Serious question, I was sure digital sketching was the only way to go for fashion design

For the past six months, I've been doing all my initial fashion sketches on my iPad with Procreate. I thought it was faster and cleaner, and I could undo mistakes easily. Then my friend in Chicago, who works for a small label, made me try her method of starting with pencil and newsprint. The difference was huge. With paper, my lines felt looser and more alive right away. I wasn't trying to make it perfect, I was just getting the flow of the garment down. On the iPad, I was constantly zooming in and fussing with layers before I even had a solid idea. That rough newsprint sketch for a draped dress took me 10 minutes and had more movement than anything I'd done digitally in an hour. Has anyone else switched back to paper for the first draft and found it changed their process?

2 comments

2 Comments

charlie_roberts876d ago

Totally get that. I hit the same wall with digital art a while back. What finally clicked for me was forcing myself to use a cheap ballpoint pen and a stack of copy paper. Couldn't erase anything, so I just had to commit to the lines and keep moving. It got way more energy into the drawings.

umab356d ago

Oh, that's a really smart way to force yourself forward.