Digitising Hand Drawn Sketches | Flat Drawing Course

Welcome to Lesson 3 of our Flat Drawing Course, where we focus on a pivotal skill in fashion design: to digitise hand drawn sketches in Adobe Illustrator. This technique is essential for designers looking to blend traditional sketching with modern digital tools. In this lesson, we will guide you through the process of transforming your hand drawn sketches into polished, digital flat drawings using Adobe Illustrator.

Starting with a Proportionate Model Template

Begin by hand-drawing a selection of flat drawings using a proportionate model template. Using a model template ensures your sketches are proportionate, accurate, and consistent. This makes it easier when importing back into Adobe Illustrator.

Scanning and Importing Your Sketches

Once your hand drawings are complete, scan them and import the files into Adobe Illustrator. This step is crucial for converting your physical sketches into a digital format.

Tracing Hand Drawn Sketches in Adobe Illustrator

Utilise Adobe Illustrator’s powerful drawing tools to trace your hand drawn sketch. This process involves creating clean, precise lines and shapes, using the pen tool, that replicate your original drawings.

Digitising Imagery from Online Sources

Learn to apply the same pen tool technique to trace online imagery, such as sleeve styles and necklines. This skill is invaluable for creating unique and detailed design elements, quickly and effortlessly within Adobe Illustrator.

Creating Your Own Flat Drawings

With these techniques, you’ll be equipped to digitise hand drawn sketches into beautiful design elements and flat drawings.

What’s Next?

By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a solid foundation allowing you to digitise hand drawn sketches, a key skill in modern fashion design. As you progress in this flat drawing course, you’ll find that combining traditional drawing skills with digital tools like Adobe Illustrator not only enhances your design process but also opens up new creative possibilities. In the next lesson, we’ll look at creating a library of design elements to drag and drop onto your silhouettes to create hundreds of flat drawings quickly and effortlessly.