A fashion sketchbook is the best kind of excuse to draw clothes you love and outfits you have only ever pinned. Every page here gives you one look or one theme, a figure or a flat lay you can finish today, so the book fills up fast and looks good doing it.
Work through them in any order, mixing a quick flat lay with a full figure when you want a change of pace. Below you will find camel coats and capsule wardrobes, a bride in a slip dress, scarves tied five ways, and plenty more to keep your pencil moving.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Start with the easiest full-figure page in the book: a woman walking in a camel coat, coffee cup in hand. Block the figure in pencil first using a simple nine-head stretch (head height repeated down the body) so the proportions read as fashion-figure tall rather than squat, then ink over it with fineliner once you are happy.
Work coat first, since it is the biggest shape and everything else tucks under it. Add the scarf, the boots, then the coffee cup last so it sits convincingly inside the closed hand.
The coat often goes flat and stiff. Save it by leaving the hem edge uneven and adding two or three long diagonal fold lines instead of a smooth outline.
If this is your first time drawing a walking pose, tilt the hips slightly and bend the back leg: a straight-legged figure always looks frozen.
Palette: Camel, Raw Sienna, Espresso Brown, Ivory
A 50s tea dress gives you a chance to draw real volume: a fitted bodice, a cinched belt, and a skirt that flares out in a near-perfect circle. Pencil the bodice and waistline first, mark the belt as a thin horizontal band, then let the skirt hem sweep out wide before you ink it.
Measure the skirt width against the shoulder width before committing to ink: a 50s skirt usually reads as two to three times the shoulder span at the hem, and anything narrower looks like a modern sundress instead.
Colour the bodice and skirt in one solid marker tone, then drop a few pencil crosshatch lines into the skirt folds for soft shadow without heavy ink.
No marker on hand works fine here: a light watercolor wash in the same hue gives the same retro warmth with even less fuss.
Palette: Dusty Rose, Cream, Chocolate Brown, Soft Red
Lay out a capsule wardrobe of ten pieces flat on the page instead of drawing a figure: a coat, a blazer, two tops, trousers, a skirt, a dress, and three pairs of shoes works well. Pencil each item as a simple flat-lay shape first, spaced in a loose grid, before any ink touches the page.
Draw the largest pieces, the coat and the dress, first and anchor them in the corners, then fill in smaller items like tops and shoes around them so the page balances rather than crowding to one side.
Ten flat items can turn messy fast if every one gets full colour. Pick two or three accent colours to repeat across the pieces, keep the rest in black fineliner only, and the page reads as one considered wardrobe rather than ten unrelated things.
Keep every item’s fineliner outline the same weight so the grid feels orderly even before colour goes on.
Palette: Navy, Blush Pink, Camel, Ivory
If a full ten-piece flat lay feels ambitious today, start with five items and leave gaps to add the rest another sitting; the grid structure allows for that without any replanning.
A trench coat in the rain is a good next page because the weather gives you a reason to add rain lines and a puddle reflection without overworking the figure itself. Draw the figure first in pencil, coat belted at the waist, then add the rain as short diagonal fineliner strokes once the ink on the coat is dry.
Think about where the light sits before you colour: an overcast rainy sky means soft, even shadow rather than one strong direction, so keep the marker shading on the coat gentle and avoid a hard cast shadow underneath the figure.
The puddle at her feet does the most work for mood. A thin horizontal strip of grey-blue marker with two or three pale reflected colour streaks reads as wet pavement instantly.
One concrete tip: draw the umbrella, if you add one, last and slightly overlapping the head, so it sits naturally rather than floating above it.
Palette: Khaki, Slate Grey, Pale Blue, Charcoal
A chunky knit cardigan over a pleated skirt pairs a soft, textured top half with crisp, repeated lines below, a nice contrast to draw on one page. Pencil the cardigan shape loosely first, then the pleated skirt as a series of near-parallel vertical lines fanning slightly from the waist.
Work the cardigan texture with a dry-ish fineliner or a textured marker tip: short overlapping dashes rather than one smooth outline suggest knit far better than a clean contour does.
Pleats often collapse into one flat shape if you draw every line the same length. Save it by letting a few pleat lines break earlier near the hem, which gives the skirt natural movement.
No textured marker available: a regular fineliner with slightly shaky, deliberate line work gets a similar knitted feel.
Palette: Oatmeal, Forest Green, Mustard, Cream
A shoe page breaks up the book nicely after a run of full figures: draw loafers, ballet flats, and ankle boots side by side, each one from a slightly different angle so the page does not look repetitive. Pencil each shoe’s basic block shape first, keeping them roughly the same scale, before adding detail like stitching or buckles in ink.
