Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery: Solutions for Drawing the Clothed Figure

Sometimes I wonder if so many artists draw people nearly naked because they mastered anatomy, but flat can't draw clothes to look realistic, especially without a model in the right clothes. I long ago decided clothes show movement far better than the unclad figure does. If you'd like to move beyond spandex and painted-on metal for imagined figures, this is the only, only book on the subject. The only alternative are fashion illustration books, whose models just stand there sedately. Hogarth has worked out the several catagories of wrinkles, which help you imagine them on your mental or sketched-out figures.

I ordered this book along with "Drawing Dynamic Hands," also by Hogarth (it's excellent as well). I'd been doing mostly figure study, and it was time to make the jump to clothing. I realized I had no idea what a wrinkle looked like (you'd never guess that from my clothes!).This is a really great book! It's always easier to practice using interpretations that have been filtered through the eyes of other artists. Hogarth's style is exaggerated, but this is exactly what makes this book a great learning tool and reference. I do understand how someone could be put-off by this type of illustration, but I feel the principals shown in the book can be applied to other styles as well. I happen to like this style of illustration -- it's probably nostalgia on my part; I grew up reading comics illustrated by Burne Hogarth -- but I was worried that it was inadequate for learning fine-art. I find now that I was wrong about Hogarth as a teacher. His books have helped me improve my technique, without changing my style overmuch. His exaggerations illustrate and teach the concepts well, without requiring one to duplicate them.

I got this book about five years ago in an art store, and it's had a huge impact on my drawing. Making clothes respond naturally to a human body's shape and movement is one of the big challenges to artists, and this book gives tons of examples of different kinds of wrinkles caused by different movements and kinds of cloth. For example, compression wrinkles caused by stiff cloth which holds its shape and pipe organ drapery caused by heavy thick cloth such as a curtain. It's also very good for training your eye to notice things in real life, so that you can go beyond just the examples in the book. The illustrations are large and detailed and very clear. Even though the style's a little dated, the rules still apply. I'd recommend this to any aspiring artist.

Obviously, nothing can replace the old-fashioned method of going out and observing wrinkles as they appear in the real world. If that is your intention, this book can help tremendously by giving you a clue on what to look for as you're studying cloth. Also, this book is fantastic for teaching you how wrinkles appear if you'll be drawing from memory.Topics include drawing compression wrinkles, crossing wrinkles, flying wrinkles, swag and hanging wrinkles, bend wrinkles, passive, inert, and lying wrinkles,... as well as a section on understanding kinetic forces which may prove to be the most helpful to you. Also, the drawings are awesome and have given me a new-found respect for Brune. His "Light and Shade" book is also remarkable.

An excellent _technical_ treatise on how to draw drapery for all levels of artist. This book covers it all, detailing how every wrinkle type is formed and where it flows. A _must have_ for any serious artist.