Fashion Sketching: a Step-by-step Guide to Drawing the Basic Fashion Croquis with 9 Heads Proportions | For Beginners
Drawing the fashion figure doesn’t have to be challenging. In this tutorial, you will learn a simple method to create a professional female croquis template, one step at a time!
You can use this croquis as blank fashion sketch template to draw all your designs!
I’ve broken this tutorial into sections:
Part 1: Creating guidelines
Part 2: Drawing the croquis skeleton
Part 3: Adding shape
Prefer video?
Check out my free mini Course on youtube: Drawing the Fashion Croquis: a Step-by-Step Tutorial for Beginners
Before we get into it, let’s answer some questions…
What is a fashion Croquis?
A Croquis is a drawing of a fashion model that you trace over to design clothing. You can also call it a fashion figure or template.
Fashion croquis can be all different shapes, sizes, and styles. It all depends on the end use of your design and the demographic you are designing for. I’ve used different croquis throughout my career. Some were more stylized while others were super simple.
(P.S. If you want to take the pressure off of creating your own croquis and start designing right away, check out this 9-heads female figure Croquis Kit I made.)
The Croquis Kit
The ultimate collection of fashion figure templates for hand or digital sketching.
The above image illustrates the difference between a realistic body (left) and a fashion croquis with 9 heads proportion (right)
What are the Proportions of a Fashion Croquis?
I will demonstrate how to draw a ”9 heads” croquis. The croquis is 9 heads tall from the top of the head to the ankles, which is much more elongated than the average woman. (The feet are excluded from the equation since they can vary in height depending on the type of shoes and heel height.)
A 9 heads model exaggerates the proportions of a fashion model to display clothes in an elongated and dramatic scale.
However, fashion models can, and should, have diverse body proportions, so I encourage you to evolve your croquis to be any shape and size.
This tutorial will teach you how to create the 9-heads croquis (with the proportions taught in fashion colleges) but you can adjust the proportions later to best fit your target demographic.
What Does “9 heads” Tall Mean?
The height and width of the head is used as an index for the dimensions of the rest of the body.
In this image, you can see how the body is broken up into 9 equal sections from the top of the head to the ankle bone. The feet are excluded because they can vary in height depending on the type of shoes and heel height.
It’s helpful to use the head as a point of measure instead of an actual measurement because your paper size can vary. From a tiny piece of paper to a billboard, you can map out the size and proportions of your figure by drawing 9 heads first.
If you are working with an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, you can have each head be roughly 1” tall but this measurement will change depending on your paper size.
Let’s Begin the Tutorial!
Before we begin, you will need paper, a pencil, and a ruler (or any straight edge.) Tracing paper would be helpful but isn’t necessary. Draw lightly with pencil so you can erase easily.
Part 1: Creating Guidelines
Step 1: Draw 9 heads that are roughly the same shape and size and label 1-9 (leave some space at the bottom of the page for the feet.)
Step 2: Draw horizontal lines between each head (make sure they are straight)
Step 3: Add a dashed line at roughly 1 1/2” and 4 1/4” heads
Step 4: Label anatomy as marked on this page
Part 2—Drawing the Croquis Skeleton
Step 1: Draw a vertical line, perpendicular to the horizontal guidelines. This will be the center line
Step 2: Draw an oval for the head
Step 3: Draw a horizontal line for the shoulders (roughly 2” heads wide)
Step 4: Repeat step 3 for the hips (the hips and shoulders are the same width)
Step 5: Draw a horizontal line for the waist (roughly 1 head width)
Step 6: Connect the shoulder, waist and hips
Step 7: Draw a guideline for the arms as pictured
Step 8: Draw a vertical line from the waist down
Step 9: Draw a cylinder for the neck
Step 10: Connect the neck to the shoulder
Step 11: Draw small ovals for the knees
Step 12: Draw small ovals for the ankles
Part 3—Adding Shape
After the skeleton of the croquis is established, we can add muscular structure and shape. Take your time and draw lightly so you can erase easily.
Step 1: Draw ovals for the shoulder, bicep, and lower arm
Step 2: Draw ovals for the upper and lower leg
Step 3: Draw triangles for the feet
Step 4: Add shape to the neck and outline the arm, using the ovals as guidelines. Repeat on other side
Step 5: Outline the leg and foot as illustrated, using the ovals as guidelines. Repeat on other side
Step 6: Add neck, bust, and underwear line as illustrated.
Step 7: Add center line at each side of body as as illustrated. This is called the “princess line.”
* These seam lines are helpful guidelines when drawing clothes*
Step 8: Edit the croquis as desired, adjusting proportions as necessary. Then follow the below steps to complete the croquis.
Both sides of the croquis should be mirror images of each other for accuracy when drawing clothes.
Anatomy of a Pose
Free 7 Day Course + E-book
a PDF E-book with 5 simple rules to draw any fashion illustration pose. This is a quick read!
Fashion Design Sketchbook
Flat Figure Template For Drawing Clothes and Building a Portfolio
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