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I’ve been asked to do this a few times. I really didn’t think I was that good at drawing clothing but the least I can do is show my thought process. So here goes.

So now you either have an idea of how to draw or you’ve been drawing for a while and want  help on how to cloth your naked female.  The first thing you will want to take note of when adding clothes is where the clothes will be pulled and be loose.

An example they use in a great deal of books is taking a cube and throwing cloth over it.  What parts of the cube effect the fabric the most? While it rests on the top, it’s the corners that do most of the work.

So then we take the same knowledge and apply it to the female form. Where on the woman are the “corners.”

No matter what the type of clothing these spots, as well as the armpits, will have an effect on how it looks.

The Overtaxed Shirt.

(I’ll cover the “shirts that are too short” later.)

The shoulders don’t do much work here since the shirt is tight enough to be held on without them. The fabric pulls across the chest and can form ripples in cloth between the breasts. The seams, if you draw them, will be pulled forward. Most of the creases in the shirt start from the seam or seam area. It depends on the fabric, and artist as to exactly how much shape the shirt shows. However it should almost NEVER show the full outline of the breasts.  Generally cleavage under the shirt is well hidden by the over taxed fabric. The fabric has a tendency to gather at the lowest point in the back.  Especially if the mother herself has gained weight and has a bit of a roll.  If the shirt is long enough gather under the belly.

Shirts that fall under this are pre-pregnancy shirts and stretch Maternity t-shirts.

The Loose T-shirt. Or the Husband shirt.

When a woman just doesn’t want to bother any more she will dig into her husband’s closet or just go out and buy the largest T-shirt that she thinks will still fit.  Obviously these shirt’s aren’t made for pregnancy. This is where the hang and pull points come more into play.

The main pull point with this shirt will be the shoulders and the belly. The contours of the chest will pretty much be obscured by the fabric being pulled forward by the belly.  The outline of the breasts are generally lost.  This is of course, assuming you are drawing large.   Once again, do not draw the outline of the boobs or I will kill you. Nor do you just want to let it hang everywhere. This is a larger shirt but still not bade for what it’s doing. It will still bunch in the small of the back and the excess on the sides will catch on the hips.  Most T-shirt material so pretty stretchy so it’s going to stretch and pull over the belly, then dip back to where it would normally hang.

The generic button tailored shirt.

This section will include both those made for pregnancy and the ever coveted button poppers.

• Made for pregnancy.

Shirts that are tailored for pregnancy will have a seam that runs under the chest as well as darts that start at the seam under each breast.  Darts Help shape the fabric. This kinds of maternity tops are less fun because you can’t get away with wearing them after wards. I always get confused as to which side the buttons are supposed to be on for which gender. (How many people actually know that though?) Sometimes there’s some ruching on the top part of the shirt to give the breasts a bit of shape. Ruching is similar to darts, but smaller and more of them. The shirts usually hang off the belly with no dipping back in. Sometimes they are too short and show underneath.

• The button popper.

By either digging into her husband’s closet or spontaneous growth a character can run across a tight buttoned shirt. Each button will act as it’s own pull point on top of the taut surface. It can start at the chest with a slight separation of the fabric between the buttons. The get wider as it goes down. It might be easier to place the buttons first. The buttons might be a bit closer (height wise) together at the widest point of the character. And the stretchier the fabric the wider the gaps can be.

And the perfect pattern to illustrate. The material of this shirt has no stretch so it would pop it’s buttons pretty quickly before the skin would be visible in the gaps.

The Baby Doll Top.

Popular for woman, pregnant or not.  They come in a few different styles but the main point of them is the pleats.  They’re supposed to show off the right curves, the breasts, and hide the others. (Muffin top!) There’s two basic types to this shirt. One with, and one without an Empire waistline.

• Without Empire.

These types of shirts are generally contain a great deal of ruching. The gathering in the fabric leaves the top of the shirt looking slim and allows the bottom to spread.  Because of the extra fabric there’s less forceful stretching. There won’t be as much pull at the small of the back unless she’s massive and in denial (and the shirt is too small).

• With Empire

The Empire waist line is  well loved for pointing out the thinnest part of any female, the area right under the breasts. So why wouldn’t a pregnant woman what to point out, “Hey I was thin before.”

The creeper.

How to draw the shirt that just doesn’t want to stay down. Be it hers or his.

The shirt that’s too small but the woman doesn’t care or grew too quickly to be able to care. It bunches under the breasts and in the small of the back. The bottom of the shirt is usually level all the way around the body.

Visual Reference.

Mostly just for a bit of a lol I took this picture of one of my jacket draped over an exercise ball.  I totally got caught taking the picture and had to talk my way out of it.

Damn that was a long post.