[Atrophy]

Hey guys, I'm at a loss for apparent practice at illustrating blowing/flowing cloth. Namely a robe. Anyone know where some online tutorials are I might get some MUCH needed help with. Or any flowing-cloth-drawing-master types out there? Any/all help will be thoroughly apreciated!

Oh, and Ozzy rocks! Ok, I leave now.
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Don't know about tutorials, but here are a couple of hints:

1. Different types of cloth flow in different ways. A light, loose fabric might blow out like a flag--mostly flat, with a few sharp creases where it wraps round an object (like someone's body). A stiffer, heavier cloth might hang in heavy, curving swags with the occasional sharp fold or crease.

2. As with drawing ANY object, if you get the highlights and shadows in the right places, it will look like what it's supposed to look like. So, if all else fails, you can get some cloth, put it on a clothesline while the wind is blowing, and study where the shadows and highlights fall as it blows. It won't stay still, obviously, but you can observe the general patterns. Or you can take a photograph.

3. A cheap trick for painting cloth with sharply defined folds: Do the actual billows of cloth with very subtle, gentle shading, then add sharp highlights along the very peaks of the folds. (like on the skirt in this pic: www.gorblimey.com/art/revenant.jpg - if you get a 404, it's because my server sometimes bites, but it'll be back later.) This works best for fairly stiff cloth--if you want a more...flowing look, more diffuse highlights work better.

4. If you're drawing the cloth out of your imagination, imagine how it would get into the position it's in. That is, imagine a straight piece of cloth crumpling into folds as the wind blows it--figure out how it would have to move to get into position. It sounds like a silly idea, but some professor made me try it in art school, and it works. Helps avoid those silly looking cloaks that would have to be cut in an S shape or an hourglass shape to blow the way they do.

Anyway, sorry I couldn't link you to a step-by-step or anything...hope these suggestions help somewhat.
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