Community Partnership: The Creative Cookie

This week, K.I.D.S. Art Education partnered with The Creative Cookie Fashion Camp to offer fashion illustration workshops to 8 budding young designers. We love working with Lesley Ware, aka  The Creative Cookie, and we're so pleased to be a part of her inspiring program!

On Wednesday, Lesley and her group journeyed across Red Hook to Kentler. Here they met Teaching Artist Ruth Wetzel who has worked in textile design among areas of the fashion industry. Ruth led a 2-day exploration of depicting clothing on the body, including pose, proportion, movement, and expression. First, she explained the many ways drawing is used in fashion planning, presentation, and marketing. She introduced historical precedents and described the uniquely exaggerated, loose style of fashion illustration in contrast with the precision of design and pattern.

After learning the basics, the girls gathered around as Ruth (and later other students) modeled an asymmetrical, contrapposto stance. Using proportioned diagrams, they carefully mapped out the basic design elements of her dress and then filled in the details -- folds, shadows and creases. As they progressed, the girls' drawing technique became faster, looser and more dramatic.

They were then given examples of haute couture clothing from fashion magazines, and after practicing once more with the diagrams, they were given tracing paper to create their own figures.

On Thursday, Ruth introduced more depth to the illustration process with watercolor pencils. This versatile and highly expressive medium allows for both precise drawing and loose layering of color. The girls chose their own models and were encouraged to interpret rather than simply copy the images. They experimented with bold lines, big shapes, transparency, and the different feelings evoked by different drawing methods -- i.e. quick sketches vs. detailed depictions

In only two days, this incredibly focused group progressed by leaps and bounds. They worked hard, were receptive to every challenge, and the end results of their efforts are truly stunning!

Thank you to Lesley, her crew, Ruth, and the Citizens' Council of NYC for making this partnership possible. We can't wait to work with you all again! And look out for more updates on K.I.D.S. Art Education's summer projects!