AIDS TO BETTER DRAWING
You get yourself best in what you practice. You desire, determination and intelligence will always helps in improving your skill 
When you see your work is going wrong, try to put it correct. Obviously you will get confidence when you correct the mistakes identified by your own. This will help in improving the other areas of work If it is possible, try to watch the working methodology of other artists. Study his or her working techniques Don’t throw your work away. Preserve them. After a period of time compare your latest work with your previous work, am sure you will feel a big difference
Draping costumes
Most of the time, we would like to customize the figures with draping costumes of various styles. Needless to say that these dresses would look more naturel if enough care is taken of their forms and folds. Handling of drapery and clothing is not difficult, but it does require some study and keen observation in order to be clear about the materials behavious and what happens when a material cover the body.
The main purpose of these exercise to teach you how folds work and how material behaviour depends on the types of fabrics. To understand the difference, a good practice is needed.
A better exercise for learning about the behaviour of clothing is to take a soft cloth and drape it over something (of eg: table, flore, coat stand, chair, etc...) and try to draw what you see.
Observe the below drawing for a better understanding.
- Draw the main lines of the large folds. When you get these about right, then go for the smaller folds.
- In order to capture the texture of the material, draw the darkest tones first, and then the less drak.
Try drawing an arm in a sleeve or leg in trousers and carefully note the main folds and how the bend in the arm or leg affects them.
The costumes should graciously follow the body outlines and fall in accordance to the gravitational forces as well. Especially if they are of more loose fitting, then observer carefully where they follow more closely to the body outlines and where they deviate from the body outlines due the gravity.
While adding the folds, we should remember that they generally radiate from joints and crinkle on opposite sides. They should also take care thae body masses, their twists, stretches etc. Careful observations from reference photographs or from life will help to improve the drawings of folds.
Look at the folds of the gown in various directions.
It is strongly recommended for beginners to draw the nude basic figure drawing first, then they can add the dresses to establish the correct poses. This will give the realistic effect to the drawing.
While drawing curtains care should be taken in the wind direction and the strength of the wind. Since curtains are hanging, they will have loose folds and more creases.
Added on: 2nd May 2009
Filled under: Cloth folds, Draping costumes.
