Collars?

We will start out with collars in this clothing and fold tutorial, as our first part of clothing. There are so many different types of collars that we could not cover every one in this small tutorial. So, I chose three that, to me at least, seem to be rather popular in drawing today. Sadly, my scanner has a bunch of fingerprints from my little sister, so my drawings didn’t scan in as well as they should have. Anyway, back to where we were. There are many other collars that I could have chosen, and that I may add in the future, but for now, these are the three that I will be going over.

• Hoodie Collar!

This type of collar is used on those pull-over sweaters with no zippers or anything really of real detail. I have seen these in many different drawings. This type of clothing would be used for recent (or even futuristic) drawings. They are a nice “not too warm, not too cold” sweater great for a blustery day or just around. And now I feel like I’m advertising for a company. Anyway, we will first take a look at the profile view. As you can see from the drawing, the hood of this hoodie has a lot of material, so of course it is going to bunch up onto his back. Because the hooding has weight to it, it will be pulling from where it has been sewn on, creating tension and folds around the neckline, which you can see much better in the frontal view example. Here, you cannot see the hood because it is draping down on his back, but you can still see the effects of it. You always have to be wary of how everything is affected by a single stitch or the way the clothing hangs. In the Back view, you can see the hood very well. Notice how it’s dark inside the hoodie, because no light has gotten into that. Depending on the light source, the light could be in there, and the outside dark. Light source is everything when shading clothing (or anything for that matter).

• Vash Style Collar!

Most everyone will recognize this collar, or one similar. One of the most popular Anime that used this collar is Trigun, with Vash the Stampede adorning it in his awesome long coat. This simple, yet snazzy collar looks great with its rather stylish snaps that just “snap”(Wow!) on to keep the collar loose, but snug around your neck. Again, notice the profile view. This simple, yet very neat looking collar has a second piece of cloth going around it, to hold the collar together. Watch it extend father than the collar itself, casting a shadow on the collar. The Snaps shed shadow, and don’t forget that they reflect! The cloth is heavy, so it sags a bit, almost giving it a lip, and casting shadow around the middle area. The front view has nothing too spectacular, but look closely to see that the second cloth does not quite extend all the way to the top, almost leaning forward a bit, because it is heavy, only the snaps holding it up. The back is simple, just continuing to show the things that I have already mentioned. Notice how dark it is in the inside of the collar. Why? Very little, if any light gets to that part, because of both being such a thick material, and the head casting a shadow down inside it. Pay attention to everything that casts shadow. I drew a snap up in close, so you could see the detail. The thing I wanted to point out the most is that the snap is sewn on, so there is material being pulled towards it, as well as it dipping in slightly to press and snap in to the underside of the snap. This is very important when you want to put detail into your drawings.

• Traditional Japanese Priest Collar!

Or, at least I think that’s what this is, but I’m not sure. If anyone knows what this is really called, please tell me, so I can correct this. Anyway, fans of Inu Yasha should be happy about this, since this is kind of what he wears. To me, it always reminds me of some master martial artist or samurai. But anyway, let’s first look at the frontal view. Lots of folds, because it’s kinda draping over him like a robe, with a cloth belt tied around his waist. Look how the shadows are cast on it, and look! I added a sad attempt at a guy’s muscular chest. I really need to work on that. Ahem, anyway, on to the profile view. As you can tell here, the cloth is thick casting a semi dark shadow underneath the collar, very bunched up and lots of shadow. The back view, shows that the collar lays close to the body, at the base of the neck, almost wrapping around it to the front.

*Sleeves?

Sleeves can be a real troublesome thing—different lengths, and how tight or loose they are on the arm, not to mention the shape of one’s arm altering it. It can be extremely hard or confusing to draw sleeves.

• Draped Sleeve!

The draped sleeve could be seen on something like a poncho or a cloak. These sleeves can suit an elegant, angelic mood, or an evil mood. These sleeves are very versatile and aren’t very difficult to draw. As you see in this drawing example, the outstretched arm pulls on the sleeve, creating folds going towards the body and upward. Not to difficult to recognize, no? As you can see, it bunches up more near the wrist, which is something to be noted. Another thing to be noted is the sleeve bottom, how it overlaps. You can see this effect in many other fabrics, including bows and flags. This simple, yet effective sleeve is great for many clothing designs.

• Semi-Tight Sleeve!

This semi tight sleeve is on many things like sweaters and jackets. You can see that it forms against the arm much closer, and that it follows the bones and muscles, but it is not tight enough to be skin tight, as you can see the sleeve hanging a bit underneath. As the other, the sleeve, is being pulled up and away from the body, the folds going towards the body, helping to show that the arm is being lifted from the body, and it gives it a more realistic look. This sleeve is common, and rather easy to draw if knowing how.

Semi-Baggy Sleeve!

This sleeve is a bit baggier, but the same properties are drawn in this sleeve as the others. All sleeves should look similar, yet different, if you catch my drift. Even if they look different, they should have the same basic folds, if being pulled the same way, but of course there will be differences. But, there are times when there are differences, as these next couple examples will show.

Pushed-up Sleeve!

This is a baggy sleeve, maybe that from a hoodie, that the sleeves have been pushed up on the arm. Notice the semi-random clump of folds that make up the pushed up sleeve. Even though this was a bit over-exaggerated, the overall idea applies, when the sleeves are pushed up, there are many folds, but even then, it still is being pulled up and away from the body. This sleeve is interesting to look at, and adds to any drawing.

Bent Elbow!

Now, what I find to be extremely difficult (one of the most difficult things in a sleeve, in my opinion), is that to make a sleeve bend at the elbow. As seen here, it is bunched up on the inside of the elbow, and sprawls out, but still keeps to the flow of gravity, the cloth pulling downward and away from the elbow. I am still only semi-good with it, as you can see from the example (even more errors than the others.), but I think it should be enough to give over the basic idea of what it should look like.

*A couple of these sleeves may look familiar to you. That is because I used a bit of referencing from jdillion’s Tutorial's, after hours of trying to get a good sleeve, and unable to get it as I wanted it. I didn’t totally copy it, but some of the folds are similar. So, yeah, just giving credit where credit is due. You can find the tutorial I referenced from Here.