I did a couple of days training in Renaissance drawing techniques last week and day two was taken up with drawung drapery. It was really HARD. Give me a naked body anyday! Renaissance artists tend to draw drapery as if it’s sculpted – I found out why – it often was! They used to dip cloth into plaster and drape it the way they wanted and then let it set before using it for drawings and paintings. I did the warm-up exercise and preliminary study above with pen, graphite and chalk. I wasn’t happy with it, way too far out of my comfort zone.
I’m happier with the one below; it took ages but I felt that I was starting to get somewhere with it, beginning to understand the tonal values. Normally I concentrate on line and studying and replicating complex tones in such a detailed way was very difficult for me. It made me realise that I need to do far more work on this.
scribblah 
Thank you for posting the bits that didn’t work, as well as the bottom one which obviously does.. rather brave of you I think 🙂
Thanks Helen. I think it’s useful to show the process, which almost inevitable involves loads of stuff only fit for the bin. Mine does anyway 🙂
I never knew that, about setting the drapery! Ta. Sounds like a tough class.
It was, but I learned loads. The teacher had made her own plaster drapery, it was a lovely object in it’s own right.