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Fashion Design From Nature Drawings
Submitted by: Cathy Rode, Freeport High School, Freeport Long Island
UNIT: Careers in Art - Fashion Design
Lesson: Designing Clothing that is influenced by Animal, Plant or Insect
Grade Level: High School (adaptable to middle school)
Objectives:
- Student will identify the elements of art such as color, pattern, textures, shapes, and the forms that are inherent in animal plants and insects . After finding inspiration in the source, they will create outfits detailing these elements in a unique way.
- Student will analyze and redraw a figure. The same figure can be used twice by changing the hair and facial features or reversing the direction of the original.
- Student will create a background that accentuates and ties the fashion designs to the original theme.
Fashions Showing Peacock Influence
Supplies
Watercolor Paint
Watercolor Paper
Visuals of animals, plants, insects
Sable Brushes
Oil Pastels
Vocabulary
Pattern - Texture - Form
Shapes - Variation - Overlap
Background - Center of interest
Balance line - Center line
Croquie (from croquis: sketch - a rough sketch or draft of something (technical)
Procedures:
Day 1
Explain that designers find inspirational sources to re-invent the world around them
Discuss the use of outside influences as a basis for fashion designs
Teacher shows examples of costume designs and the animal plant or insect that it is based on and describes the specific interchangeable elements
Using Tracing Paper
Students are encouraged to take risks and emphasize the essence of their subject and create a bold designs
Day 2 -3
After choosing influence students will loosely create 6 small designs on a croquie with tracing paper overlays.
Day 4
Teacher will describe how different poses can accentuate and enhance the thoughts and movement of a design differently. Describe S , X, T, poses.
Student will choose 2 ideas and will explore figure poses which will accentuate designs.
Sometimes I just do one design
Day 5-7
After choosing a pose, the student will analyze the body sections, center line , balance line, and weight of the figure on tracing paper overlays. They will redraw the figure larger and then create the outfit on tracing paper overlays (students have already been exposed to this process in preceding lessons).
Day 8
Students will design a background behind the figure which will draw attention to the designs. Backgrounds can be based on pattern, the subject itself, or a subjective arrangement of all the elements involved. Sometimes, if the process is too long for the class, I have them render figures in watercolor and then do the background.
Day 9-19+
The entire design is transferred to hot press watercolor paper and rendered
At completion, students evaluate themselves based on a rubric
Resources
Books
Fashion 101: A Crash Course in Clothing
- Adult/High School—Recognizing fashion styles and trends is one thing; putting them together in new and interesting ways is an altogether different animal.
Fashion Design Drawing Course
- An instructional textbook for classroom use, this illustrated guide is organized into units that reflect required courses at leading design colleges. Twenty step-by-step exercises cover methods of finding inspiration, developing observation techniques, and creating fashion drawings in both color and black-and-white media.
Fashion: The Industry and Its Careers
- Fashion design presents a wide range of different possible career choices. But without being on the inside, it s difficult to determine exactly what a designer, textile manufacturer, wholesaler, illustrator, model, product developer, journalist, or retailer does.
Link: See IAD's fashion jobs page.
Assessment:
Assessment - Grade yourself on the following (Ex. A-, A, A+, B-, B, B+, etc)
1. Creativity (idea is original and relates to the original source)
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
2. Watercolor Rendering (Uses a light source and shadow, paint is clean, smooth, not streaky)
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
3. Croquie Analyzation (all angles and body sections are defined clearly, balance and center line are
indicated on tracing paper)
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
4. Croquie Rendering (93/4 head units for figure with support leg closest to pit of neck)
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
5. Details in design (at least 3 influences combined using color, pattern, texture, form, etc with a focal
point, sharp clear definition)
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
6. Background (brings attention to figures as opposed to itself, incorporates the theme)
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
7. Effort and time on task (putting caring and full attention to project, spends 95%of class time focused on
project).
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
8. Craftsmanship (neatness, cleanliness, and clarity of medium and format.) Professional presentation –
matted.
Student: _____ Teacher: ______
Answer the following questions.
1. What influence is your design based on?
2. Describe the elements that you chose from the original and explain how and where you incorporated it into your design. Which one was emphasized most? Explain in detail
3. What element did you use for a background?
4. Were you successful in drawing attention to designs? Would you do anything different?
5. What risks did you take to make your design bold?
6. What did you do to make the background relate to the theme?
7. Even though this took a long time, did you enjoy the challenge?
8. What new technique or concepts did you learn?
Middle School Suggestion:
From Judy Decker: For middle school - maybe make a cardboard stage and runway (with slit cut out). Make fashion figures on Tag board
