about fashion > Rendering Tips
Rendering Tips
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Whichever medium you choose, there are various ways in which to use that medium to create a spectacular end result. Browse the internet for ideas on how to best use your medium.
See the showcase page for inspiration from extremely talented artists!!
Look at how they use their mediums to produce the shading, highlighting and textures. Hair or fabric must be depicted in such a manner that it is instantly recognised. Try to observe the way folds are drawn, the highlighted areas and the shaded dips. Often the use of colour, rather than line, can more effectively communicate the curves and contours of the figure or clothing. Darker colour depicting the areas in shade, therefore on a lower plane, the highlighted areas seeming to be rounded and plump, such as the cheeks or a fold. I think that a washed out, undefined image is hard to look at. Shading and contouring creates interest and excitement to the viewer. Be careful of using colours like green or yellow as backgrounds, this can seem to wash the entire image in a sallow tone, which is’nt flattering. Use brown/tanned shades for the skin, white/yellow/light pink shades aren’t as striking as a beach tanned skin shade.(see thumbnail at the bottom of this page) Don’t only use black backgrounds, your portfolio will seem dark and gloomy if you’ve used it throughout your assignments.
(see thumbnails below for ‘what not to do’)
Use colour to entice the viewer! An image such as this (above) is so visually appealing because of the use of colour contrasting and highlighting of the correct areas. It isnt busy and untidy, too much detail in an untidy manner can put the viewer off, detail is only good if its correctly drawn. There are also quite a few drawing tutorial sites that give tips on how to use colour markers, watercolours or pastels to the best of their abilities. Some of the mediums might smudge easily, or bleed, get to know your medium first by practicing on a scrap piece of paper. I sometimes keep a second black & white copy of my figure first, in case of mistakes.
Shading is probably your best tool for visual effect, using a black colour pencil or chalk to create shades in the darker places of the figure and clothing gives a good finished outcome. Interesting link on Rendering and shading: http://www.portrait-artist.org/basics/shading.html
Use any medium to create shades and highlights. Using white to create the highlighted parts or even using an eraser to create a lighter effect on highlighted areas drawn with colour pencils. Use a combination of mediums and techniques if you’re comfortable. Try the cross-hatching technique: Here is the link.
When trying to render fabrics, try the Frottage technique: (French: “rubbing”), used in visual arts, it is a technique of obtaining an impression of the surface texture of a material, such as fabric, by placing a piece of paper over it and rubbing it with a soft pencil or crayon.
When trying to illustrate a shiny object, leave a white area to depict the shine such as on the lips or objects such as a plastic bangle. Decide where the light source is and render your highlights and shading accordingly. When trying to depict gold, use a gel pen in gold to create the metallic shine rather than a pencil.
Test a few different colours and shades for your choice in skin tone; I love the Copic – Light Suntan. This is merely a preference, but I think it tends to best bring out the colours of the garments on the figures, as a paler colour has less visual effect. You will need this colour the most in your work, and you might decide to buy a few shades of that colour to help you in shading and highlighting. Also find a few shades for hair colour, blonde or brunette, with highlight shades as well. You can buy sets of colours from the stationary shops, but these will be limited to a few selections, where possible you can buy them singularly – then you can choose the exact shade you’ll need. Even though it initially costs more, buy the refills for your markers (Copics/Pantone/Triart) because they are essentially three markers in one bottle. It saves you money in the long run. I buy the refills for the hair and skin colours.
Some more great tutorial sites for drawing techniques. These links are drawing tutorials available on drawing folds (in the fabric) how to perfect the eyes, hands or feet, or to render fabric textures.
www.deviantart.com
www.drawsketch.com
www.portrait-artist.org
www.polykarbon.com
www.mangatutorials.com – drawing anime or manga style
http://neondragonart.com/dp/tutorials/marker.htm - drawing with markers
What Not To Do:
| Yellow background: | Washed out colouring: | |
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NEW CONTENT!!! I have opened the site for guests to post their personal tutorials on drawing techniques. I think this is a good way to gain more perspectives on alternative drawing methods. Please note: not all the techniques are based on fashion illustration methods, but shading and drawing types are all the same. Click the artist’s name to learn more about them or see their sites. Click the thumbnail to see an enlarged tutorial:
| Brandon McKinney | Shortpinay | Gurukitty | Kaorien |
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Please do not attempt to redistribute or copy these. Please contact the artists for permission to use them on sites.
Linework Preparation
Any work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line. — Joseph Conrad
-Sarah Louise Petty
If your fashion illustration style is to use bold outlines first and then to colour in, you’ll need line work that’s as dark as possible. It’s best to darken inked line work that looks washed-out before colouring in. Range in line quality also heightens descriptive potential: you can describe textures, movement, light, space, etc. Using many different kinds of lines in your drawing can also add visual interest. How interesting can a drawing be if everything is the same? Even when the subject or content of a drawing is not readily recognizable, varying line quality can imply space, movement, light, and so on. Thicken the lines in spots where things overlap or attach so that they stand apart better. The slight variance gives everything more volume and it doesn’t look like it’s all on the same plane.
I have opened the site for guests to post their personal tutorials on drawing techniques for drawing clothing/folds. I think this is a good way to gain more perspectives on alternative drawing methods. Please note: not all the techniques are based on fashion illustration methods, but shading and drawing types are all the same. Click the artist’s name to learn more about them or see their sites. Click the thumbnail to see an enlarged tutorial:
Fungmingyun - Amazing tutorial on tools used and shading styles with pencils.
Treijim - Brilliant reference on how fabric folds over the body and at creases done by Treijim from Deviantart.
Please do not attempt to redistribute or copy these. Please contact the artists for permission to use them on sites.
