I joined this class because I love costumery and would like to start designing some of my own, but had no idea how to begin figure sketching for clothing design. I am a bona fide amateur in this arena.

I've gathered/bought the supplies needed, and did some internet browsing for inspiration. I'm attracted to costumes/fashions that have what I call "whimsical edginess". A weaving of innocence and the strange. I love head-pieces and big hairdos.

Here are some of the photos I picked for inspiration:

Costume Sketching - image 1 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 2 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 3 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 4 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 5 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 6 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 7 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 8 - student project

I believe this last one is what I'll work on for the class project. I may change the colors slightly so I'm not trying to work with shades of white.

I'm keeping a running idea board on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/vivanteur/sketch-project/

I've started practicing sketching and working with the watercolors, but not for this piece yet. Stay tuned for updates!

Update 7/7/13

As a bona fide beginner, I immediately discovered I had no idea how to get proportions right. Before I can dive into creative interpretation, I have to get the basics down. I looked up some methods for figure sketching proportions, and found the "8 heads figure" method. I've been practicing sketching using that method since yesterday. Once I nail that I want to play with skewing the proportions, but that comes later. Basics first. Here are two of the sketches based on two of the photos above:

Costume Sketching - image 9 - student project

Costume Sketching - image 10 - student project

They still feel very two-dimensional to me. I look forward to finding more movement in the sketches.

Jennifer Williams

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