How to Draw a Croqui

In todays post I'll be showing you how to Draw a croqui in 10 STEPS ✍When I was in college I had the privilege of sitting under a professor named Mori Green, and she was an expert in Fashion Illustration. She went to my dream school (The Fashion Institute of Technology in NY), and got her Masters Degree in Fashion. By the time I had met her she had already illustrated for The W, as well as had her own fashion line which was self named. I was wondering why she decided to work at Bauder College and when I asked her answer was just gold, she said, "I made my living in the fashion industry, and now I want to teach young people to do the same and be even better than I was." Now I don't know about being better than Mrs. Green (Because she's awesome), but I know I can show others what she taught me. Unfortunately unlike FIT our Fashion Program didn't have a human anatomy class but I got the gist of it in a one on one session with her. It just so happened one of the other seniors just continued to be a no show and we were the only 2 there at the time who needed the class so we could graduate. Why home girl didn't show so she can get her paper 路‍♀️I don't know? I'm happy she didn't though because after lots of struggling in Fashion illustration 1 and 2, I finally got somewhere in the 3rd course. I was new to drawing croquis but I was not new to drawing, But I'd like to say that even if you are not the best that you can still make this work using what you know. If you are there type to look at something and draw it, you can use that to your advantage by looking at yourself or a picture of a model in a magazine and try your best to use some of the standard measurements to imitate the pose somewhat.

Here is a list of Materials you'll need:
Pencil✏️
Eraser
Paper
12" Ruler 

Now lets get Ready to SKETCH!

Step 1: Draw a 10" Line Down your Paper and mark each inch from 0-10" This is going to be your guideline to draw your 10 inch croqui.

Step 2: Draw the Head. The head is an egg 讀shape, but from the 0 point at the top of your paper to the 1 inch point represents your face. Draw the top of the head above the 0 point so that you can make room for the hair or a hat. If you need a measurement make the top of the head at least a half inch above the 0 point.

Step 3: Draw the Neck. To Draw the neck draw lines that curve out slightly from the sides of the chin. From the chin to the collar bone is about a half inch  down.

Step 4: Draw the shoulders and arms. To draw the shoulders first create a guideline at the 1 1/2" point using your ruler. Standard says this line should be at least 1 1/2" wide, but I draw mine at least 2 inches so I can have drawing room. I drew my guideline slanted down at the left because my croqui is walking‍♀️. With time and practice you will understand how to make the body move with the use of these guidelines. Draw in your shoulders and your arms and don't draw in the hands yet ‍♀️

Step 5: Draw the Torso and the Waist. To draw the waist make another guideline  parallel to the shoulders at the 3rd point. My guideline is raised on the right side because my croqui is walking‍♀️, and when you walk the position of the hips change. Remember the deeper the slant the more accent you put on your croqui. After drawing your waist line go back to the tips of the shoulders and make lines indicating the ribs, and draw in the bust at the 2 1/2" point.

Step 6: Draw the Hips and the Crotch. Make another guideline at the 4 inch mark also parallel to the waist and shoulders, but this time make it straight. From the waist line draw two lines down to make the hips and stop at the hip line. Standard says your hips should be about 1 1/2" wide but I say bump standard and do whatever the heck you feel is best for you. From the 4 inch guideline where the hips end draw lines towards the 4 1/2" mark to create the crotch. It should look like an upside-down triangle. 

Step 7: Draw the hands. Remember when I told you not to draw in the hands? Here's why! Your finger tips should line up with your crotch point (Seriously they do in real life, see for yourself.) So first draw the thumb and then the rest of the hand as illustrated in the picture. It should look like a claw. 

Step 8: Legs and Knees. In order to make the thighs you have to understand where the knees are. The knees always end at the 7 inch mark, so draw a circle where the 7 inch mark is. My croqui is walking‍♀️ so one knee is higher than the other to create the illusion that one leg is behind the other. The other knee is raised to the 6 1/2" mark. Now from the hips draw in the legs making sure that the leg lines end at the sides of your knee circles. Since my croqui is walking you see the full leg on the left side

Step 9: Calves and Ankles. From the sides of the knee circles draw lines outward and going inward to create the ankles at the 9 inch point.

Step 10: The Feet. To draw the feet  begin at the 9 inch mark and draw a line down toward to the 10 inch mark. The very end point represents the big toe. Sketch another line from the outer ankles to create the form of the foot. If they don't look like duck feet then you may have done it wrong. I made the foot on the leg that is raised slightly higher because my croqui is walking, and one foot has to be behind the other. 

Now you're done! All you have to do now is create your style lines and outline it with a black marker (a dark marker). The purpose of the black marker is to make sure you can see it through another sheet of paper so that when you trace your clothes onto your croquis you will be able to see through the page. We were taught in school to use fine point sketching pens,and even a lightbox to trace our croquis. I use what I can though, and one time that was a desk lamp inside of an empty fish tank and BOOM there was my lightbox!

Here is the video for my tutorial which you can find on YouTube:

Well I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. Please watch the video as it relates to this blog and if you didn't understand exactly what I was saying maybe the video will come in handy for you. Please subscribe, share and comment!

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Sketch Pad

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