2D Toolkit: Clothing Folds

Clothing Folds
There are numerous types of clothing fold that can be seen when drawing clothes. The types of clothing fold seen in clothing are determined by the position that the clothing is held in, as well as what is underneath the clothing and what the material is made of. These come together to create points of tension, regions of the clothing that are put under pressure and which stretch areas around it. From these stretched areas, folds in fabric can be seen, the flowing direction of these folds determined by the qualities of the clothing and its position. 

Capturing this flowing motion - which flows between folds, points of tension and areas of stretching - can be difficult and, as such, when studying these numerous fold types, I have used several different techniques to retain and enforce a flowing motion.
Shown below are studies of three types of folds: pipe folds, formed by clothing material falling into cylindrical bunches, drop folds, formed when material is bunched together and loose, and diaper folds, which are formed when two point of tension create folds that flow into one another.


Shown below are Pipe and Spiral folds. These are similar, both being formed when material bunches atop itself, with pipe folds being thicker and spiral folds formed as material twists.


I found that, when creating studies of clothing, drawing the clothing using one line assisted greatly in creating realistic and flowing folds. I feel that this is because I could more accurately follow the flowing, interlocking pattern that the clothing folds have; I could draw them from the reference as one swooping motion, instead of trying to determine where one fold "begins" or "ends". Of the two images shown below, the leftmost was drawn in one line, and I find this study to be the most successful and realistic of the whole exercise.



Similarly, the leftmost image of those shown below was drawn in one line. Again, in this study, I am fond of how the folds flow between one another and come together to create a continuous motion across the body. In future work I may use a similar technique, drawing complex clothing folds in one line to retain motion throughout the illustration.


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