Painting Drapery and Folds with Helen Van Wyk

Learn How to Paint Realistic Fabric
Understanding Fabric Folds
Shaping Light and Dark Areas
Blending Drapery Folds
Adding Brocade Patterns

If you’ve ever struggled to make fabric look real in a painting, Helen Van Wyk shows how to master the anatomy of folds, start from the subject and work outward, blend across the form for in‑and‑out dimension, and save brocade details until the folds read clearly.

Overview

Folds have structure. Helen begins at the subject and works outward so the drapery supports the focal point. She blocks in big light and dark masses, blends across the form to make fabric turn in space, and only then adds brocaded patterning so decoration never replaces form.

Sequence: light/dark → reflection → highlight → cast shadow.
Edges: distinguish turning edges vs. cast shadows.
Avoid tangents: as Helen says, “you can’t kiss on canvas.”

Transcript

Hi, I'm Helen Van Wyk, and welcome to my studio. Ever since art students have seen the magnificent paintings of the Renaissance, where the figures are beautifully draped, art students have wanted to learn how to paint drapery well. The art of painting drapery well is twofold...no pun intended. Look at this painting. The painter has to learn the anatomy of a fold, how to actually make it look as though it bulges. They should also learn how to drape it artistically in relation to the subject, not unrelated to the subject. See how this has something to do with this, and so does this, and that, and this...all having to do with the focal point of this lovely vegetable dish. By the way, that's one of my set of dishes. Now, let's look at the subject that I've set up today and notice that I have arranged the folds in a variety of ways. They don't all hang exactly the same, like sausages all hanging in a butcher shop, which I've seen so many times. A little bit of variety in size, drape, and how they are falling down adds interest. Why don't I establish that composition first before I talk about the anatomy of the fold? Knowing the anatomy of the fold will help you make the fold look as though it has dimension.

Let me get a brush and place the black vase and the rice bowl so I can arrange the folds accordingly. In this particular picture, the drapery is serving as an important element, but it is still the background. So it cannot ignore its obligation to the subject. Now I have to arrange my drapery in relation to this. So many times, I've seen students start here and start, and they have no idea what's going to happen to the fold as it comes down to the focal point. The better way to do the drapery is to start at the subject and work away.

Here it is...the cast shadow from the vase...but it also is part of the drapery. Then I see a big shape of dark here, which I think is going to be a better artistic decision than putting it in the middle of the space from here to here. Then I have a big space of light, and here I have a little darker tone on the fold that's peeking out from behind this fold.

Then on the edge, instead of letting all the lines go out, I think it would be a better decision to have a fold come into the picture. Painting is always testing your taste and taxing your knack for doing it and recording it. Here I have another dark. Why don't I make a little bit better shape of this? It's a favorite vase of mine; it serves many purposes in my still-life painting. I would never let a fold drop down into this vase exactly in the middle...it would look like part of the object's spine or an important anatomical factor of the vase.

I also would never let a light part of the...I'll show you. I'd never let a light part of the drapery touch the edge. That's an example of the kiss...you can't kiss on canvas. So I'm going to make sure that light either comes into the vase or stays away from it. Always give your subject the advantage of beautiful surroundings. I'm going to let this fold come into the picture and stop this big light area over here. Now I'd like to see how these folds...they're coming down, and then at this point, they're changing and coming at me. I have to look and see what happens to their anatomy or their shape. This rolls into the vase, then it lays flat, and then I have an ending. This little fold does help a little bit. Now I have a fold coming from behind the vase!! And just to make it a little easier for me, why don't I get rid of that tone value where I see the dark table? Why don't I also mass in the vase and splash in a little bit of red? Oh, it's oranger than that...Grumbacher red and cadmium red light. I'm not going to make it its real shape, just a little suggestion of the color, because I don't want to touch that as I start doing the drapery.

So let me step back and see how the composition is so far. Now that I've alerted you to how you have to be artistic about the arrangement of the folds, let me talk about the anatomy of the fold. It's very obvious that these folds are falling down. It's also awfully important to take into consideration the fact that they're going in and out. This is the dimensional quality that you're trying to add to this two-dimensional surface. That's three-dimensional, and that's two-dimensional.

You'll notice that I've tested the waters. I've tested the color for the light side and tested the color for the shadow side. Let me show you how I apply these two values...not up and down, that's obvious...but across. The across rhythm of application may help to get the feeling that the material is going two ways: up and down and in and out.

