Figure Drawing for Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books) [Paperback]

E. Drudi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2006 | ISBN-10: 9054960809 | ISBN-13: 978-9054960805

Fashion plates are the primary means of visualizing ideas and concepts in costume and fashion design. To give an accurate impression of what is in a designer's mind it is vital to have complete mastery of the rules of figure drawing. Here, realism and anatomical precision are the chief values, whereas for costume and fashion, stylization and exaggeration are ways of adding individuality and verve to a plate, and of focusing attention on specific elements. FIGURE DRAWING FOR FASHION DESIGN offers a concise, topic by topic guide to acquiring and perfecting these skills, concentrating on the female form. The coverage provided means that this book is ideal both for those who want to apply themselves professionally to fashion design, and for all enthusiasts of drawing the human body.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Pepin Press (January 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9054960809
• ISBN-13: 978-9054960805
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Arts & Photography > Drawing > Specific Objects

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected!, February 16, 2006

By 

Trudy M. Rowlett (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Figure Drawing for Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books) (Paperback)

I ordered this book as a hobby figuring that the 200+ pages must have some decent methods to improve my drawing skills. I have been looking for a fashion design instruction book for a long time now. This is certainly an elusive topic to find information on -- even on the web I couldn't find any website that offered any helpful instructions. I have never been able to find anything suitable, especially since I didn't want to invest a lot. This book was a good price that I didn't think would be too much of a loss if I didn't find it useful.

I was thrilled when I received it and immediately opened the book to find everything I had always hoped for. Being that I have no formal art or fashion training, I thought this book was exceptional. It has tons of pages of basic fashion design drawing concepts, templates, body positions. There are so many samples that, with practice, any beginner can really get a good grip on. It's a very good basic introduction to fashion design. Also, for beginners, it's got some pretty good instructions and examples of drawing all parts of the body (head, eyes, mouth, arm, leg, feet, hands, etc).

If you think you might be interested in this area of drawing, get this book! You can't beat the quality for the price. In my opinion, a rare gem!

107 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book!, December 31, 2005

By 

A. Black "Electra Designs" (L.A, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Figure Drawing for Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books) (Paperback)

I am very picky about fashion illustration books. My two favorites are written by Kathryn Hagen. Figure Drawing for Fashion Design is my third favorite. The illustrations are very well done. I don't like the way the artist interprets faces and some of the drawings are a bit on the crude side, but overall, the drawings and instructions are very good. The women seem rather masculine, but the proportions are accurate and it is easy to make simple modifications to create more attractive faces with less angular features. I think, perhaps they are angular to emphasize the underlying structure. From what I can tell, most of the faces are the same. White women with high cheek bones and huge lips. I get the feeling there were a few illustrators who contributed to this book, because some of the illustrations are quite fluid and beautiful, while others are lacking. I attended FIDM, and most of what I learned came from my own determination, common sense, and observation of photos in fashion magazines rather than any book that was provided (which, by the way were completely unacceptable!). Had this been our text, I think my (we) did. Although I am fairly good at fashion illustration, there is lots of information that I found useful, and I think this book is an excellent reference for designers at any level of experience. I don't do much fashion illustrations these days as I spend most of my time making custom corsets, but if i did, I would certainly make use of this book. It's far less expensive than Hagen's books, and I like it much more than 9 Heads, which I never cared for. The colored illustrations are ugly (too gaudy and rock star-ish) to me, I must admit, but for someone who isn't really great at rendering fabrics or needs some quick, well proportioned croquis, this book will be very helpful. There are many different models, all shown in various, and even dynamic poses.There are some lovely hands from all different angles, and great examples of all types of foot wear, also from many angles. Those are the sections I found most useful. The section on flats is comprehensive and shows a great deal of detailing including top stitching with various silhouettes. Excellent instruction on how to place a garment on the body, and how to make the fabric look real and drape properly. There is a copy of a production schedule, croguis for flats from different angles (most books have only front and back). It shows how to build a fashion figure from scratch, starting with a stick frame, adding cylinders, then fleshing out the curves, once again, from many different angles, which is not very common in most books of this nature. I would very highly reccomend this book, even if you have only a slight interest or one time need for a fashion illustration reference. Even the less attractive drawings are useful. It's less than $20. Most books of this quality are closer to $100. I wish I had more books like this, and at such a low price, I almost felt like I had stolen something!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough Guide to Fashion Drawing, June 25, 2006

By 

L.P. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Figure Drawing for Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books) (Paperback)

This book is a thorough guide for learning the art of fashion design illustration. The book features a plethora of examples to teach how to draw faces and poses in correct proportion, as seen in professional fashion illustrations. The examples in the book are large, facilitating the use of tracings prior to free-hand drawing. Anyone who wants to learn fashion design, especially teenagers interested in the field, will find this book an invaluable asset.