PRO TIP: To magically turn this con into a pro, you can create a fashion figures bank (yes!). You do this by creating all the fashion figures in all the poses that you like, then digitizing each of them, and printing the fashion figures that you need when you need them. In Fashion Drawing | Figures + Poses there will be a new resource to help you create your own fashion figures bank! So, if you’re already a student stay tuned, and if you’re not, join us before enrollment closes.
Okay continuing with the cons, if you like to have all your work in one place like in one sketchbook for your sketches, you may need to work differently. For example, as I print and use the fashion figures either for my fashion designs or illustrations, I put them in a binder – and I put all the related work together. So, if you’re not a fan of working with loose sheets of paper, drawing your own fashion figures could be a con.
Using Templates
Pros
Using templates to create your fashion designs and fashion illustrations is super quick, you save time, and your fashion figures look consistent – although, you can also create templates from your own fashion figures and build your fashion figures bank (as I told you on the last point).
And if you have a sketchbook that has fashion figure templates in its pages (like those from Fashionary), then you’d have all your work in one place. This option is my go-to when I’m in a hurry to sketch a fashion collection – for my fashion illustrations I ALWAYS use my own fashion figures.
Cons
You’d use the same templates over and over again – which could make your work look consistent, but depending on the amount of templates that you use, your work could turn boring and expected (this is especially true for fashion illustrators).
As I mentioned before, as a fashion illustrator you want your fashion figures (and all other elements of your fashion illustrations) to be unique and authentic to you. And if you use templates from someone else, the genuine factor will be diminished (or completely taken out).
So what should you do? Create your own fashion figures or use templates?
This decision is up to you, and it depends on how comfortable you feel about drawing and if you are (or want to be) a fashion designer or a fashion illustrator or both. And another factor to consider is what’s more comfortable to you: working with your own figures on loose sheets, or with templates whether they are on a pre-made sketchbook or in loose sheets as well.
My recommendation?
Give fashion drawing a try!
Learn how to draw fashion figures. Pick a method that is easy to follow, and that allows you to learn in an easy way if you’re not super keen at fashion drawing. I talked about this in the last lesson, and one method you could try is the one I guide you through in my course Fashion Drawing | Figures + Poses – just saying 😊.
Then, tweak and adjust your fashion figures to look like as you want (think proportions + size + style).
And create your fashion figures bank. This way you’ll have fashion figures for every occasion, and they’ll be as unique and authentic as you are.
Nevertheless, the decision is always yours. Remember my advice and recommendations are always based on my experience and on what I’ve seen that has worked best for my students and me 😉
Fashion Figures and Proportions
I get into a lot more detail in my fashion drawing course on the proportions of the body and face, but for now, let’s cover the basics of the basics here.
Alright, the fashion figure you use can have any proportions and size that you want. Actually, if you fancy, your fashion figures don’t have to be accurately proportionate and look as similar to the human body as possible – I’ve met a couple of designers and illustrators who exaggerate the size of the head, or slim the whole body, or play with the whole proportions to make the fashion figures their own.
But, usually, the fashion figures are similar to the human body because most people like to present their designs and illustrations in figures that look like real persons. For me, that’s true, I want people to feel related and attracted to my designs and illustrations (as if they said ‘hey, that could be me’).
So, let’s see the 3 most popular fashion figures:
- The eight heads figure.
- The nine heads figure.
- And the ten heads figure.
The eight, nine, ten heads? What’s that?!
Well, the height of a realistic human body from the crown to the toes is around eight times the height of the head.
For fashion purposes, the body is stretched and elongated to nine head and sometimes ten head sizes (always below the waist only). This elongation is given to make the fashion figure look more stylish and chic.
That’s why you’ll see here, and in books or other people’s videos talking about eight head, or nine head, or ten head figures.
Once that’s clarified, let’s continue 😉
1 | The eight heads figure.
As I mentioned, the eight heads figure is the one with closer proportions to the real human body. In the images below you can see an example of a fashion figure with an eight heads size, and also the equivalence between the eight heads figure and the human body.
2 | The nine heads figure.
This figure is taller than the real human body by one head. And the elongation is created below the waist. This is my personal pick; I like to have a stretched figure, but not too elongated. And, in the image, you can see the proportions of the nine heads figure and the parts of the body.