You're probably noticing on the drapery that it's brocaded. I see that too, but how can I make a fold fold or a drape drape and make it brocade at the same time? I'll add the brocaded quality to the completed folds. I at least think that is a little easier than trying to do everything all at once. So these are the areas where I see the light strike the fold. Now, with a mixture of raw sienna...and I squeezed out some manganese violet, an easy violet to use as a complementary to a gold color...I'm going to put in the shadows all across. Let me get it all in, and then I'll show you what an asset this across rhythm can be. I see the two tones blending there. Now, with a big brush, that will roll that drape into shadow. The next one...this is sharp. Here's another blended shape, but this is a sharp shape. Here's another blended one. So if I put it in across, I can blend it in the obvious direction. Here's a sharp shape, and here's a blend shape. Blend the two together, maintaining the shape. All I have to do is feather it together. Where is that brush? Oh, here it is. This is sharp, and here is another rolling edge. I call them turning edges...the place where the light turns into the dark. If I painted it up and down and blended it up and down, I wouldn't have the little feeling of solidity that it seems to have now, or the beginning of solidity. Let me come over on this side. Here, this is a sharp contrast because it's where a cast shadow is bumping against a body tone. But here is a turning edge. I need the dark for that, and where that is coming around this way, change the little wiggle stroke...the "poopsy-do." I call it that because I don't know what else to call it. Yes, there is a word for that...an art term word. It's called crosshatch. Cross and hatch it together. It makes it have an interesting way of blending, always trying to impart interest to your application.

It's amazing how easily people are bored by looking at a picture. You have to really do so much to it to have people look and say, "Oh, I love that painting!" And so, we now have basic light and basic dark all massed in. What happens to make it look like folds is to, into the light and dark, incorporate more tone. Into this shadow, I see a slight reflection, relegating this to body tone and a body shadow!! A reflection...and now that's the cast shadow. These reflections look more orangey. Reflections, by the way, should never be painted in the exact same color as the light side. They're not the same color, and they're not the same tone. Here is a very nice reflection. Where's the reflection coming from? The light hitting here and bouncing back. So, we start with two values, add one, then we get three, and add another, and we'll get four. That lighter one is going to be the version of the highlight on the drapery to make this fold jump out.

In this case, the highlight is lighter tones of yellow, because it's not actually a highlight. It's more light hitting the convex planes of the material as it turns toward the light. It's not extremely shiny. Yes, there are some shiny spots; we'll hope to get to that a little later. I'm still trying to just make the folds look like folds. So, we had two tones, then I added a reflection...got three. I added a highlight...got four. I've got one more to add: the cast shadow. Darker and darker, and to the darks, you add more dark. They're surely showing in here, back in here, too, and there's a strong one here. I get an itchy nose when I paint. They say if you get an itchy nose, you're getting into a fight. I'm always fighting on a canvas. I'm always battling it out...battling out the three things that I can get wrong: the shape, the tone, and the color. Yes, you may have your mind on drapery, but I have my mind on the shape, tone, and color of the drapery, because that's what my paint can record.

Now, let me step back and see what has happened to this canvas from a distance. I've taken the liberty of painting in some things off-camera because this is a lesson about drapery. I'm going to advance the appearance of the drapery, and I have to think...put my mind in two categories: what part of the drapery is on the table and becoming foreshortened, and what part is falling down. By the way, the next time we meet, I'm going to be talking about foreshortening. Now I might be able to include a little bit of the brocaded effect. Let me start out with the table. The folds are casting shadows on the table...that sets these folds down. This is in shadow. That helps set it down. Let me see how the light is hitting the thickness of the material. That light is hitting the thickness of that material right there. Yes, it's hitting the thickness there, and it catches the thickness here. That helps to set it down.

I actually see this drape color in shadow there, the drape color in shadow here, and in there. The pattern plays across it in this way. When I look at the pattern, it looks more of an orangey color than the drapery itself. Again, I would see how I would introduce the brocaded effect in relation to the subject. The best place to do it is to start it from the subject and make light of it as it encounters the edges of the canvas.

One thing I have to make sure to do is have some of the brocade go right behind the subject, or it will look as though I've got a little no-man's-land all around it. You might think, "I'm not going to touch this edge...oh, I worked so hard on that edge; I'm not going to touch it!" But that's going to make it worse. I can always put it in and then flop it over. So many mistakes come as a result of fear rather than lack of ability. What's happened to this drapery now that it is beginning to look like a brocaded drapery? It's where this darker brocade gets shiny highlights where it is in the light.

Even though I only see the real highlight where the brocade is, I'd like to solidify the folds a little bit more. Again, with a cross stroke, lean into the light area. Yes, I think that does help...better. That's all we do. Can't make it right; all we can do is make it better. That's why courage is important...to have courage to try to make it better. Who knows what could happen by adding more? So, next time we meet, I'm going to tell you about foreshortening...or maybe I'll teach you how to make soup. [Music] Hi, my name is Helen Van Wyk, and welcome to my studio.

Key Takeaways

Start drapery from the subject and work outward.
Establish big light and dark areas before details.
Blend across the fold for in‑and‑out dimension.
Add brocade only after the folds read clearly.

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