Because some people have requested some How To's, here's a brief explanation on folds and an exercise to go along with it.

1. All Drapes begin at the support.

2. Sometimes there is more then one point of support (or stress) in the cloth.

3. All Folds are influenced by gravity.

4. Sometimes stress in the cloth is caused by other factors such as wind.

5. Extreme Stress in the cloth is caused by pulling of the fabric (ex. tight fitting cloths).

6. Inert Folds need time and focus, because these folds are tossed fabrics and are less predictable then drapes.


Exercise: To better understand these concepts take a plain (not patterned) towel, cloth, fabric, etc. and hang it on your doorknob. Watch how that support at the top draws visual lines to the floor. Draw the outline first, then try to shade in the shadows with two graphite pencils 2b (I prefer 6b) for darks, hb for medium tone. Try to stay as even as possible when shading; you should have 3 tones, white, medium, and dark. Now softly and carefully blend the dark and medium tone together using your graphite (don't use a smugger tool, they are messy and I love a clean graphite look).

if you have any questions, please read over the part you are confused with first before asking. I'm happy to help so don't worry about bothering me!

Hope this helps,

Courtney <3