Clothing

Clothing-Specific Clothing

Now that we know some basic shapes and know a little more about how clothing should fit on your subject, let's work on the actual parts of your character's wardrobe. We'll start off by going over basic shirts. Whatever type of shirt you draw, there are some basic places where folds will occur. Sleeves will be stretched towards the shoulder. Fabric generally gathers and bunches up around the armpits and waistline. If you are drawing a character with a heavy jacket or a loose shirt, the fabric should be thick and baggy and full of folds and creases, while if it is a tighter fitting garment, the clothing will stick pretty close to your subject (which is why it is important to be able to draw bodies; I have found that you cannot always cover up your entire character with really loose clothing to hide the fact that you aren't very strong in figure drawing. ^_~)

Here are some better examples of various shirts and clothing for the upper body. Notice that while some clothing fits closer to the body than other clothing, you still see many folds where ever the fabric is being stretched. Generally, you'll see folds the most at the armpits, upper portions of sleeves, waistlines, and depending on how tight the outfit is, the chest (as shown in the lower two examples). Also make sure that any seams that are visible on the clothing follow the shape of the cloth and the character that is wearing it. ^_^

All right, let's work on the pants (something that I personally sometimes find a little daunting... ^.^;) I have noticed that guy's pants tend to be a little looser, while girl's pants cling closer to the subject. Also take note that female's rears tend to be more round, while guy's are tend to be flat and squared off (a rather strange observation, I know. ^_^;) No matter which gender you are drawing, the fabric will gather around the lower waist, knees, and ankles. The cloth around the upper and lower legs is generally pulled straight down by gravity and won't have too many folds, unless the leg is lifted up, in which case you'll have folds similar to the sleeves on the previous page.

Here are two more examples of clothing for the lower body. The one the left is an example of really loose, baggy pants. The material is has more folds than normal pants, and in this case gathers at the ankles. Notice how poofy the pants get below the knees. The example on the right is just showing how no matter what you character is wearing, you need to consider the form of the figure beneath the clothing. In this case, the clothing is relatively tight, but hangs down past the knees, and thus is drawn a little tighter around the rear. Also notice how the loose fabric bunches up right above and below the belt. That concludes my tutorial on drawing clothing. It isn't the most organized tutorial, but I'm hoping that it covers enough areas so that it can be of some help to you. ^_^