The Art of Drawing Folds : An Illustrator’s Guide to Drawing the Clothed Figure

197 Pages·2018·23.74 MB·English

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THE ART OF DRAWING FOLDS
From Renaissance fresco painters to contemporary graphic novel artists, the ability to draw clothed fgures from
one’s imagination has always been crucial to artists – and exceptionally diffcult to attain. With over 220 illustrations,
The Art of Drawing Folds: An Illustrator’s Guide to Drawing the Clothed Figure reveals the logic and patterns in
folds, enabling the reader to more easily predict the behavior of cloth when creating folds in their own drawings
and paintings.
Addressing folds in clothing systematically, the author provides a clear, concise approach to the analysis, classi-
fcation and visualization of convincingly naturalistic folds. Starting with the nature of fabric and its geometry, this
book methodically explores the reasons for fold behavior based on the construction of clothing and the shapes and
actions of the human fgure. An essential guide and reference for animators, illustrators, storyboard artists, comic-
book artists, 3D modelers, sculptors, fashion designers and students, The Art of Drawing Folds simplifes one of
the most complex and important aspects of drawing the clothed fgure.
Kelly Gordon Brine is a storyboard artist working on movies and television shows such as The Punisher, Daredevil,
Jessica Jones, Designated Survivor and Person of Interest. He has taught drawing as an assistant professor at the
University of Toronto, and has also worked as a comic book artist and a software developer.
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THE ART OF
DRAWING FOLDS
An Illustrator’s Guide to
Drawing the Clothed Figure
Kelly Gordon Brine
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First published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Kelly Gordon Brine to be identifed as the author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-0 -4 15-7 9341-4  (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0 -4 15-7 9342-1  (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1 -3 15-2 1107-7  (ebk)
Typeset in Univers
by Out of House Publishing
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CONTENTS
Introduction 1
What Are Folds? 2
Three-D imensional Drawing 5
Learning to Draw Folds 8
1 An Overview of Folds and Materials 11
Planes, Cylinders and Cones 12
Parallel Folds 12
Radial Folds 13
Compound Folds 13
Complex Folds 13
Some Characteristics of Materials and Their Folds 14
2 The Elements of Folds 19
Cloth Draped Over the Figure 19
Cloth Under Tension and Compression 19
Convex and Concave Surfaces 21
The Anatomy of a Fold 21
The Hinge Line and the Crease 22
The Geometry of Hinge Lines 23
Wide, Narrow and Circular Folds 25
Compound Folds 26
The Effects of Gravity 28
The Effects of Wind 28
The Strength of Folds 28
3 Parallel Folds 29
Simple Parallel Folds 30
Compound Parallel Folds 37
4 Radial Folds 47
Simple Radial Folds 48
Compound Radial Folds 54
5 Interlocking Folds 56
Inverted Folds 57
Two Parallel Folds Interlock 58
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Contents

