Drapery
 

I wanted to ask you guys first before I went looking too far on my own in the wrong directions. I was wondering what a good resource for learning how to paint/draw clothing and fabric. I've gotten by well on the observations I make while creating a piece but I know that there are tricks and tips out there that can help me with this. I know many great artists of the past studied hard on painting/drawing clothing, which enabled them to achieve what we see today. Do you know of any good books or online tutorials that can offer good techniques?

Hello Jeremiah,

I found this:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Hagan/menu.htm

Perhaps it would be helpful for you, too.

Ciao!

That is a nice resource. However, I could not find anything there on drapery techniques.

I'm a beginner artist too and have found that the best way to learn to paint "something", is by forgeting what you're trying to paint and just try to reproduce the shapes, the values, the hues, the chroma and the temperature of what you have in front of you.

Leave painting from photographs to the seasoned artists. At the beginning, you should paint only from nature in order to learn to "see" like a painter. Remember that you can only paint what you see and if you don't see right, you can not paint right, and this applies to any subject.

Excellent advice, Tito.

Jeremiah, I've found that Bridgeman guides cover the properties of drapery extensively.

In painting anything one has to try to simplify, particularly when painting the number of folds found in drapery. There is no mystery in painting folds, they still have the shadow part, the light part, the half tone, the cast shadow, the highlights and the reflected light. The illusion of the type of fabric can be achieved by observing carefully the texture and the distribution of the highlights in the cloth you're painting. Painting folds of fabric should be no different than painting petals of flowers, or hair.

Hi,


Hhere are the direct links to cloths (silk,satin etc.):

(with some tips and examples from Virgil Elliot)

http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Hagan/cloth1.htm

http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Hagan/cloth2.htm

http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Hagan/cloth3.htm

Bye,
Leslie.

I'm always surprised that in the minds of artists, drawing drapery is in a separate category from drawing anything else.

However, it is soooo easy to learn (and teach yourself) to do it. Simply crumple up or drape a piece of cloth in a slightly "artistic" manner and illuminate it with a single source of light. Either paint this from life or photograph it if you cannot leave the "set up" undisturbed for a while. In fact, using drapery as subject matter is a good way to sharpen both your drawing and your photographic skills.

I suggest that you learn to draw drapery before you paint it. Use soft vine charcoal only - no white.

Then do another study with a different type of cloth. Each fabric has its own characteristics: crisp cotton sheeting, soft heavy velvet, shiny slippery satin, etc.

I found that for study purposes white fabric makes it easier to observe the dance of light, halftone and shadow across the form.

I poked around my old studio storage rack and resurrected an old drapery study I'd done long ago that I never had the heart to toss out. I like to play with lettering and the "Nu Master's" school reference is a punny word because my teacher's name was Numael.

The following is a study of a linen napkin that I thumbtacked to a board.

I find that if you soak them overnight in Wisk, you can remove most dirt and grime.

I've practiced a lot already in the ways that you've all described. However, just as there are resources for drawing the figure, I know that there are good resources out there for drapery. There are "formulas," so to speak, on the ways that drapery behaves. Certain stress points will make the drapery behave differently and then there is the matter of the thickness and other qualities of the fabric. I recall seeing a book once on this and it was kind of helpful but not completely.

Leslie, the Wetcanvas links on drapery were a big help. This is more of the resource that I was looking for. Thanks.

I am still looking for other resources if any of you know of them. I plan to collect such things so I may post them on my website.

Jeremiah, beware of substituting "formula" painting for reality. An example of this is the way decorative artists paint their "formula" flowers...they have their place but are not realistic and all tend to look the same (see below). I highly recommend that you learn from reality first and then you can make up your own individual formula when you wish to shortcut and "fake it."

Mike, thanks for cleaning the black spots off my drapery. Wisk and Photoshop is an unbeatable combo.:)

I compare learning to paint with learning a language, once you acquire command of that language you don't need to buy books on how to write memos, how to write personal letters, how to write business letters, how to write short stories, how to write small poems, etc. Because once you know that language, you should be able to write anything or almost anything.

Jeremiah,

It sounds like what you

Karin, I'm mostly interested in breaking down the science of it rather then finding short cuts to "fake it." Just as an artist should learn muscle structure for drawing the figure well, one should also do the same with other subjects such as drapery. I can see what's happening with my eyes but I want to know why it happens or why it looks the way it does. Da Vinci studied drapery exclusively for a while as well as other artists of the past.

Tito, considering painting as a language is a good analogy. However, such can be reversed to prove my curiosity as well. I could, theoretically, repeat a word to somebody in another language and have no clue what it means, this does not prove that I know the language. Same with painting. I could repeat everything from life like I was a camera but unless I know why I'm painting the things the way they are, I am nothing more then a camera.

Steven, that is a good idea. I never thought about fashion illustrations to learn drapery. That one that you mention, I have seen but never read. I'm going to do a few searches on that tonight and look at that book the next time I'm at the bookstore. Thanks.

I said you try to paint what you see, but you also have to have an understanding of the object you're painting and be selective, not just register automatically, like a camera.

My point is that if you observe carefully, drapery shows a variety of values between light and shadow and like painting anything else, you simplify those values to a few ones. You also notice highlights, cast shadows and reflected light in every fold. The important thing is that you have to paint only those folds that convey the action and the form underneath. You should not attempt to paint every single fold that you see or paint those that do not help to understand the form underneath.

It's true that some painters have studied draperies intensely and were very skillful at painting it. Ingres was one of those, but if you paint drapery too well at the expense of the rest of the painting, you lose unity.

I agree with Tito and Karin. The best way to learn is to just go at it. I see a lot of artists today that are too afraid to jump into water, afraid that it may not come out as they want it to be. Practice makes perfect so to speak.:thumbsup:

All good science begins with observation, i.e., In carefully observing the properties of different kinds of fabric with a sketch book in your hand, you will learn an awful lot about them. In other words, I think that you will learn more in a fabric store than in reading a book about fabric.
This isn't a bad place to start. If you can really paint that well, you certainly have well developed powers of observation and the entire "what is cloth" issue will quickly disappear.