THE CLOTHED FIGURE

IFabric with Line and Form and Form and Movement in a Clothed Figure


It was probably a little over optimistic, but because the brief stated not to get bogged down with detail of the figure I was hoping to complete the whole drawing in 45 – 50 mins. It took me much longer than expected (35 – 40 mins) to get to the  stage where I was ready to begin shading the fabric, which  took approximately another 15 minutes.

Did you find it easy to approach the figure as whole or were you distracted by details of the sitter’s dress?

The sitter was wearing a dressing gown.  I made a concerted effort to concentrate only on visualizing  the basic outline and shape of the figure first – knowing that if I became distracted at this stage by the sitter’s dress I would soon end up in a confused mess. Just as I would have approached a nude study I checked alignments of the shoulders with the head, the arms with the torso and chair etc, I tried to assess and lightly sketch in strategic angles, as  I knew that without having a reasonable indication of the form underneath, I wouldn’t have much hope of making the drape of the clothing look convincing.

Above - three 15 minute
 sketches of fabric draped
over a chair using line only

The dressing gown initially didn’t look at all complex, but I very soon began to realize I was wrong. It wasn’t long before I also realized I’d been pulled in to adding details of the cuff of the left wrist too early on, so I abandoned this and tried to work to the general rather than the specific. Once I’d finished adding in the basic shape of the outer edges of the clothing I continued by outlining the edges of most of the fold with line.

I created volume in the folds of the fabric by:

Firstly, following carefully the curves of the outer and inner edges of the folds with line.

I also tried to develop cross contours in the hatching and shading, where it appeared that the folds were quite curving. The direction of my hatching was mostly straight, only changing when following the angle of the folds as they curved around.

Small squares containing close-ups of areas
of  fabric shaded shaded with charcoal, graphite stick and pencil

I would say the finished drawing generally does give a sense of the figure beneath the fabric, the loose clothing mostly echoing the shape of the form such as the cylindrical shape of the arms. I followed the direction of the draped fabric where gravity was pulling it downwards such as below the knees and in general I think it gives an indication of the shape and location of the legs underneath. I studied the highlighted peaks and dark areas formed by the troughs, very intently as I was drawing, but once or twice I did loose where I was, so had to use a bit of invention there. This is evident to me around the elbow of the left arm and the left and right sides of the torso, above the belt.

How would you tackle a drawing like this again?

Clothed figure wearing dressing gown

I think my biggest mistake was to outline too many areas of fabric folds first, wasting time, when I could have jumped in and been getting on with shading them. Not only did it take longer but has resulted, I think, in too many hard edges. The image in the OCA course manual by Lazlo Moholy-Nagy in charcoal is far softer. Of course the medium more easily lends itself to blending than pencil does, but he has also used straight and curved hatching lines economically, which are very effective in suggesting flow and movement around the clothing and there is an indication of undulating lines.  Even though the drawing seems to be made up of curved geometric shapes all seem to be flowing into one another, with a natural connection.  This may have helped the hang and folds of the fabric to look more natural in all areas. The sitter is stooped over a book or papers, yet the whole thing looks graceful and elegant. This is a technique I would be keen to try out next time with a study of loose clothing. .