As you can see, the torso has the same proportions as the 8-heads figure, but the legs are longer to get a more stylish look.
3 | The ten heads figure.
This figure is even taller than the real human body, and the size of the torso and arms also change.
If you want longer fashion figures, this is your size (10-heads height). And if you want even longer figures, you can add more head sizes below the waist. In the image below you can see the proportions of the ten-heads figure and the parts of the body.
And in this image, you can see the difference between all of the three fashion figures.
Do you have a favorite fashion figure now? Which one is your fave?
It doesn’t matter what’s the one you prefer or if you change your mind later, you can follow the exact same process to create your fashion figures in any size.
In Fashion Drawing | Figures + Poses, I show you how to create your fashion figures with 9-heads height, and I give you all the cheat-sheets ready to use to create shorter (8-heads) and taller figures (10-heads) too. So, you can pick the size that you prefer (8, 9, or 10 heads), and follow the process showed in the lessons (on the workbook + videos).
As I told you, with my method, you would follow the same steps, you would only need to change the cheat-sheet, and once you feel confident to draw freehand, your memory + visual + hand muscles will be ready to replicate those proportions without the cheat-sheets – yay! 😃
How to draw fashion figures
So what will you use, templates or your own fashion figures?
And what size do you prefer, 8-heads, 9-heads, or 10-heads?
Now it’s time to see how to draw fashion figures. We’ll start with a basic figure, because it’s the most used, and it’s the easiest to create whether you’re a fashion designer or fashion illustrator. And we’ll go for an intermediate size for the figure, so we’ll create a nine heads figure.
Are you ready?
Materials
First things first, the materials you’ll need are:
- Pencil. I prefer 2H or HB.
- Paper. Bond paper is fine.
- Eraser + sharpener.
- Optionally ovals + circles templates, and a ruler.
- This cheatsheet. Download it + print it 😉
Once you have your materials ready, click play!
Finally, once you finish the fashion figure, you can redraw it on a clean piece of paper with the help of a light box, or a window close to you. And your figure will be ready to use!
The process is the same whether you want to create your fashion figures in the eight heads or ten heads sizes. So, it’s your turn to draw all the figures you need and want 😊
You can create your own cheat-sheets for the figures you want to draw on the size of your choice. And for those of you who don’t want to create a cheat-sheet every time you want to draw a fashion figure, I got you covered!
My course and workbook Fashion Drawing | Figures + Poses is all about making it easier for you to learn and draw fashion figures and faces, and it includes the cheat-sheets for each of the figure sizes (eight, nine, and ten heads), and the lines come in black (as the one I shared with you here) and light gray, so you only have to print them out and use them. Oh, and the course also comes with a step-by-step workbook and videos, and a private community to hang out and solve your doubts.
Your Homework
Now it’s time to put all this info to practice, so here’s your assignment for today:
- Grab your materials: paper, a pencil, eraser, and a ruler. And optionally circles and ovals templates.
- Follow the method I described here.
- Take a pic of the fashion figure you draw.
- And post it on Instagram with the hashtag #FashionFigureDrawing and tag me @imkarenavila
Can’t wait to see your creations! 😊
Oh, man! I LOVED creating these lessons, they’ve been on the back burner for a long time, so I’m super happy it finally made its way to you 😃
Well, my hope for these lessons is that it lets you know that you can create pretty and proportionate fashion figures with ease. I hope it clarifies the process of how to draw fashion figures. And I hope it encourages you to start creating your figures with this method – which gets easier when you have the cheat-sheets ready to use, and the more you use it.
Also, I hope these lessons lets you know that you can draw your fashion figures however you want and infuse your style into them (of course, once you master one fashion drawing method 😉)
Sending you a BIG (bear) HUG,
P.S: Are you excited about these fashion drawing lessons?
I would absolutely love to help you even more and have you as one of my lovely students. Hop over to my course Fashion Drawing | Figures + Poses get the step-by-step guidance you need through the workbook and videos to take your skills to another level, and show me your progress + share your doubts + improve faster.
Through the new community, I’ll send individual love + feedback back your way answering your questions + clarifying your doubts + encouraging you along the way!
Here’s the link again, can’t wait to welcome you!
(LOTS of LOVE! And sending you some digi-hugs!)