Thursday, September 10, 2015

Using Gertie's New Fashion Sketchbook


 It's here! The sketchbook I mentioned in May, Gertie's New Fashion Sketchbook: Indispensible Figures for Body-Positive Design has been released. If you pre-ordered it, you should already have it in your little hands! The sketchbook provides croquis, or figure templates, that you can sketch your design ideas on top of. But what separates it from other books out there is that the figures have realistic height proportions (go feminism and body positivity!), and the light shaded figures are easy to customize according to your own body type. 

First of all, the book is so pretty. When you take off the band, you'll see the metallic figures on the cover and a little spot where you can write in your name.




There's also text about sketching, how to represent your body type, and fashion through the decades. As always, brilliant illustrations by Sun Young Park!




When you'll get to the croquis, you might notice that they look really light. This is on purpose, as it helps you customize the figure more easily, and it also ensures that your sketching will stand out in the end, not the croquis. Make sure you have plenty of light. Use a regular or mechanical pencil, and begin to draw in the lines of your design. I decided on a dirndl, given my current obsession!


Continue the lines of the design, following the outer shaded areas of the croquis for larger proportions--and vice versa. 




Draw in hair, if desired! I like to add a wavy bob (go figure). Lightly sketch in the lines of the arms, face, legs, etc. I don't really bother with facial features, I just sketch the lips and eyebrows usually. 



Add trims (like rick rack at the neckline), and sketch in the print of your fabric if desired. (The prints here are from my fabric line. Wouldn't this rose sateen be cute for a dirndl?)



If you like your design, you can sketch the back too!



Here's a better example of customizing the figure. I drew a fitted dress, giving the model a high waistline and curvy hips. She also needed some Veronica Lake hair. (I started drawing in the cherries and got bored really quickly!)



So there's a bit about using the sketchbook to draw your dream designs. I hope you'll share some of your sketches with me!

17 comments:

  1. Hi Gertie! I got mine yesterday. It is so pretty I am afraid to mess it up. I like the way you added swatches.
    Thank you for the body positive options. makes a huge difference.
    congrats on the new publication!
    Martha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fantastic! I love the proportions, it's great to see some actual hips. I have to say this may make my dress making a bit more organised! I tend to have a lot of ideas all competing to become the next project.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's my problem too! Too many project ideas, not enough time to sew them!

      Delete
  3. I love the concept, but I'm straining to see the figures on the pages, because the printing is so light in tone. Typically I sketch like you do, putting in the garment first, then sketching the remaining body. It's going to take some getting used to with the way those figures are printed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know they're light, but I really do like the way it highlights the sketch in the end. I do find I need good light to sketch with--do you have a Ottlite or something similar to sew with? I've been using mine for sketching now.

      Delete
  4. It's a great idea Gertie, long overdue for the majority of us who aren't all long lean and leggy. I've not yet seen it, but I'm sure it will really be a great design tool

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks even prettier than I thought - you can be proud!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just got my copy and it's lovely. I have considerably bigger width-wise proportions than the figures in the book, but it looks like it'll be fairly simple to expand out off the figures. Also, I'm looking forward to getting together with a friend to make body maps for each other, which will no doubt help with putting my proportions down on the page.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, now that I've taken a pop at sketching my proportions onto the model, I'd have to say that given the language of body positivity (which is great!) it was disappointing to find that if I drew my actual hips in, the placement of the figure's arms were obscured. Ditto for my bust and the upper arms. So although I understand why the language of "plus size" is not necessarily body positive, I'd probably be feeling a lot happier right now if the description of the book was clearer about what range of "body types" it works best for. It was still a lot faster and easier than sketching from scratch, and I very much appreciate the work that went into it.

      Delete
    2. Thank you, that is great feedback!

      Delete
  7. My daughter has decided to be a "Fashion Girl" She's 8. All we've been able to find are the standard croquis occasional a fashion or princess version. I'll have to go get this for her. Thanks for making it much more realistic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the idea of a little girl using this! Let me know how it goes!

      Delete
  8. Just ordered this! Looks like a great addition to my library.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just received mines today. It's a lot different from other crouqis book. I wanted it because it had full figures. It's really nice can't wait to he started

    ReplyDelete
  10. I pre-ordered this because it sounded so wonderful, and I was thrilled when it came. It IS a beautiful book. But I'm a little confused about how to use it. I was looking for bodies like mine so I could copy them off and then use my copy to sketch clothes onto (this because I don't know how to draw myself). These lovely sketches are so faint, and I understand why, that I'm not sure I can see how they differ in terms of proportion or whether some of them are the same but just in different poses. Does that make any sense? And if I want to use the same figure more than once, how does that work? My original idea was to copy the figures in pencil, ink them, and then sketch clothes on the inked figures in pencil, or on tracing paper. Am I making this too hard? Maybe it's just that I'm such a very inexperienced designer.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I started drawing a few sketches again recently and decided to look for pre-made croquis. I hate that high fashion proportions is so unrealistic, while I love the design of clothing itself. (If you're sketching a garment that's 25% longer in the drawing that in real life, of course the end result isn't going to look the same!) It's complete happenstance that I found this on your blog, unrelated to my croquis search. Thank you! I will definitely be purchasing.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments; I read each and every one! xo Gertie

© Gertie's Blog For Better Sewing. Powered by Cake