Loafers and boots are easy to get wrong in perspective since the sole is a long curved line, not straight. Draw a faint centre guideline through each shoe from heel to toe before inking, and the proportions hold.
Colour the leather pieces with a single marker tone plus one lighter highlight stripe along the top edge: that alone reads as shine on leather without any blending.
If you want a quicker version, draw just two shoes large rather than three small ones and spend the saved time on the highlight work instead.
Palette: Tan Leather, Black, Burgundy, Cream
Linen is forgiving to draw because its wrinkles are loose and irregular rather than crisp pleats, so a summer linen outfit with a straw bag makes a relaxed page after the structured shoe drawings. Sketch the figure in pencil first, oversized shirt and wide trousers, then ink with slightly broken, wavy lines along the fabric edges rather than smooth ones.
Hold your marker loosely and let the linen colour pool unevenly across the shirt rather than filling it flat: that patchiness is exactly what linen looks like in real fabric.
The straw bag is the fun detail here. A grid of short crisscrossing fineliner marks over a tan base colour reads instantly as woven straw.
Try this: add one small shadow patch under the bag and under the trouser hem, and the whole outfit lifts off the page instead of floating.
Palette: Flax, Sand, Straw Tan, Sky Blue
Vintage handbags make a satisfying flat-lay page, especially drawn a touch worn and characterful rather than brand new. Pencil three or four bag silhouettes at different sizes and angles, a structured box bag, a soft slouchy one, a small clutch, then ink each separately so no outline bleeds into the next.
Hardware is what sells “vintage” here: draw a slightly oversized clasp or buckle on at least one bag, since small, timid hardware tends to disappear and look generic.
Leather can look plasticky if you colour it in one flat pass. Layer a second, slightly darker pass of the same marker colour into the bag’s lower corners for believable depth and age.
One concrete tip: angle each bag slightly differently across the page rather than lining them all up square, which keeps a flat lay from looking like a catalogue.
Palette: Cognac, Olive, Burgundy, Gold
A bride in a simple slip dress is a quieter page than a full ballgown and easier to finish in one sitting, since the dress itself is just a few clean bias-cut lines skimming the body. Pencil the figure first with the dress falling in long vertical folds from narrow straps, then ink the outline before adding the fold lines.
Keep the fold lines few and long rather than many and short: a slip dress drapes rather than gathers, so three or four confident lines down the length say more than a dozen short scratchy ones.
Leave most of the dress white or pale ivory and add only a thin wash of shadow along one side, since the whole appeal of this look is quiet and uncluttered rather than richly coloured.
If you want more on the page today, add a simple bouquet of three or four flowers in her hand rather than a full arrangement.
Palette: Ivory, Pale Pink, Soft Grey, Sage Green
Place the next figure on a staircase: a woman in a red evening gown gives you both a dramatic colour and a chance to draw perspective into the page. Set the eye level roughly at her waist height and let the stair treads recede upward behind her, since a staircase drawn straight-on flattens the whole scene.
Pencil the figure first, gown pooling slightly at the base of the stairs, then the stair lines behind her, keeping them lighter in tone so they do not compete with the dress.
The red gown carries the page, so build it in two marker layers: a base red everywhere, then a second, deeper red pass only in the folds and where the fabric meets the stairs.
No red marker on hand works fine: a strong red watercolor wash with a second darker glaze gives the same depth.
Palette: Crimson, Deep Red, Gold, Charcoal
A hat page is a nice breather after the red gown: draw a beret, a bucket hat, and a cloche side by side, each sitting on a loosely sketched head shape so the proportions stay believable. Pencil the head ovals lightly first and erase most of the guideline once the hat shape is set in ink.
Compare each hat’s width against its own head oval before inking: a beret sits close and slightly tilted, a bucket hat sits wider with a brim, and a cloche hugs down past the ears, so checking that relationship first keeps all three from looking identical.
Colour each hat a different family of tone so the trio reads as a considered page rather than three grey blobs, and add a thin contact shadow line where each hat meets the head.
Try this: tilt the beret at an angle rather than drawing it centred, which instantly makes it look worn rather than displayed.
Palette: Burgundy, Mustard, Charcoal, Cream
A Parisian look of a striped top and jeans is one of the simplest full figures in the book and a good one to draw loose and fast. Pencil the figure first in a relaxed standing pose, then ink the striped top using a ruler-free hand so the stripes curve gently with the body rather than sitting flat like a barcode.
