Fashion Illustration and Fashion Storyboards

A few decades ago it seemed that fashion illustration would become less and less important. If

you've tried illustrating in pencils or paint you'll know why: it's difficult to make changes with

traditional media. Erasing pencil lines may leave marks. And changing the color of a sketched-

out garment is nearly impossible. For this reason, fashion drawing often used to come at the end

of the process, after the designer knew exactly what each garment was going to look like.

In the last ten years, however, modern computer technology has not only revived fashion

illustration, but it has made it an increasingly essential part of the fashion design process.

Probably every fashion company now uses fashion CAD. Fashion illustration has become so

popular in fact that its influence can even be seen in magazine advertisements for everything

from cosmetics to dating agencies – see if you can spot any next time you look through a fashion

or lifestyle magazine.

More importantly for the designer, fashion illustration & medical illustrator now comes at the

beginning of the design process. Or it can be used again and again, while developing a collection

over a few days, weeks, or longer. Harper Arrington's Storyboard Creator along with Digital

Fashion Pro allows stock illustrations to work and rework illustrations, just as they might rework

fabric on the stand. Being able to quickly and easily change the shape or length of the skirt,

body, sleeve, or neckline, etc., means that designers are able to ‘play' with the designs, come up

with new concepts, and refine their design ideas. Fashion is a serious business, but fashion

drawing should be fun. Its main purpose is to get the ‘creative juices' flowing.

Most designers will develop several basic shapes for each collection, while changing the fabrics,

textiles prints, and length of garments. One T-shirt might have a round neck. Another might have

a V-neck, while using the same body. Or the designer might want to adapt a pencil skirt,

shortening the length and changing details such as using buttons instead of a zipper.

Another important feature of The Storyboard Creator is that it allows designers to easily change

the color and fabric of the garments they are illustrating or experimenting with. In earlier times

fabric swatches were often stuck on the paper, alongside the illustration. If fabric swatches

weren't available to the designer, stock illustrations didn't always convey what the garments

would be made from. Today, designers can scan and drop in their own fabrics, or work with The

Storyboard Creator's Digital Fabric libraries – including knit, denim, leather, satin, and plaids.

Unlike hand-drawn illustrations, those created with The Storyboard Creator give you a great idea

of what the manufactured garment will look like.

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