I’m going to stick my neck out and say that observational drawing is the only art skill you’ll need for fashion design, or to design clothes.
The kind of drawings or sketches you’ll create in the process of designing your own clothes will help and support you. Please, please don’t worry about how ‘good’ you think they are. They’re not destined for a gallery or exhibition. They’re there to get you to think creatively and positively about what you want to create.
Nor do you need to spend time and money on art materials. Pencil and pen or paper will do, and a sketchbook or sheets of paper that you can bind together.
Observational drawings and sketches = visual communication of your clothing designs
What you’re aiming for is clarity and strong communication. Not only are you clarifying things in your own head – you’re also doing a favour for anyone you’ll share your ideas with. Your drawings and words will support each other – annotation is your friend here. I use it a lot, as in this sketch from 2016.
Don’t worry about drawing perfectly even gathers, or the exact amount of cables or pattern motifs. Instead, label the lines as gathers; label the stitch patterns. It matters far less than you think about your shirt collar not looking exactly like a shirt collar. Annotate the sketch so that there’s no doubt, and others can see what you meant.
Even the most meticulous drawings benefit from annotation, because the goal is good communication and articulacy. Let your words AND drawings do the talking. They’re a match made in heaven.
Photographs are also included. Again, they don’t have to be glamorous – the one below of the Kim poncho certainly isn’t! But it is clear, and it captures the important details. In a way, the mundane setting forces you to focus on the knitting. There’s nothing particularly attractive about a footstool, radiator, and beige carpet. At least, not compared to the poncho 😉
Observational drawing is only the beginning of fashion design
Drawings and sketches are just the beginning of the design process, or the starter course. Any fashion buyer, commissioning editor, or course tutor will tell you that it’s disappointing when sketches don’t live up to their hype. That is, the finished item looks nothing like the beautiful sketch that was sold to them. Observational drawing is important for fashion design – but it’s not the only thing. They start the story, but they’re not the whole story.
It’s like ordering something online, unpacking it, and wondering if this was really what you bought. Or, that the quality doesn’t match up to the photograph. We’ve all been there!
Three takeaways to build your confidence in your observational drawings
So if you’re not confident about your drawing skills, or feel insecure about your sketches because they don’t capture your skills as a knitter, crocheter, or sewist, take heart because:
- You’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you can deliver a quality pattern and finished item – which is what you want at the end of the day, not a nice drawing that can’t clothe you;
- Anyone who’s silly enough to judge you based on sketches alone will be exposed for the fool that they are, because your gorgeous swatches will do the talking too;
- Practice is on your side! As is time. It takes far less time to improve your drawing skills than it does to improve your pattern cutting skills, knitting, sewing, crochet…all that technical clothes making prowess. Invest wisely ;-). What serves you most in the long term? 15 minutes of drawing every day has a greater long term impact than 15 minutes of knitting. You can definitely fill a few pages in that time!
Everything else to do with drawing – fine art skills, CAD skills – can be added once you get set with pencil and paper. There are some specialist books that can help with technical drawing and making the most of computer technology, but nothing beats the power and magic in your hands. You can find them in my favourite fashion design books category, which has a wealth of resources on technical drawing, observational drawing and fashion design. But for now – DRAW 🙂
If you’d like to get started on observational drawing and designing knitwear right now, I have a couple of taster courses for you!
Visual Communication: Pencil control and the greyscale | Knitwear Design Initiation taster course
Knitwear Design Initiation | Visual Communication taster course
A 1-hour introductory drawing course or refresher for those who haven’t used their art materials for a long time.
It’s accessible to anyone who wants to make a start on or improve their drawing skills, but the techniques covered prepare you for the nuance of illustrating soft textures of knits.
This class on pencil control and the greyscale was designed especially for drawing out your latent sensitivity and artistry. The marks you make on the paper will range from the wispiest grey to the earthiest charcoal. This vocabulary will also improve your observational skills because you’ll have the means to draw what you see.
The Visual Communication taster is the first step away from the frustration of not being able to draw from life, or the disappointment of your drawings not looking the way you want them to. In just over an hour, you’ll never look at pencil and paper the same way again!
Knitwear Design Initiation | Design Development taster course
An introduction to idea generation techniques for knitwear design, taken from the Design Development module of the Knitwear Design Initiation course. This focuses on garment silhouette and tessellations (designing repeating patterns).
The two techniques in this taster course will shed light on how you can create several ideas out of one, or none at all if your starting point is a stitch library. You’ll feel brighter, more inspired and confident about developing your existing design ideas.
They are adapted from exercises I learnt as a fashion student, and use two frameworks as starting points: the showstopper and the ensemble.
These idea generation techniques will help you to mine for gold in the depths of your imagination and avoid feeling like you’ve run out of ideas. Once you realise how much creative energy you have, you’ll feel brighter and more confident about being a successful knitwear designer.
Design Development: Two techniques for idea generation | Knitwear Design Initiation taster course
A parting gift | Introducing Elinor Trier
My last gift to you is Eli Trier, and her YouTube channel. She’s a brilliant fine artist, and her sketchbook tours are wonderful. This is something you don’t want to miss if you want to know how artists REALLY use sketchbooks, and hear her insightful and engaging commentary as she takes you through each and every page. Here’s a taster for you.
Finally, thank you for reading, and a big thank you to Katie and Connie for their ongoing support via Ko-Fi! If you’d like to support my blog regularly or contribute to the tip jar, click the pink button on the bottom left. And if you found this post helpful or inspiring, please share it with others who might need more self-belief and confidence in their drawing skills.
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