FASHION ILLUSTRATION

An introduction
QROUQIE WITH
MEASUREMENTS
IDEAL
QROUQIE
INDIAN
DOMESTIC
MARKET....
A fashion designer must be a good communicator.

Four primary types of illustration are used to

communicate design intentions:

1. Croquis
2. Finished Drawings
3. Flats
4. Blow ups
1. Croquis (cro-kee):
 A quick illustration that depicts the general silhouette, proportions
and look of a garment.
 These drawings are in a rustic form usually in pencil on white paper
or in a sketch book without too much detail and used in the
conceptual phase of the design process.
 1. Croquis cont’d:
•Working out the design of the garment usually takes at least three
croquis and sometimes more.
•Most designers maintain a sketchbook for just these.
•A lead designer might show these to their design and merchandising
team as an indication to how they would like that up coming
season’s line to proceed. Everyone involved has input and that is
when some designs stay, go or new ones are sketched. Once some
designs have been agreed upon, planning and more intricate
sketching can begin.

If you are interested in becoming a

designer, go get your self a
sketchbook and get started
immediately! Never be without one as
you never know when inspiration will
strike!
2. Finished Drawings/Illustrations:
 These are fully rendered, final illustrations of a fashion
figure or series of figures.
 They communicate the attitude or sensibility of the
garment or collection and the intended customer.
 Styling and accessories that may not be part of the
fashion collection may be included for a stylish effect.

What is the attitude being

conveyed by these
illustrations? Who is the
intended customer?
 2. Finished drawings cont’d:

•These drawings are useful to sales, merchandising, marketing and many other
departments in a company.
•The illustrations give these teams an idea of what is ahead for that season and
its attitude before initial garments (or prototypes) are constructed. The teams
have the opportunity to give feedback on whether this will work for their
customer or not and designs may need to be reworked based upon this.

Example: The Merchandising team might say to design “we ran a yellow dress
last year, it didn’t sell and we lost a lot of money. Our customer might not be a
fan of this. Maybe we can eliminate this from our line?”
The average adult is 7 ½ heads tall. A fashion
figure is at least 9 inches tall.
Why is that?
Well, the longer the legs, the more physically appealing the clothes
look.
How is this accomplished?
By using a basic sketching grid known as the nine headed figure.
Each set of lines being equal to one head. See example on next
slide.
Then what?
The illustrator applies clothing, accessories, color, texture,
movement and attitude in layers. Extreme details in face and
clothing is not as critical as the overall feeling of the designs.
How?
Through use of colored pencils, markers, paint, etc.
 2. Finished drawings/illustrations
continued:

The 9 headed figure with layers,

The 9 headed fashion figure movement and personality
For some seriously great illustration check out
haydenwilliams on tumblr.
3. Flat drawings:
 This is a technical illustration showing a garment laid flat in exact proportion
used to communicate IN DETAIL the garment’s structure and functionality.
 These are rendered using a larger, more realistic body scale than the 9 headed
figure.
 These drawings begin on tracing paper over the form (male, female, teens or
child’s form) and drawn one half at a time. Drawings are precise and use
rulers, curves and templates for detail and exactness.
 The first half of the drawing is folded over and then traced onto the other side
for perfect symmetry. Sometimes these images are scanned and maneuvered
in a CAD system and are stored in a style library. The silhouettes begin in
pencil and then as they are nearing completion several sets of varying
thicknesses of markers are used for details.
 Sometimes colors are added once designs are completed and these flats are
used as virtual paper dolls for merchandising, buying and selling. They may
go into a CAD style library and be used for many seasons.
 Other uses: spec sheets given to pattern makers for construction
3. Flat drawings (cont’d):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73GSa
OdQBDo
From illustration to CAD Tech. drawing

Basic flat drawing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=3kuWs0XSUm4

A quick hand drawn overview Flats scanned into CAD and used as a
sales, merchandising and planning tool.
3. Technical Flat used as a spec sheet for
production
4. Blow up drawings
This is often a portion of, or added to the flat
or technical design. It is a magnified
illustration of a specific area of a garment
used to convey details not visible in an
overall view, such as construction, stitching,
hardware or embellishments.
Patternmakers, product developers,
production and sales teams would all find
this useful so that the proper trims can be
ordered and given attention.
4. Blow up example:
It all comes together…
In order to build a successful clothing line season to season,
the design team must render sometimes hundreds of
finished sketches. While some are borrowed from their
previous sketch libraries and “tweaked” to be new again,
others are new and equally saleable. Merchandisers, sales,
production teams and more influence what will become the
final line based on production costs of the garments,
customer climate, and sales history vs. projections.

Contrary to majority belief, the designer does not

necessarily run the show. Through effective artistic
communication and strong team input, a successful
fashion line is born!
 For patternmaking,
production and

Ta da!
sales

1. Croquis

4. Blow up

Retail

Profit
3. Flat
2. illustration
Example of some fully rendered Qrouqies
Carrier opportunities for illustrators
Coture Designer
Full time illustrator
Freelance illustrator
Industry designer for
mass
market fashion
Exclusive hand
illustrations
RAHUL
MISHRA
:FASHIO
N
DESIGN
ER
Mr. Tarun
tahlani....

Fashion
designer
and
illustrator
Ms.
Biswarupa
Mohante
Is a full
time
Illustrator
from
Odisha.
Purushu
Arie
Is a fashion
designer and
holds a blog
Written
FDCI
designer
Node
magazine
FDCI
 Since December 1998
◦ Fdci – fashion design council of india is a non
profitable organisation of Fashion designers whIch is
formed to propagate the business of fashion in india.
◦ Established in Dec. 1998
◦ Conducts India fashion week sponcerd by Amazon
india.
◦ A non profitable community supported by textile
ministry of india.
◦ Offers membership to designer
members ,preliminary members,Accessory
members,Industry members,institutional members.
THANK YOU