Understanding Every Type Of Clothing Fold 

Thanks for watching! Quick book recommendation: check out Barbara Bradley's book: "Drawing People". It's a veritable treasure trove of clothing tips, and I wouldn't have understood this topic as clearly without her!

Went to art school 2000-2004. You manage to capture more teachable techniques in a fifteen minute video than I managed to learn in a lot of semester-long classes.

This might easily be one of the most important drawing tutorials on this platform.

Quick recap Zigzag fold: 0:05 Pipe fold 3:37 Compression folds 6:30 Half lock 7:13 Drop fold 9:18 Diaper fold 10:31 Spirall fold 12:05

I have a little remark: I was confused with the seven types of folds listed. So I actually made the effort to look into the book you reference _("Drawing People" by Barbara Bradley)_ and even the author doesn't list _"compression folds"_ in her seven types of folds. Instead of _compression folds,_ she lists _"inert folds"_ (which is what you get if there is no tension point at all, like when you drop a towel). But I found out where the confusion is coming from: She *does* mention stretch and compression folds (btw also known as tension and compression), but in a different context: *So how does all of that fit together?* In summary, folds are *created by* tensions* and *compressions. It is very useful to think about these, when figuring out where folds appear on the figure. *Created through* tension and compression, we can identify seven reoccuring *types of folds:* - Pipe Folds (results from fabric being evenly *compressed* at a line of *tension)* - Drop Folds (result from fabric being *compressed* at a single point of *tension*) - Diaper Folds (results from two *tension* points) - Zig Zag Folds (found in tubular piece of fabric, results out of *compression)* - Spiral Folds (subtype of ZigZag Folds, results from even more *compression)* - Half Lock Folds (found in tubular piece of fabric, results in bends because of the *compression)* - Inert Folds (results from *compression,* combines multiple Fold types) There are two types of pipe folds: _relaxed_ pipe folds and _stretched_ pipe folds. In your video (3:37) you focus only on the latter one. As a matter of fact, curtains and skirts are also often listed as _pipe folds._ They are examples of the relaxed type. So the example shown at 9:18 isn't actually drop fold, but rather a pipe fold. I mean I can understand it, these two are pretty similar. At 11:34 the drop fold is correctly identified: Notice how in the skirt (9:18), there is a somewhat *repeating pattern* of those "pipes" laying next to each other, whereas in the towel the folds are more irregular and point towards a single point. Don't get me wrong, I think your explanations and practical applications are really great and the video is therefore very valuable! However, when looking into further literature one might get confused by the mixed up terminology. So I hope my comment is useful in that regard :).

Been drawing for 54 years. This was the most helpful tip ever

“Naturally you stop playing with the child to take a photo for later study” 🤣 done that so many times!

you have a magical way of breaking things down very simply. You help make art accessible. thank you for what you do

The day this guy decided he was gonna teach on youtube, i bet trumpets sounded in the distance and halos came down from the sky. What a master. We cannot be thankful enough.

This is by far the most useful video on clothing I’ve seen! I’ve been putting off a small painting for weeks now because it’s the first one I’ve done where clothing is a prominent point in the piece. All of my practice attempts just looked like there was random shading everywhere. My brain just couldn’t breakdown those shapes and tension points at all.

3:07, it's not that gravity affects only the bottom parts of the pants, it's that the pants are longer than the legs, and the excess length folds ontop of the feet. Excellent video! Thank you so much for sharing this insight!

Triangles and zig zags. Im amazed at how easy this makes it to understand a drawing problem i have struggled with for years. Thankyou for this video

this tutorial is literally crazy. this is most useful tutorial ever and i loved how you did a demostration simplifying everything at the begining of each segment omg

Man, I picked up a pencil for fun a month ago and was already struggling to the point of losing motivation. This video helped me so much with folds, you can't even imagine. Thank you

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS as an artist who isnt used to drawing clothes!! everytime i try to search up a tutorial on drawing clothes, ive only ever seen like 3 types of folds included, which really sucked bc those 3 didnt cover all the types of folds in clothing :( plus you're actually explaining why they happen and not just how to draw them ^^

You probably don't want to be sponsored by Better Help. They're not good! This is a good informative video though!

Marco you are an absolute legend and I think noone has ever helped me in my art journey from RU-vid more than you. A big thank you from the bottom of my heart!

How about showing movement in clothing? How does fabric move when it’s a windy day? Also, how does fabric move when the character goes into an action pose?