Space the stripes slightly wider apart than feels natural at first: too-narrow stripes drawn by hand tend to wobble and blur together once marker goes over them.
Keep the jeans in one flat denim-blue wash with just two or three fold lines at the knee and ankle, since the striped top is already doing the visual work and busy jeans would fight it.
For a quicker version, skip the shoes and bag entirely and let the figure stand on a single ground line; add a beret and a small tote if you have time for the fuller page.
Palette: Navy, Off White, Denim Blue, Red
A puffer jacket and beanie outfit set in the snow gives you a chance to draw volume again, this time in cold-weather bulk rather than soft drape. Pencil the figure first with the jacket drawn noticeably wider than the body underneath it, then ink the quilted seam lines as a grid of slightly curved horizontal and vertical lines following the body’s roundness.
The eye level here sits low, close to the ground, since snow scenes read best looking slightly up at the figure with pale sky behind. That choice alone makes the puffer jacket look tall and imposing rather than squashed.
Leave patches of the paper white for snow on the ground and a few flakes in the air, since painting snow in white paint over colour never looks as clean as paper left bare.
One concrete tip: add a small puff of breath near her mouth in pale grey marker for an instant cold-weather feeling.
Palette: Forest Green, Charcoal, Pale Blue, White
Move to a flat lay again with a weekend bag packed and laid out: the open bag itself plus a folded sweater, rolled trousers, a book, and a small pouch spilling out around it. Pencil the bag first as the largest shape, then build the packed items around and slightly inside its opening so the composition feels like one connected scene rather than scattered objects.
Overlap at least two items directly on top of each other, like the sweater draped over the bag’s edge, since items drawn with gaps between them read as a catalogue flat lay rather than something actually packed.
Keep the colour palette to three tones across all the items so the busy collection of objects still feels like one cohesive page rather than a jumble.
If this is your first flat lay with this many objects, pencil the whole arrangement loosely first and move items around on paper before any ink touches it.
Palette: Olive, Camel, Mustard, Cream
A floral midi dress at a garden party brings colour back after the neutral weekend bag page. Pencil the figure first in a relaxed standing or walking pose, dress falling to mid-calf, then block in the floral pattern with small dot and dash marks only after the base dress colour is dry.
Keep the floral print loose and varied in size: a pattern of identical evenly spaced dots looks printed by a machine, while flowers of slightly different sizes and spacing look hand painted and more alive on the page.
Add a soft garden suggestion behind her, a blurred hedge shape or a scatter of green, in watercolor rather than fineliner, so the background stays soft and the dress stays the crisp, detailed focus.
No watercolor paint on hand: a pale green marker swept quickly and unevenly behind the figure gives a similar soft garden feel.
Palette: Rose Pink, Leaf Green, Buttercup Yellow, Cream
Fabric swatches pinned beside a drawn dress make a page that feels like a real designer’s sketchbook rather than a finished outfit illustration. Draw the dress first in pencil and ink, keeping it fairly simple, then pencil three or four small rectangle swatches beside it before colouring each in a different texture technique.
Vary how you fill each swatch rather than using flat colour for all of them: cross-hatch one for tweed, leave soft uneven marker bleed for a print, and add tiny dashes for a textured knit, so the swatches genuinely suggest different fabrics side by side.
Draw a small pin or paperclip shape at the top corner of each swatch, angled slightly differently, which is what sells the “pinned to the page” feeling more than anything else.
One concrete tip: match at least one swatch colour exactly to a colour already used in the dress, tying the whole page together.
Palette: Dusty Blue, Terracotta, Cream, Charcoal
Flared trousers and a floppy hat bring back a full standing figure with a strong silhouette to draw. Pencil the figure first with the trouser leg noticeably narrow at the knee and widening sharply below it, then ink the flare edge as one confident curved line rather than several short straight ones.
Check the flare’s width against the shoulder width before colouring: a 70s flare usually reaches close to shoulder width at the hem, and anything narrower reads as a modern bootcut instead of true flares.
The floppy hat brim should droop unevenly on one side rather than sitting in a perfect circle, which is what makes it read as soft felt rather than a stiff shape.
Try this for a bolder page: colour the whole outfit in one warm family (mustard trousers, burnt orange top, brown hat) rather than mixing cool and warm tones, which keeps the retro mood consistent.
Palette: Mustard, Burnt Orange, Chocolate Brown, Cream
A cozy sweater paired with a plaid skirt is a comforting page to draw after the bold 70s look, built around a soft knit top and a crisp patterned bottom. Pencil the figure first, oversized sweater, skirt falling just below the knee, then ink the sweater outline loosely before the tighter plaid lines on the skirt.
