Fashion designing is a delicate process that has many stages; from the ideation and illustration to the stitching and completion of your collection.
At each stage, you work with a variety of tools to bring your ideas to life.
If you’re just starting out as a fashion designer, we’ve curated a list of some essential tools you will need to kick-start your design.
1. Paper/ Drawing Pad
We know digital illustration is in vogue, but we will recommend starting your fashion illustration journey by practice with paper or a drawing pad. Practising with a printing paper or drawing pad gives you room for mistakes and improvement. As you progress, you can get marker pads, sketchbooks, and even cartridge paper which is perfect for all kinds of mediums.
2. Drawing Pencils
Who is a fashion artist without pencils? You need a range of pencils from B to H grades to help you create good sketches/Illustration of a clothing design. HB, 2B, and 4B are great for sketching basic outlines. 9H is the hardest and 9B is the softest among all grades.
You can use F for fine drawing, and HB in the middle range. The lighter B class pencil is more suitable for smoother texture works. You can use H to highlight details on your design.
3. Pencil Sharpeners and Erasers
As a fashion designer, it’s important to keep your pencils sharp at all times. That is why you need a good sharpener. We recommend getting a metal sharpener rather than the plastic ones as they break easily.
No fashion designer starts out perfect. You will be prone to errors in your early days. That is where erasers come in handy. The Radar, Staedtler, and Pink Pearl brands are good options you can use.
4. Fine Black Pens
While some artists prefer drawing with pencils, some are great with pen. Even if you don’t enjoy drawing with a pen, it comes in handy. You can use a black pen to fine-tune and add details to your sketches. It can also be used to draw prints and patterns.
READ: The Importance of Digital Fashion Illustrations in Fashion Design
5. Watercolour Set
After sketching with a pencil, you will need to add colour to your design. That is where a watercolour set comes in. Choose a colour(s) and use one brush to apply it on the drawing. Make sure you wash the brush before applying it on another colour to avoid mixing up the colours. You can try different brands of watercolours and see what works for you.
6. Markers
Fashion markers go well with other media like pencils, ink pens, and graphite. You can use a marker that has a broad tip at one end and a fine tip at the other. Trust us, you will love the effect made by these twin markers with brush tips.
7. Coloured Pencils
Some fashion designers prefer using coloured pencils instead of a watercolour set. That’s because coloured pencils are dry medium and they are relatively affordable. However, unlike watercolours, they take a longer time to colour large portions. If you don’t want to wet your drawing paper with watercolours, consider using a coloured pencil.
Colour pencils are made in the same way as normal sketch pencils. They are made with graphite mixed with a clay filler, a binder, and added wax as a lubricant to make them slide lightly on the paper. Some coloured pencils leave sharp lines, while others are softer and easier to blend.
8. Pattern Making Tools
One of the most vital stages of creating a fashion design is pattern making. Pattern making teaches you how to use measurement techniques, inseams, waistlines and special sizing and dimensions without having too many fabric pieces.
Some pattern making tools you need include; white/brown pattern paper, tracing paper, tracing wheel, needlepoint tracing wheel, french curve, hip curve, styling curve, awl, drawing pencils, pencil sharpener, erasers, plastic ruler, measuring tape, yardstick, scotch tape, notcher, etc.
You can use a pattern-making paper to draft patterns of your design. You can also use card blocks to cut the blocks of different parts of the design, while pattern notchers are used for cutting out little notches on blocks or other cardboard patterns.
READ: Basic Fashion Illustration for Beginners: How to Go from Amateur to Pro
9. Pattern Grading Tools
Pattern grading tools are used in increasing or decreasing patterns in your design. You can use them to create different cloth shapes and sizes. Pattern grading tools include; rulers, fabric markers, scissors, chalk, design curve ruler, etc.
10. Craft Paper
This is the canvas every fashion illustrator uses for perfecting their illustrations and patterns before cataloguing the designs. Remember, as a beginner, you must start with paper. After perfecting your designs on paper, then you can transfer it to a digital drafting software.
11. Drawing Table
Your drawing tool kit is not complete without a drawing table. This may seem obvious, but it’s important to mention it, regardless. Make sure your drawing board is large, strong and stable enough to carry all your drawing tools. You don’t want a rickety old table that can fall apart and ruin your work.
12. Drawing Tool Kit or Box
You will need something to store your drawing tools and artwork. Preferably, get a quality tool box or bag that can be locked or zipped. It will help you keep your work and tools in order. It will also help protect them from getting lost or damaged.
13. Computer Assisted Design Tools (CAD)
Your goals as a fashion illustrator should be to grow from drawing on paper to creating designers with digital tools. There are different computer assisted design (CAD) tools you can use to develop your ideas and illustrate your designs. They include; Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Ps, Ai, TUKAcad, and many others. In our next article, we will discuss these digital applications in detail.
Bottomline
Learning fashion sketching is not as easy as you think, but it gives you the opportunity to explore your creativity while dressing up the world. Getting the items listed above is a good place to start. But you can take it a notch higher by signing into our freelance platform.
On this platform, you will learn everything you need to become a professional fashion illustrator, and also get the opportunity to work for retail chains, clothing manufacturing companies, textile companies, designers, and design studios. Click here to enroll now and get started!