Costume Design
Will Weston
Learn to Design Costumes & how to draw folds, clothing and drapery.
About the event
Time & Location
July 28 - 31, 2022
Graz, Austria
Key Info
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4-day intensive workshop
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life drawing with models
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personal feedback
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only 20 spots available
Description
This workshop teaches clear, simple and accurate approaches to drawing fabric, folds and clothing. The techniques suit today’s modern educational (and professional) environment where students have to learn more in a short period of time. It is updated from more classical drawing traditions and is easier to grasp in the beginning and can be learned more quickly.
Students learn to draw drapery and folds from varied materials applied to historical and modern clothing. Lighting techniques discussed in class provide a well rounded skill set for students to develop projects after the class ends.
Additionally, the workshop addresses the role of costuming in movies, painting, animation, graphic novels and games to help students design believable costumes that support personality development in character design
The workshop is based on courses Will developed for professionals at DreamWorks’ TV and Feature Animation, Blizzard Entertainment, for the Art Directors and Animation Guilds in LA, the Society of Illustrators in LA, and in college classrooms.
Personal Feedback
Every student gets personal feedback from Will. You can show him your drawings and he will talk to you individually and give you tips on how to improve. If you have questions throughout the class, you can ask him any time. If you have specific requests for a demo, he will try his best to incorporate that too.
Core Principles
Starting with basic shapes, students learn basic folds, how fabric wraps around the human body, how different materials influence the behaviour of folds, and differences between regular clothes and theatrical costumes used as tools for character development.
Topics include:
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hanging fabric & drapery
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historic clothing
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modern outfits
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The difference between the clothes and costumes used in art venues.
What You'll Learn
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In this class you'll learn to draw costumes, clothes, folds and drapery in a realistic and stylised way.
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Will teaches construction basics and how to add details that bring your costumes to life and give them personality.
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This will help to capture outfits drawn during life drawing sessions and when you design your own costumed characters at home.
Prerequisites
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18 years of age (or younger with parental permission).
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Basic drawing experience is recommended, but beginners will be fine.
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Will starts with basic guidelines and progresses from there.
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Though the course has an overall agenda, Will teaches students individually in class and adjusts his instruction to suit the level of each student.
(Preliminary) Material List
You may draw digitally or traditionally!
Digital:
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Drawing tablet (iPad, Cintiq etc.)
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Drawing pen
Traditional:
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Drawing Board about 11” X 17” = A3 (optional)
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Spiral bound pad of 11” X 14” = A3 white sketch paper
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10% cool gray alcohol marker
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Prismacolor or Polychromos pencils in black
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A pencil sharpener with a catch basin for shavings.
About the Instructor
Will Weston had a long career in illustration before entering the animation field, where he worked for Disney Feature Animation, Disney TV Animation, Warner Bros. Animation, Nickelodeon Animation and Sony Feature Animation. He left the animation field 13 years ago to help develop the very successful Entertainment Arts program at ArtCenter in Pasadena, CA, where he used to teach figure drawing and costumed figure drawing, drawing for composition, composition for film, digital painting and style development for feature animation and games.
Will currently lectures and teaches professional workshops for DreamWorks Animation and other professional organizations in Los Angeles. His recent public workshops have been in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Copenhagen, and now Graz, Austria for Carbon Black Workshops. To see examples of Will Weston’s teaching methods and a sampling of excellent student work, scroll through @willwestonstudio on Instagram.
Extracurricular Activities
We organise breakfasts and dinners in a cosy atmosphere that allow you to get to know your fellow students. Details will be announced on site and shortly before the start of the workshop. Joining is not a must, but everyone is welcome to hang out.
Schedule
This schedule is subject to change.
Workshop
9:00 - 13:00
Lunch Break
13:00 - 14:30
Workshop
14:30 - 18:30
Covid Safety Regulations
The following regulations are based on the laws and guidelines of the Austrian government.
As of March 25:
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FFP2-Masks are not mandatory for this small workshop, but you are free to wear them.
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Antigen or PCR tests are not required, but test results can be submitted on a voluntary basis.
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Travel regulations can be found here.
We will update these rules regularly. Participants will be informed about the latest changes via email.
Last update: March 24, 2022.
