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Cloth Folds Tutorial/Reference Sheet
🕑 Added 2025-09-29 13:47:51 +0000 UTCA special rare goody this month just for you guys :)
Clothing and fabric folds have always been a huge pain for me so I thought it might be good to get two birds with one stone this time and make a bit of a concept or revision sheet for you guys (and myself too)!
Just a couple of notes I couldn't quite fit into the sheet itself -
Think of the density of cloth folds as a zero sum game (almost) - usually when a certain area is very foldy and bunched up, it means other areas have less fabric and are more stretched out and smooth. (When its a very baggy or floaty piece of clothing though you gotta be careful).
Sometimes IRL references can have really complex folds that have a lot of forces acting on it from all sides, making it really hard to parse and logic out. This can especially be the case with certain stiffer fabrics that tend to evenly distribute folds. In such a case, it might be good to simply the folds to indicate the pose and gesture more fittingly, rather than stubbornly trying to preserve the exact physics/structure in the reference.
The thickness and softness of fabric also plays a role, thin fabrics can form really fine, sharp, and deep creases, while thick and hard fabrics tend to form gentle creases.
Point 2A in the ref sheet is a tough one, usually much harder to visualize for me compared to the bending crease or baggy crease. When you pull really hard on 2 points, the surrounding fabric gets pulled into the line of tension and bunches up because the extra fabric can't fit without creasing into this thin line area.
Of course this sheet is just made purely from my own understanding without reference to any actual reputable source or book, so please feel free to let me know if you've got any corrections or questions! I'd be very happy to discuss them :)
Comments
GUWEIZ
Thank you kindly, you're very welcome! I think the "Korean style" is really strong as they study the fundamentals very tightly, so they can really create effective depictions of high detail that occur naturally, especially in things like folds/accessories/anatomy when it comes to character illustration. Manga's main purpose I feel is to efficiently express what's going on (as an overall style), but in recently years a lot of Japanese artists are also adopting more detailed rendering outside facial features, it's interesting!
Jenson
Thank you very much the the guide. I believe this guide or cheat sheet serve as a quick guide in how an artist could get started with the folds and creases. While I’m more exposed to Japanese anime / manga style, which tend to be more simplified, but I feel that your guide could fit very well into Korean anime / manga style. I really admire the way you work from draft to the final piece of work, while also sharing your thought processes and tips and tricks along the way. At some point of time, I also get drawn into wanting to draw you like you but I find that (and also heard lots of comments from others that drawing and rendering in your style would very likely be a far fetching dream. And I was told that I would be fortunate enough if I can draw better in Japanese anime / manga style than dreaming to draw like GUWEIZ which is an advance drawing styles with different skillset and techniques with advance rendering. Anyway, I’m really a big fan of you. Keep it up, GUWEIZ, you never fail to amaze me! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
GUWEIZ
Thank you for the great feedback!! Thickness and stiffness definitely will affect how folds materialize, I'd have to really look into that more to understand it better :)
MAIKERU
Hi Guweiz, I find this sheet really helpful! And maybe you wanted to keep it as simple and readable as possible, but I think that the fact that different fabric act differently is also worth mentioning? I mean it's maybe so obvious fact, but there is so much to think about while drawing that you can forget even the most basic things and using sheets like this one as notes can be really helpful, but I'd add quick notes about the behavior of different types of fabric. So yeah, just wanted to share my thoughts on it, have a nice day
GUWEIZ
You're very welcome!
Trellia
This is amazing! Thank you so much!