Interlocking Groups of Parallel Folds 58

Parallel Folds Interlock with Radial Folds 59

Interlocking Groups of Radial Folds 59

6 Complex Folds 61

Ditch and Bridge Folds 61

Bent Tube Folds 64

Folds at the Joints 66

Subdivided Radial Folds 70

Subdivided Radial Ridge Folds 71

Nested Inverted Radial Folds 72

Festoon Folds 73

Linked Festoon Folds 74

Telescoping Folds 76

Twisting Folds 77

Compressed Radial Folds 78

Zigzag and Bent Tube Folds Compared 79

7 Folds at the Floor and Edges 82

How Cloth Folds When It Meets the Floor 82

How Cloth Folds When Draped Over an Edge 88

8 Drawing the Figure 91

The Mannequin 91

The Proportions of the Figure 95

The Head, Ribcage, Clavicles, Hips and Spine 97

The Upper Limb 104

The Lower Limb 111

Muscle Crawl 114

Joint Surface Exposure and Length Change 116

Tendon Stretch 118

Creases 120

9 Clothing and Folds on the Figure 122

Clothing Construction 122

Anchor Points and Tension Lines 125

Studying Tension and Compression in a Pillow 126

Folds in Pants 127

Folds in Shirts and Blouses 133

Folds in Formal Jackets and Coats 142

Folds in Skirts, Dresses and Robes 145

Folds in Shoes and Boots 152

10 Folds in Hands and Gloves 156

The Back of the Hand 156

The Fingers 158
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Contents

The Palm 161

The Thumb 162

The Wrist 163

Tendon Stretch and the Fingers 164

11 Folds and Wrinkles on the Face 166

The Eyes 167

Folds in the Cheeks 168

The Forehead 170

Folds of the Face in Youth and Age 171

Drawing Smiling Faces 172

12 Light and Shade 173

Twenty Illustrations Explaining Light and Shade 173

Index 185
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INTRODUCTION
Folds are mysterious and elusive. They attract us with their colors, their textures and their intricate shapes, and they intrigue
us as they hide and reveal the human form. Their ever-c hanging character seems to give them a life of their own, but they
keep their logic hidden. Folds have always been an important and striking element of fgurative painting, and through the
ages artists have studied folds both to capture their beauty and to clothe the fgures in their paintings more convincingly.
In this book I unravel the mysteries of folds. And because fgure drawing and light and shade are so important
when drawing the folds in clothed fgures, I have included chapters on these topics as well. The important topic of
fashion is beyond the scope of this book, but the knowledge you gain about folds will serve you well in illustrating
any fashion you choose.
I have worked for over 20 years as a storyboard artist for major flm and television productions, and some exam-
ples of my work are included here in the introduction. At university I studied mathematics, and as an illustrator I am
self-t aught. I acquired the knowledge and developed the methods described in these pages so that I could draw
quickly and convincingly from my imagination without having to fnd reference photos to copy from.
Folds have long been a neglected topic that deserves more attention. In this book you will fnd thorough,
insightful and convincing explanations of the mechanisms of folds in clothing and elsewhere. If I had found a book
such as this early in my career, it would have helped me enormously!
Folds are found everywhere in fexible materials such as paper, plastic, foil, leather and cloth. All materials fold
in similar ways, although the thickness, stretchiness and other qualities of materials affect the number, size and
angularity of folds. The principles of folds can be applied generally, but this book focuses on folds in clothing. The
approach of this book is to understand the reasons for the many shapes of folds. It covers the essentials for creat-
ing believable folds both in clothing and in the skin of the face and hands.
Well-d rawn folds help make drawings and paintings of clothed fgures look three- dimensional and realistic, as
well as adding their own beauty. When we draw from life or photos we can copy what we see, but when drawing
from the imagination we need knowledge to guide us. Drawing the fgure requires anatomical knowledge, while
drawing folds requires an understanding of their geometry. Once an artist has learned why folds occur in cloth, they
can apply principles and patterns that will take much of the guesswork out of drawing clothing. This book covers
both the theory and the practice of drawing folds.
There are many reasons to believe that the masters of the past created their paintings largely without models,
relying instead on their knowledge of anatomy and folds. Some of these reasons are: horses, futtering drapery
and fying cherubs don’t pose for portraits; a model with the right appearance may be unobtainable; models and
costumes are expensive; the posing of dramatic actions and angles can be diffcult or impossible; folds change
every time a model takes a break; and drawing without using models is considerably faster. If you look at paintings
and drawings by masters such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Paul Rubens and François Boucher, you’ll
see that they had a remarkable understanding of folds.
If you draw from your imagination, as do fashion illustrators, animators, graphic novel and comic book artists, car-
toonists, storyboard artists and others, the more you know about folds in clothing, the better you’ll be able to draw.
Realistic folds will accentuate the shape, action and character of the people you draw, will make your drawings look more
attractive and believable, will ensure that poor folds aren’t a distraction in your art, and will save time. If you draw mainly
from models or reference photos, knowledge of folds will help you determine how to simplify and accentuate the folds.
If you believe that knowing something about artistic human anatomy is important to your art, then knowing
about the “anatomy” of folds is probably important to you too. And just as with human anatomy, the goal is not to
make your drawings perfectly accurate, but to make them convincing to your audience to help you tell your story.
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