Illustration tutorial: how to draw wrinkles on clothes

4 keys to give detail to your illustrations and drawings through wrinkles in clothes, with illustrator José Luis Ágreda

Knowing how to draw wrinkles is one of the first challenges of any illustrator: if we place them incorrectly, without taking into account a series of rules that provide realism and coherence, anyone who sees our drawings will unconsciously notice that something is wrong.

José Luis Ágreda (@agreda), illustrator and comic book artist who has also recently been the art director of the animated film 'Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas', is an expert in drawing realistic wrinkles and has synthesized everything he knows in four essential points. You can put them into practice using one of your drawings or on a photo.

1. Note the stress points

Tension points are those areas where some element "pulls" the fabric, generating wrinkles. They can be divided into four types.

- Posture: The way the character's body is positioned already generates wrinkles in the clothing. Joints, such as elbows, armpits or knees, are key points to pay attention to.
- Movement: Standing still is not the same as moving, and the dynamism of the character will also form wrinkles in his clothes.
- Gravity: Parts of the clothing, such as shirt sleeves or pant legs, will tend to fall towards the ground, generating wrinkles in the process.
- Seams: The clothing itself also generates wrinkles without external stresses, in areas such as buttons, buckles or zippers.

2. Wrinkles should give volume to the figure

We can do a simple exercise in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop: draw the wrinkles on a photograph and, when they are all done, hide the image so that only your strokes remain. Can you guess the volume of the figure, even if it has disappeared? If yes, you are doing it right.

3. Avoid parallel lines

An excess of parallel lines kills the volumetry of the figure, that is, it makes it flat and prevents us from appreciating its volume. Try to draw the lines always slightly divergent, to avoid strange or unrealistic optical effects.

4. Avoid excessive wrinkles

Many illustrators tend to exaggerate the wrinkles when they start drawing, thinking that this way they will be better understood. But this is not a good idea: the goal is to draw the exact number of wrinkles we need, no more and no less, to understand the clothes the character is wearing and the posture, movement or gravity to which he is subjected.

If you want to continue learning with José Luis Ágreda, don't miss his online course 'Illustration, knot and denouement', where you will discover how to squeeze the expressive possibilities of illustration from a written story.

You may be interested in:

- Character illustration with style, a course by Alberto Montt.
- Creative techniques for character design and illustration, a course by Gastón Caba.
- Introduction to character illustration with gouache and India ink, a course by Andonella.
- Character design: from sketch to final art, a course by Paulo Villagrán.
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