13 September 2016

Starting a Fashion Sketchbook!

Hello! As you probably know, fashion design is something I am very passionate about. With that in mind, I decided to share a fashion related project with you all this week! At the moment I am working on creating a fashion sketchbook/portfolio to practice my design skills in! I am super excited to start sketching inside my unique portfolio! I'm going to show you how to create your own fashion sketchbook step by step and share some ideas of how to fill it up!

Step 1: Choosing your book
To start your project, you'll need a book such as a large notebook, sketchbook or scrapbook. I bought a plain scrapbook from Paperchase which has some cream pages and some thicker brown pages in the centre. I wanted a plain scrapbook so that I could decorate it later on. However, if you don't want to decorate it like I have, you could buy an already patterned scrapbook (Paperchase has lots of cute patterns such as pineapples and polka dots).

Step 2: Collecting images
If you're planning on decorating your front cover with a collage then you'll need to collect some images that you like. I chose pictures that inspire me because I'll be looking at them every time I start to create a fashion design. You could collect fashion quotes, fashion designs, photos of accessories, your fashion icons and anything else that you would like. You could either print off images you find or cut out pictures from old fashion magazines to use.

Step 3: Putting it together
Now that you've got all of your images ready, you can start decorating the cover! Start by laying out your images until you're happy with the layout. If you start gluing straight away, then you might make mistakes! You don't want that do you? Once you've glued everything down and there's still spaces you could fill them in with stickers or scraps of fabric. Whatever you want really, this is your fashion sketchbook after all!

Step 4: Start designing
Yay! You're ready to start designing! There's lots of things you can do inside your personalised book. You could try:

  • designing a fashion collection for a season or with a theme
  • displaying your fashion styling photos
  • practising drawing fashion figures
  • creating moodboards
  • working on new drawing techniques
  • analysing other designers and stylists work
I hope you enjoyed this week's post! I has lots of fun thinking up ideas of how to fill up fashion sketchbooks/portfolios! The reason I decided to start using a book like this is so I can practice creating something a bit like a portfolio. Whenever I apply to a fashion course, I'll need to show a fashion portfolio. I wouldn't show this portfolio (because the portfolio I show would be created with the course's requirements in mind) but it will be useful to practice developing design ideas right now.

Over to you...
Let me know in the comments if you tried out this project and if it went well! Also, do you have any other ideas of what to do inside this book?

PS: Do you like the new background of my blog? I drew the pineapple pattern myself! If you don't know already, I like to change up the look of my blog every now and then (normally when the season changes but I missed changing it for Summer so I might make a new Autumnal one soon)! 

4 comments:

  1. Whoa Megan that's one fantastic looking sketchbook!! The design is so vibrant and colourful! It's so pretty! 8D I really like the items you chose to decorate your sketchbook with... the Vogue logo, Belle, the characters with gorgeous outfits and more. ^^

    The tutorial is also very straightforward and helpful. I'd really like to try this out! :D I think I might have a couple of old notebooks/sketchbooks that I could decorate like this~

    It's so awesome to hear you're applying to a fashion course one day! I wish I could do that. xD It's true they like portfolios too! (I think it's the same with all art courses including animation too? C:)

    Omigosh, I honestly thought your new blog template was official art!! xD It's absolutely wonderful! I love the green, yellow and white pineapple theme SO much. (Fruity themes are so kawaii aren't they?) 8D The spikes on the pineapple look so realistic! Which art program did you use? :D

    I'm loving all your new posts! <3

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    1. Thank you so much kenza! It was really fun to find all these photos that inspire me! I noticed afterwards that I chose a lot of warm colours like red, orange and yellow so these must be the colours I like the most in fashion designs! Red is definitely my favourite colour though! <3

      I'm glad you found it helpful, I like to create tutorials! If you make it, let me know how it goes! I'm sure it will look great!

      I hope I get to go on my dream fashion course! I've wanted to be a fashion designer since very young. Yes I believe all art courses like to see portfolios. I think it's so that they get a sense of your drawing style and how you develop ideas!

      Really!? Thank you! I have been working on improving how I draw pineapples since I last posted that pineapple drawing tutorial on scratch so now I have created an improved drawing tutorial! It was hard to create because I actually worked backwards(since I had already finished drawing the pineapple I had to rub bits out and draw details back on with each step ha-ha)! Yes they are kawaii, I love fruit patterns (especially pineapples and watermelons-I love your blog background too)! I used sumo paint which is a BAMBOO drawing tablet app. I tried to recreate last Summer's pineapple layout (but I didn't draw last year's).

      Thanks, I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying them. Next week's post is very long to make up for doing a simple post with just one photo this week. :D

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  2. I love your blog background, pineapple print is my fave! Love that your drew it yourself. A fashion sketchbook is such a cool idea!

    The Velvet Black | UK Personal Style / Beauty Blog

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    1. Thank you very much! I like fruit patterns so I thought a pineapple background would be fun! Thanks, I'm looking forward to filling in my fashion sketchbook and I'll probably share what I draw inside it in another post.

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