ABSTRACT
Costume designers' first sketches are usually "rough" black & white line drawings. These renderings need to define the characters' spines; meaning their particular stand, physical attributes, and gestures. The author shares different rendering techniques for the first step, including drawing "rough" line figures on a vellum pad and then scanning them to his computer and drawing (freehand) shapes digitally, using a Wacom tablet. With a scanner, designers can quickly convert paper drawings to searchable PDF files for easy email distribution and review, and for archival purposes. A fashion croquis is a line sketch of a figure (model) in various illustration poses, which fashion designers use as a drawing template for sketching apparel design ideas. The author uses the term "croquis" in more general terms, referring to a pre-existing (or rough preliminary) silhouette that a designer would use to draw costume ideas.
