The Fashion Figure

A few years ago, in fashion illustration classes, I learned to draw a croquis—a fashion figure. While you would normally draw a person eight heads tall, a croquis is ten heads tall. She is made to be a "hanger" on which your designs hang, and she is used because anything will look good on her figure.

I drew this croquis today.
She looks all right in her little swimsuit.

When I first started drawing croquis', I just thought they looked weird. They are kind of built like those blue cat people on Avatar (which was kind of a dumb movie, by the way). But after working with them for four years, I grew to like them and, in fact, I think I've made some rather attractive croquis'.

Nevertheless, it has always seemed to me like a big, lazy, cheat to only draw figures that look good no matter what they are wearing. And now that I'm designing for myself, I don't want to use a fashion croquis—because how do I know if the clothes will look good on my short, rather plump body if I only ever see them on a tall, thin...hanger?

I told you about the horror of trying to draw my own body. I even told you that I would just draw my designs (the ones for me) on a croquis. But this didn't sit right. So I drew a new fashion figure:

I think she's rather attractive.

She still doesn't look like me; she's a little thinner, and she's definitely got longer legs than I do. But she makes a nice model, I think.

So here's a side-by-side comparison:

When I put them side by side, the croquis suddenly looks weird and alien to me again. My new model is much closer to human.

All right. Both figures have the exact same head (same size, etc.). The croquis' neck is twice as long as my new figure's neck. I have shortened her body and legs, and added some flesh to them; my new figure has larger breasts, wider hips, thicker arms and legs (no thigh gap), and some tummy. And I actually think she is prettier than the croquis. And, unless I have a very slender client, she will be the new shape for my fashion designs.

What do you think?