Marco Bucci and Sinix are my two favorite Art teachers here in RU-vid ❤

I think this may have the honour of being the most useful art tutorial I have found on youtube so far.

Thanks for a very descriptive outline of how these folds are created. You've described them in a much better way than most have in other videos.

I love where 8:58 you stopped playing with your daughter just to take a photo for study later😂 When inspiration hit, nothing is going to stop you.

The most well explained and good structured explanation on folds that I've seen so far!

I NEEDED THIS SO MUCH

another much needed tutorial from Marco! I think it's way easier to work with references when you're familiar with the core elements of different fold types. Without that information you're probably going to copy them blindly and learn way slower (it kinda applies to everything in drawing however folds can be especially tricky when you don't know how to identify and divide them xd)

Not sure that I've seen a tutorial so far, in any field, with such efficiency of communication. I am very impressed.

I am literally only 2.5 minutes into this amd you have successfully summed up what I've been trying ti figure out for almost 2 weeks now! ❤❤❤

Within two minutes your video gave me an "aha!" moment that changed how I approach clothing folds. It's hard to articulate, but; it was the triangles in the zigzag folds, seeing them as *volumes* rather than stop-and-start *layers* as I had until now. As the video progressed I realized I'd been treating areas of folding as discreet units instead of the result of the fabric interacting with the underlying form. Rendering fabric has always been hit-and-miss for me, getting proper looking folds happens pretty much accidentally. But now I have a vocabulary I can use to guide not just where they go but also *how* and *why* they form. So thank you! You have a marvelous gift for imparting practical advice succinctly and comprehensively.

Thanks for sharing this! I'd been struggling with authentic-looking clothing folds for a while. Plus, you used Blacksad as the cover image and I'm consistently blown away by the art in those books, so, anything that gets me even a smidgen closer... :'D

This is the best video of how to: folds I've watched! You're amazing!

I'm working on a study of caravaggios narcissus for a school project and my biggest struggle has been drawing the clothing folds. This video is rlly helpful

your videos have helped me improved my colours so much over the last 3 years, and now i will get better at clothing folds with you help!!

This video really stands out to me because it actually made me feel like I was genuinely learning something! Because of all the repetition with the names of the folds and such, now I'm probably going to be identifying each type of fold I see in my daily life as a way for me to study them well! Very nice video. I can't believe I learned so much in just 14 minutes.

This is something I'm currently trying to learn, so this couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you for this, and all the other helpful videos you've made for us!

Oh my gosh. This is one of the most helpful folds videos I've watched!! Thank you so much!

This is one of best explanation for drawing folds I've ever seen. That so much, it genuinely help a lot

This is just amazing. A friend of mine, recommended this channel to me, and in just couple of videos I just learned years worth of knowledge. Absolutely amazing.

My friend sent me this video and as someone who struggles with folds a LOT this is really an incredibly easy to follow sum up! I'm going to be using these techniques in my art going forwards!

i didnt know how much i needed this

As someone who wasn't quite sure where to put folds or even how to draw different folds in clothing, this was so helpful! I find clothing and folds really satisfying to look at and to draw, they're often so dynamic, both in shape and shading. So I'm really excited to be able to draw those things better from now on! Thank you!

Bro this video is god-tier, the information density and value is so high it's amazing lol

Thank you for this video. I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my digital art. I really dislike having to incorporate fabric, but this will go a long way to alleviating my dread. Doesn't help Texture of fabric but will immensely help how it acts in place. Thanks again.

Oh my god you read minds Yesterday I was drawing and got stuck on the cloths so I left it to continue today and right before I pick the pencil I see you uploaded this !!! THANK YOU

I seriously thought I knew "enough" about making folds in my artwork. In fact, I found this video this morning and initially thought "oh, this isn't game changing advice, but it is a nice refresher of what I already know". But literally an hour after watching it, I'm sitting here drawing and finding myself already thinking back to these tips as I draw folds...and it's surprisingly made my art so much better than I remember. Goes to show you can never stop learning, especially when it comes to the fundamentals of drawing. Thanks for this super easy-to-follow but informative guide on drawing folds! Look forward to checking out your other videos :)

best explanation of folds Ive found. Clear and very helpful

Thank you 🙏🏻 I would love to also see a tutorial like this that focuses on drawing dynamic hair. How would you portray movement in different types of hair? How does hair move according to a character’s motion? How does the hair move if it’s a windy day? How is the hair affected by touch (e.g., running one’s fingers through hair, gently holding a strand of hair, pulling on hair, etc.)?

