As I've said previously, folds are very hard to draw. First, you have to understand them, and you have to know where to add them. Drawing folds in anime (mainly in clothes) is essential; it helps give that 3D-ish look to a flat sketch. We tend to notice the powerful effect of folds when we shade/CG/color our sketches, because, of course, folds affect the shadows. See the difference in those two drawings.

  As you can see, the sketch to the right has more depth in it, and it looks more professional-like (well...kind of >.<). While the girl in the left side looks really flat, and I can't imagine her moving in an anime-motion O_o;

  Folds can be placed almost everywhere, but they localize around certain points. In anime, artists tend to draw folds over the characters' articulations and joints. For example, there are many crowded folds where the elbows, knees, pelvises, waists, and wrists are. Also, folds depend on the tightness and looseness of the clothes.

  Here are some examples:

  In the last example, you can see how the folds gave some dimensions to a flat sketch, especially if it was shaded afterwards.

  The easiest way to draw folds, in my opinion, is to start with the outlines. This way, you can easily know the exact places of the folds -which is the most important thing- before messing around trying to make them.

  Now to draw the 'folds' from the inside...well, you have to be careful. Sometimes any random line fits to be called a fold XD; but this doesn't happen all the time nor at any place of the cloth. Here's one example of a fold that is commonly used by v.good artists *cough*. Okay, j/k =P

  Well, I'm afraid that's all what I have here. Folds are hard to be taught. A good and effective way to learn them is to go through all those wonderful anime galleries in the net and search for pics which have lots of folds in them. XD Anime and manga artists are the masters afterall =) Good luck.

 » N Rhythm.



« Back