Adding personality!- Fashion Illustration #3

Howdy everybody!

So we were talking in class about adding personality to your drawings. You don't want them all facing forward with their arms out, do you? No, silly. Sometimes you want your illustrations to be sassy, or romantic, or fierce. It just depends on the mood of your garment, and how you want your customer to feel in it.

This figure is static and boring

Versus these figures which have movement and attitude

As you can see, movement can do a lot for your garments! The clothes on the left may be cute in person, but because the girl in the drawing looks bored and uninterested, I'm going to assume that those clothes will make me feel also bored and uninteresting. But the clothes on the right look dynamic. I can assume that I will feel edgy and confident in those clothes. So lesson learned- Movement makes your clothes look more interesting!

3 quarter-turned head

Front facing head

Same concept, the 3 quarter-turned head is more interesting to look at than the frontal face (although both of these are beautiful).

How to draw what I am talking about: When sketching, like in one of my previous blog posts, you start with your center front or balance line. When turning the body, move the center front line. The key to getting movement is to angle the lines of your hips, bust, waist and shoulders. The girl in the gray dress, her shoulders and bust are tilting down on the right side, while her waist and hips are tilting up on the right side, giving the body movement. When this happens, one side typically "crunches" in, ie her right side (as i am looking at the image). The girl on the right is a little hard to see, but it looks like her shoulders, bust, waist and hips are all angled down to the left slightly- because she's almost completely turned sideways. Her center front line follows the curve of her torso, and starts at the base of her neck; so it will be curved like a big C from her neck to her pelvis, and that ensures that her body stays balanced.

Leg positioning can also give you personality. By crossing them, keeping one bent, sticking one out, or anything within the realm of human flexibility, you can add a completely different dynamic to your look. I think this picture below is really awesome, and it is a good representation of leg positioning.

Well, I think that is about it for me this week! I hope you enjoyed! As always, vivre la mode tout le monde!