What you exposed here worth more than gold. So simple and obvious whe you show and explain it like that. Thanks a lot.

Straight to point. No shenanigan at all. This is good stuff.

I must say anatomy of cloth folding art. masterpiece!

Thanks for the info Mr.Bucci

15 min video like it was 3. Awesome lesson!

Hands down one of the best tutorials on RU-vid. All meat, no fat and instantly usable.

THANK YOU !! ive sort of jsut been winging it, cause i never really understood how to break down the refs ive ben trying to use- but,now, i can actually USE references for clothing and understand how to break it down better!! thank yuo so much !!

Finally. A video that teaches types of clothing fold, not just the directions of clothing fold.

Best video on RU-vid converning that topic

This is incredible, thank you for giving us a straight forward and understandable tutorial!

You're a fantastic teacher! Thank you so much. You explained the instructions so clearly

Thank you, @MarcoBucci!! I appreciate your videos!

wow u expalin this in a simpler way . thank u so much

Invaluable! Thank you so much!

Really helpfull 😊 thank you

perfect timing, just started studying this topic yesterday!! thank you!!!

This video alone helped me to achive Exp more than any other video that yt suggested me ❤:D

Short and concise! A must watch for every beginner artists

Really useful video i'm always strugling with folds, and i think that this will help a lot

great explanation! i find this really useful and one of the best clothing tutorial out here on youtube

I've been waiting ages for this! There was a different video about folds I found earlier this year, I watched it like 20 times and I still had no clue what the half-lock fold was. You explained it in in like 10 seconds and I got it instantly. Thanks Marco! 💗

Blacksad is cool. Thank you very much for explain the concept of draw clothing

What an amazing content!! Thanks for this sir 🙌🏻🎉

Youre an actual saviour of art holy shit

This channel was literally life changing for me

This is genius level teaching 💪🏻

Love this! Thank you, thank you thank you!

This was insanely helpful

Juanjo's work is a huge inspiration for me

Another awesome video. I can tell this will be useful in the future!

This is perfect! I’m studying how to draw fabric wrinkles! It’s a new hell for me since it’s hard to understand. Thank you for sharing this useful video!

this is the best clothing tutorial I've ever seen, honestly amazing

Babe wake up, Marco Bucci just posted.

FIRST!! I WAS SO ANXIOUS FOR IT

I'm actually drawing a character in a suit so this is timely! Thanks man!

I’m so glad this video exists 🙏

Thank you marco❤😊

Those are very good observations, very helpful for me, Thank you👍

Thank you. Ive been trying to find a video like this, and the clothes i draw looks like they came out of the best laundromat ever. But with this video, it feels like I'm being taught in person. Your techniques helped me.

I NEEDED this video. Thank you so much! It's Destiny that I found it on my feed!

thank you, Marco, I started drawing my comic and this lesson has really helped me

You just saved my LIFE!!! IM SOOO ECSTATIC 🎉 IVE LOOKED EVERYWHERE 4 a video to help me w/ this

Wow! Just what I needed, fifty years ago as a music major taking a minor in tech theater. Costuming class was equal parts huge fun and massive headache, because I was great with the actual materials in the hand, but lousy at rendering designs as plates or preliminary sketches. This all makes such a lot or flat-out sense!

Just THANK YOU.

Thank you so much for this tutorial! I've never managed to properly understand the rules of folding because nobody actually explained folds itself. I knew there are should be folds here and there, they should be like that and that but I never knew WHY they should be there and in what shape. Thank you, your explanation is so simple and yet so powerful, I finally managed to fully understand the subject.

Mannnnnn this was really really helpful ! You deserve a like and a follow ❤️

Dude you just saved my life as an artist

good reminder of how to keep it simple, thanks for sharing

This is incredible. Instant sub. Thank you.

this is absolutely insane. thank you for this.

Excellent tutorial

i was just got into drawing clothings and fold recently and you upload this??? wow amazing

thats so helpful!!! thanks youtube for recommending me

I've never really thought that much about how I draw folds, but I feel like the intuition I've developed through decades of undisciplined study of fabrics as a hobbyist seamstress/physics simulation nerd, and equally undisciplined but nearly obsessive-compulsive practice in drawing has settled on a 6 fold system. Compression and tension are effectively identical functions from the perspective of the fibers adjacent to the ones being directly acted upon by any outside force, making pipe and compression folds essentially just different phases/expressions of the same mathematical relationship.