Drawing Skills for Fashion Illustration and Design

Drawing is a skill which means it can be learned. Not everyone has the natural talent to draw but that doesn't mean you can't be taught how to draw. People with talent just do it more quickly and with more ease. The rest of us need some instructions and lots of practice to achieve the same level of drawing. Drawing skills for fashion illustration and design include figure drawing, garment drawing and illustrating different fabrics.

Whenever you learn a new skill such as drawing, there will be some frustrations along the way. There are three things you need when learning to draw:

• commitment
• motivation and
• constant practice.

If you are highly motivated, you will eagerly invest more time into practice and will be able to see results very quickly.

Drawing is the use of line and shading to represent 3D objects on a two dimensional surface of the paper. It can be easily learned through observation and practice.

Fashion drawing exists mainly for two reasons:

1. To present different ways clothes can be styled. This is achieved by choosing a proper pose, varying lighting, skin tone, hairstyle and adding accessories. 
2. The other purpose is drawing for fashion design, meaning designing new, unique clothes and accessories from your inspiration board or imagination. 

Fashion design is a result of combining fashion elements in new ways so that they are appealing, represent the right mood and current fashion trends with added originality and unique spark.

The goal of drawing in fashion design is to give a clear and accurate set of ideas for new garments. Also to attract, impress and seduce potential clients/audience. You can even consider fashion drawing a sort of a technical drawing.

Good fashion drawing for design communication purposes will be able to communicate a lot of information about the garment. For example it can communicate shape, fit, drape and fabric as well as mood, market and age of the customer.

As mentioned above, fashion drawing is used for communicating design to customers, pattern makers and other people involved into creating of that particular garment. It is made as a representation of the garment that will yet to be made. 

A fashion illustration represents a drawing that is made after you have already made your garment and it is usually used for promotion of the design. For example, a fashion illustration is when you draw your favorite garments from a runway show or you illustrate your outfit of the day (from the garments that already exist).