Drawing America

Costume Drawing - Instructor: Will Weston

Lesson Topics Covered

- Mannequin figure. Start with soft and light straight line. 8-part system- start by
dividing the line in half, then divide those sections in half, then each section
from there in half. This will be for the head, torso- rib cage and hip, knees, and
feet.
o Differences between men and women from a drawing viewpoint-
 Men-
• Look for the square at the torso,
• knees tend to be knob kneed.
• larger arm hole. Arms tend to come in.
 Women- Three things to measure: How wide is the rib cage,
how narrow is the waist, how wide are the hips. Because the
hips are wider, the legs come in at a greater angle that changes
based on how wide the hips are. The “double bump” is a big
deal to make it look like a woman.
• Rib cage will be smaller than a man’s
• There is more curvature at the base of the spine,
making the rear end stick out more and the hip angle
down.
• lower pubic bone than a man.
• Woman have longer, narrower stomachs than a man.
The stomach mirrors the outside shape of the torso.
Men stomachs are wider.
 Smaller arm hole. Arms tend to come out.
- Two important elements of figure drawing: Simple and complex or stretch
and squash.
- Legs are cylinders. Cylinders curves at the end of two lines make the shape.
o Problems with cylinders- they can start feeling flat. Adding different
curves at the end, can create more depth and the direction of the leg.
o Arms- the same as the legs, but square at the wrists.
- Mechanics of the head
o Slightly pointed at the top of our head. The top third of the head is
the top of the brain plate. There is a column in the center of the face,
o Lips are different for all- smaller upper or bottom, even lips, or larger
upper or bottom.
o Eyelids- some have heavy eyelids on top, light on the bottom, there
are finely formed eyelids, droopy bottoms.
 European, western eyes are wider, and can see inside the eye
 lid on the top and bottom,
 Asian eyelids are thinner and have a hood.
 Eyebrows and hair in eyebrows can vary on everyone.
o Supercilious in the center and above the eyes tend to be wider on
women.
o Deeper bridge in the nose makes the eyes look closer together
because of the shadow. Drawing the eyes- the eye facing is short on
the ends, long on the top. Far side- the eye is inside.
o The head from the side- See Steve Houston. Nose, muzzle. Front of
the face and find the jaw. Put the front of the face on or the box,
Center line broken in two thirds. Center box has eye sockets, space
between the eyes for the nose and the center column.
o Armhole indicates the side.
o If hand is in a prominent position, place it first.

- Fabric
o Fabric responds to tension points, where the fabric gathers and roles
over. Fabric goes from one tension point to another.
o A diaper fold anchors between two points, the diaper fold comes
down and becomes fatter at the bottom, curling at the bottom. In the
diaper fold, there is a center line showing what the shape is doing.
Draw the center line!
o When fabric pulls, it loosens up and splits into a y formation. There
will be shapes that wraps over and around like curved cylinders,
showing it wrapping over the form towards the tension points.
o Drop fold- has one anchor point. It drops in a series of triangles
connected in curved lines.
o Tucked in fabric- toga, shirt, pants. This goes into the design concepts
of simple and complex, and drawing plains. There will be dropped
shadows to emulate the shape of the object it is falling on.
o When a fabric is trapped between two points, it does not flatten out,
it bows in and out in y formations.

- Line, mass, and form

o Line- straight lines with subtle arcs that give you rhythms to work
with. Little arcs are half locks that draw the eye. Straight line for
strength. Think of lines in terms of simple and complex. The simple
side you will see s curves that are varied, on the complex side there
will be more of the s curves.
o Mass do not have to be solid; they can be a medium value. You must
see the shape first to create the value. Mass +Line = Power. Adding
mass attracts the eye.
o Forms- Start with the basic shapes, then add dimension to triangle,
circle, and square. Any time there is one sided shape, it will be less
powerful than a two-sided shape, and a two-sided shape is less
powerful than a three-sided shape. For costume, this can help in
terms of perspective.
Lesson Homework
Draw Greek looking sculptures – see library for pictures to choose from.
- 5 mannequins
- 10 sketches with basic drapery and work from the sculptures.
- Don’t worry about making it pretty, this is more of a meat and potatoes
assignment.
- Exercises- create arcs from a center. Then draw a line in thirds and arc to
each and practice overlaps, and wrapping over a cylinder-straight in wrap
over, straight out.