Draw the plaid in three passes rather than one: horizontal lines first, then vertical lines crossing them, then a thinner accent line in a third colour woven through both, which is what makes plaid look layered instead of like a simple grid.
If the grid starts looking too mechanical, soften a few lines where they cross the skirt’s folds, since fabric lines bend slightly wherever the cloth folds.
If you do not have a third marker colour for the accent line, a coloured pencil works just as well for that fine detail.
Palette: Oatmeal, Burgundy, Forest Green, Cream
A page of sunglasses styles is one of the fastest entries in the book: cat-eye, round, and oversized square frames drawn at a small scale, several to a page. Pencil each frame shape lightly first, keeping the lens width consistent across all three so the styles compare fairly against each other.
Leave a small white highlight shape unpainted in the corner of each lens before you colour the rest, since that single uncoloured triangle is what makes a drawn lens look glossy and reflective rather than flat and matte.
Vary the frame colour across the three, tortoiseshell brown, black, and a soft pastel, so even a page of small objects reads as varied and interesting rather than three repeats of one shape.
For a quicker page, draw the sunglasses straight-on in a neat row; for more detail, angle one pair at three-quarter view to show the arm of the frame.
Palette: Tortoiseshell Brown, Black, Pastel Pink, White
A tailored suit is a good test of straight, confident lines after a page of curved sunglasses frames. Pencil the figure first with the jacket’s lapel and shoulder line kept crisp and angular, then ink the jacket outline before the trouser crease, which should run as one continuous straight line from hip to ankle.
Keep the eye level at the figure’s chest height and the light coming from one clear side, since a tailored jacket relies on one strong shadow panel down the far side to look structured rather than flat.
Colour the suit in one solid tone with that single shadow side slightly darker, and leave the shirt or blouse underneath pale so the lapel line reads clearly against it.
One concrete tip: draw the shoulder line slightly wider than the natural body width, since tailored jackets are built with structure and a narrow shoulder line undersells the whole look.
Palette: Charcoal, Ivory, Navy, Gold
A ballet-inspired outfit built around a wrap top gives you soft, crossing fabric lines to draw after the sharp suit page. Pencil the figure first, then the wrap top’s diagonal fold lines crossing over the torso, keeping them as two or three clean diagonals rather than many small ones.
For a ten-minute version, draw just the wrap top and a simple skirt with minimal shading; for the fuller forty-minute page, add ballet flats with ribbon ties winding up the ankle and soft pink tights, which takes the look from “inspired by” to fully ballet-coded.
Keep the palette pale and soft throughout, since a ballet look loses its character fast under strong, saturated colour.
If ribbon ties feel fiddly, draw them as two simple curved lines crossing the ankle rather than a fully wound spiral, which reads just as well at this scale.
Palette: Pale Pink, Blush, Cream, Soft Grey
Draw one simple outfit three times small, or once large with three jewelry options floating beside it, to explore how different pairings change a single look. Pencil the base outfit once, keep it plain so the jewelry does the talking, then ink three small groupings beside or below it: delicate gold studs and a thin chain, bold hoops and a stack of bangles, a statement necklace alone.
Draw the jewelry pieces slightly larger than true scale compared to the outfit, since fine chains and small studs drawn at accurate size disappear completely once ink and marker go over them.
Add a tiny metallic highlight dash on each piece, gold or silver, left as a thin uncoloured line, which is what sells “jewelry” rather than just small dark shapes.
Try this next: repeat the exercise with the same outfit in a different season’s palette to see how the mood shifts.
Palette: Gold, Silver Grey, Ivory, Black
A beach cover-up with sandals is a loose, breezy page to draw after the detail work of jewelry pairings. Pencil the figure first, cover-up falling open and sheer over a swimsuit shape beneath, then ink the cover-up’s outline with a slightly broken line to suggest soft, sheer fabric rather than solid cloth.
Use a very thin, watered-down marker or watercolor wash over the cover-up so the swimsuit colour underneath shows faintly through it, which is the single trick that makes fabric read as sheer rather than opaque.
Keep the sandals simple, just a sole shape and two or three thin straps crossing the foot, since overly detailed sandals compete with the breezy, relaxed feeling of the rest of the page.
No watercolor for the sheer effect: a pale marker used very lightly, almost dry, gives a similar see-through quality.
Palette: Coral, Sand, Sky Blue, White
Draw one dress shape four times across the page and colour each in a different palette, which is a great exercise once a few outfits in this book are already working well for you. Pencil the dress once, trace or lightly repeat that same outline three more times evenly spaced, then ink all four before any colour goes on.
