Famous Artists Course: Folds, Part 2

March 2nd was the two-year anniversary of this blog. This is the 188th post.

I wish I had more time to blog these days but things are very very busy.

Here is part two (of two) on drawing folds from the Famous Artists Course.

All of this information might seem overwhelming but just remember above all else that one side of the cloth always has tension and the other side will be the slack or relaxed side (just like one side of the figure will be the "squash" side and one side will be the "stretch" side).

When I read this stuff a couple of years ago, I can't say that I actually remembered any of it afterwards but it did make me look at clothes and how people wore them in a new way. I started noticing how wrinkles formed and that helped me subconsciously get better at drawing simple wrinkles without getting caught up in drawing complicated shapes that are awkward or distracting...well-drawn fabric just "feels right" and adds to the gesture or direction of the drawing without calling attention to itself.








Some people might also be frustrated that this material, being 57 years old, is a little bit dated - people don't dress this way anymore. But folds are folds and the information is useful no matter what. It can be applied to anything.

I feel obligated to mention that I started this site to talk about storyboarding and everything that relates to story and storyboarding. There are many things a good story sketch needs to have and let me point out that well-drawn folds aren't on the list. But then again, most of the people who read this blog aren't really interested in story boarding so it's for anyone who wants to learn more about drawing.

My approach to everything in life is that if I'm going to learn anything about it then I always want to learn everything about it. Drawing is the same way...I want to learn everything I can no matter how mundane or trivial it might seem.

When I'm struggling with how to draw the nuts-and-bolts of something, I'm not able to focus on the more important parts of the drawing, like the emotion it's trying to convey or the greater story point that it's meant to service. A good drawing done just for the sake of being a good drawing to me is meaningless...a good drawing communicates something more than just the sum of it's parts.