Drawing America

Costume Drawing- Instructor: Will Weston

Lesson Topics Covered

Artists good at putting together stories, using characters that are in vogue of
their time.
• Reviewed Artists featured on The New Yorker-
o Carter Goodrich and Peter De Seve
 Juxtaposition- used in their Satire. Putting things to one
side, isn’t nice, but gentle. Frequently making fun of New
Yorkers.
 Satire has structures. Google satiric structures and you will
see them in the pictures of these artists.

 S Curve- Linking everything together

• Norman Rockwell
 Does subtle things that involve characterization
 Frequently plays off body types
 Plays of existing ideas.
 Gives examples of image and fact
 Played of characters of his time.

• Andrew Loomis-
o Pen Ink drawings.

• Charles Dana Gibson- Look at for larger compositions

• Leyndecker- is a stylist and fashion artist.

Breaking down garments

- Bustier- Designed to accentuate woman’s curves. The V in the front is
to elongate the torso. Zippers and sems give the character of the
garment.
- When breaking down costumes, you need to determine what is
important, what the key component is.
- Break the costume down into sections, then smaller sections, then
add in folds, drop shadows
- Once the costume is broken down, and the shapes are understood,
you can do what you want on it and can make it move.

Patterns
- Done with the help of a grid to help placement.
- You will see patterns repeating the shapes.
 - Work from big to small
Measuring heads and hats (and 17th century head pieces)
- Draw the head, top of the hat is at the exact middle of the head.
- The hat will be bigger than you imagine, due to accents such as
flowers, ribbons etc.
- Measure up, then out.
- Can use draw to lines to help draw the shape of the hat

Measure costume
- Using the proportional system we have used for other works the
same here. 40/60, 80/20 etc. Armholes in relation
- Address the shape of the chest, where the breasts are

Fabric
- Series of threads in a crosshatch.
- The threads tend to pull diagonally or horizontally
- Different fabrics respond differently and absorb light differently.
 Hoodie fabric absorbs a lot of light (flannel)
 A cotton shirt reflects a little light
 Satin is like chrome there can be so much reflective white
that it can read as white. Transitions are starker and more
obvious.
- Drop shadows are 50% away from the local value and black. The
darker the fabric, the darker the drop shadow.
Lesson Homework
- Look for 19th century high fashion outfits that has patterns.
Breakdown the patterns.
- Do 5 drawings, taking them as far as you can.