Fashion illustrations are a great way to practice drawing clothing items, poses, and working with color. In this tutorial, I’ll be sharing my approach on drawing people and outfits.
Do you have a favorite brand?
It’s always more enjoyable when you draw things you love. In this case, list out some of your favorite clothing brands, and then check out their social media and editorial materials. You get a better sense of their brand this way — overall colors, design, emotions, movements, and styling. You can decide whether you want to follow these themes, or create a piece that is completely your own. After a little bit of brand research, find the outfits/pieces you’d like to draw.
Tip: If you don’t have any brands in mind or want to discover new ones, do a reverse search. I like to look at a specific brand/magazine on Instagram, and then checking out their related profile recommendations for that similar look and feel. This is how I stumbled on the brand Nanamica.
Find your references.
In my case, I’m going to stick with the site models. But if you want to switch it up a bit, you can always look up other models, characters, or poses. Again, social media is a great way to find these references. I usually turn to exploring Pinterest or checking out my favorite portrait photographers and models on Instagram.
Begin drawing!
Once you gather your references and materials, begin drawing in whatever medium you decide. Test out different sketching and coloring styles, and be as detailed as you’d like. In this example, I’m using Procreate and starting with the water brush for the line work.
Final product
After finishing the line art, I created another layer below and used the water brush in bigger strokes to color. My illustration ended up looking pretty natural with the tones and brush strokes, which is on brand with Nanamica.
And that’s it! Of course this is just one way to do it, so continue to experiment and streamline your own process and style.
