So the Wooden Mannequin never worked for me as a visual reference for fashion illustration. I constantly fall back to my trusty friend the Croquis. Lately, I have been playing around with my travel design kit ideas and decided to create a magnetic croquis to use on a magnetic white board and eventually on the magnetic cutting board in my travel design kit.

Here is my latest How to project for the budding Fashion Designer.

First up you’ll need some supplies:

Magnetic Sheets

Magnetic White Board

Exacto Knife

Pencil & Pen

Croquis Image

Now the Steps:

1. First you’ll need to break out the croquis parts in sections so you can reticulate the figure. You’ll need Head, neck, Torso, Hips, Arms and Legs sectioned upper and lower, hands and feet.

I hand drew these parts directly onto the magnetic sheet using a black permanent ink marker. I will have templates you can to print out on a magnetic printer sheet (One Male, the other Female Croquis parts) soon. In the meantime you can always use my croquis templates from Croquis Part II or any croquis figure you want. I would encourage you to create a custom Croquis template and then create your own personal magnetic wardrobe consultant.

 

2. Next you will need to cut out the shapes.

 

3. Now begin to play with poses.

Here is a quick Doodle of poses for inspiration.

 

4. Now trace out your image.

First I tried using the dry Eraser pen. Once I had the image defined I would trace it onto paper. This would have worked if I had a white Dry Erase Board. Since mine is Purple it wouldn’t work.

Next I tried to place a piece of paper beneath my croquis parts. I found that the magnetic sheets that go into your printer are not strong enough to hold a piece of paper to the White Board. You could always try purchasing the thicker magnetic sheets available at most art supply stores or use thick cardstock and glue heavier duty magnets to the back.

It all depends on which method you want to use for transferring your pose. I just placed my paper on top of the croquis and traced the shape. Since my lines are black it still worked. I just had to be careful not to bump the pieces.

But make sure to decide which method you would prefer as this will inform how to create your own custom croquis project.

 

5. Last but not least Draw your Design. I chose an outfit featured in Flare Magazine May 2012 Issue ‘Beyond the Sea’ worn by model Bekah Jenkins and photographed by Chris Nicholas.

I only hope you have as much fun as I did with this project. Good Luck!