When your drawing skills develop you will crave for new techniques and experimenting with new drawing media. It is always good to be in the loop with the new art and craft products continually coming to the market and you can do that by reading magazines or blogs for artists.
Drawing and Coloring Media
Now that you have experience with your chosen media, you can try experimenting with others or enhancing your work by mixing them together.
- Rapidograph pens - When you start drawing flats for your fashion designs, you can use rapidograph pens for detailed, technical work. Nibs come in different sizes, so choose the ones you will use the most or a complete set.
KOH-I-NOOR Rapidograph (Amazon Link)
Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India Ink (Amazon Link)
- Marker Blender - This is great to have in the beginning as it will prevent streaks and make your work look more polished. Marker blender should be used right away before color dries or it will result with the completely opposite effect. Best options are Copic and Prismacolor markers.
Prismacolor Colorless Blender (Amazon Link)
Copic Colorless Blender (Amazon Link)
- Gouache - Many fashion illustrators and designers like using gouache as it can be used opaque or like watercolor if you add more water. It is great for coloring large surfaces or trying to achieve artistic fabric prints.
HIMI Gouache Paint Set (Amazon Link)
- Acrylics - Great for painting on canvas, quick drying and they give a more vibrant finish than gouache. You can also use them to add texture or paint over different surfaces.
ARTEZA Craft Acrylic Paint Set (Amazon Link)
Paper and Other Useful Items
- Marker Paper - If you find markers are your go to media in fashion illustration, you should definitely invest in quality marker paper as it will compliment the advantages of sketching with markers and prevent bleeding.
Canson Artist Series Pro Layout Marker Paper (Amazon Link)
- Watercolor Paper - Watercolors work best with a texturized paper like this. It can also be used with colored pencils to achieve different effect compared to regular smooth paper.
Canson XL Watercolor Pads (Amazon Link)
- Other Decorative Paper - Colored paper, textured cards and decorative papers can be very useful in presentation or if you are creating a collage.
- Q-Tips - This very simple, budget friendly item that you can find in every drugstore can be very helpful for clean ups and blending on paper.
- Miniature Mannequin - small wooden figure with movable joints is a great way to present body positions, proportions and perspective.
12'' Wooden Mannequin (Amazon Link)
10'' Wooden Hand Model (Amazon Link)
- Light Box - artists and illustrators often use a light box for tracing a sketch onto the drawing paper or illustration board. There are many options available and you can choose one that fits your budget.
Lightbox for Sketching (Amazon Link)
Now you are prepared to do some serious fashion illustration and drawing work while having fun experimenting with your art kit. Also, here in the previous article you can find a list of things you can add to your basic drawing kit as you progress to higher levels of fashion illustration.
I’m enjoying the discussion. One distinction that comes to mind is – illustration is a commissioned work, where the client decides the subject and probably the style too. Fine Art comes from the heart of the artist and is not necessarily intended for a specific buyer. I think both are art and both take tremendous skill.