Drawing Clothing

Here I am looking at how clothes behave when folding so I can get a strong understanding when it comes to sketching my characters, who will be wearing thick heavy clothing to some extent, and this way I shall also be learning about how I could use these skill when modelling.

What makes a fold?

Material is made up of fibers travelling in two directions, laterally called the weft, and longitudinally called the warp. These two directions help influence the architecture of the fold. The bridge or the link that connects one fold to another is influenced by the warp threads. Folds are a pipe shape by nature although the ones that spread out wide, and the ones formed by a tight thread count will not appear like a pipe fold, but by nature they are rolling pipe forms much like a wave in the ocean that has not yet curled.

When folds switch back, or half lock on themselves, this is when then material traverse back and is called the eye of the fold, it has it's own billow shape to it. This is caused by the warp and weft creasing in three spots causing the end to open up like a letter T. The spaces between the pipes are polygon or triangular shaped and can be mechanical and rigid or organic and curvilinear. The flats and the pipes are connected together by a transition or a ramp that varies based upon whether it is topside or on the bottom, what type of material and how loose or tight the fit of the clothing.