Pick four colourways that feel genuinely different from each other rather than four shades of the same hue: a warm red, a cool navy, a soft blush, and a deep forest green give the page real range.
Shade each repeated dress consistently, same light direction and same fold lines picked out, so the only real variable across the four is colour and the exercise stays useful rather than messy.
One concrete tip: letter a tiny colour name or swatch dot beside each dress, which turns the page into a handy reference for future sketches too.
Palette: Soft Red, Navy, Blush, Forest Green
Bright yellow boots against a grey rainy outfit give you one strong colour pop to build a whole page around. Pencil the figure first in a simple raincoat and trousers, then ink the boots last and leave them the only saturated colour on the page, everything else kept in muted grey and navy.
Add a wet-pavement reflection directly beneath the boots in the same yellow, slightly streaked downward, since that single reflected streak is what convinces the eye the ground is actually wet.
Keep the raincoat shading minimal, just one soft grey wash, so none of it competes with the yellow boots for attention.
If you do not have a bright yellow marker, yellow watercolor layered twice for saturation gets just as punchy a colour.
Palette: Bright Yellow, Slate Grey, Navy, Charcoal
A girl in overalls at a flower farm brings a relaxed, outdoorsy scene into the book after the sharp colour pop of the rainy page. Pencil the figure first, overalls drawn with a simple bib front and one visible buckle strap, then ink the figure before adding a loose row of flowers at her feet or in a basket she carries.
Set the light coming from behind her, low and warm, which throws a soft shadow across the front of the overalls and gives the whole scene a late-afternoon farm feeling rather than flat midday light.
Keep the flowers simple: a few rounded blossom shapes in two or three colours read as a flower field far better than many tiny detailed petals would at this scale.
Try this: if you enjoy this kind of outdoor scene, a seasonal sketchbook spread is a natural next page to explore the same loose, scenic style further.
Palette: Denim Blue, Sunflower Yellow, Leaf Green, Coral Pink
A sequin party dress is the most textured surface in the whole book and a satisfying one to finish after the soft, natural flower farm page. Pencil the dress shape first, simple and fitted, then ink the outline before building the sequin texture, which comes from hundreds of tiny overlapping curved marks rather than a flat colour fill.
Work the sequin texture in patches rather than evenly across the whole dress: denser marks where the light would catch, sparser and darker in the shadowed areas, which is what gives sequins their sparkle rather than a uniform speckled look.
A fine white gel pen dotted sparingly over the dark areas afterward adds convincing sparkle highlights without redoing any of the base work.
No gel pen on hand: a few flicks of white paint from a nearly dry brush gives a similar scattered highlight.
You Will Need
- fine white gel pen
Palette: Deep Gold, Black, Champagne, Silver Grey
A page of scarves tied five ways works well near the end of the book, since by now you have the confidence to draw the same shape repeatedly with small variation. Draw one plain scarf rectangle shape first as reference in a corner, then sketch five small heads or neck shapes around the page, each with the scarf tied a different way: neck knot, bow, long drape, headscarf, and belt-style wrap.
Keep every scarf in the same print or colour across all five ties, which is what makes the page read as one versatile scarf rather than five unrelated accessories.
Vary the knot shapes carefully since a bow and a simple knot look alike if drawn carelessly: a bow needs two looped shapes and two trailing ends, while a knot is just one closed loop with ends hanging straight down.
One concrete tip: number the five ties lightly in pencil first so you do not accidentally repeat a method before the page is finished.
Palette: Terracotta, Cream, Mustard, Charcoal
Close the book on a warm note with a mother and daughter in matching outfits, two figures at different heights wearing the same pattern or colour. Pencil the taller figure first, then the smaller one beside or slightly in front, keeping the child roughly two-thirds the adult’s height so the size relationship reads naturally rather than like a shrunk adult.
Ink both outfits in the same pattern or palette but let the smaller figure’s version look slightly looser and less tailored, since childrenswear in the same print as an adult outfit usually reads as softer and simpler cut.
Have the two figures interact slightly, a held hand or overlapping shoulders, rather than standing apart, which is what makes the page feel like a matching set rather than two separate drawings placed side by side.
If you enjoyed building a figure page like this, the sketchbook portrait approach is a good one to try next for faces alongside the outfits.
Palette: Dusty Rose, Cream, Sage Green, Soft Grey
What to Do Next
Pick whichever idea matches your mood today, a quick shoe page if you want something fast or the red evening gown if you have more time, and start with pencil guidelines on cream paper before any ink touches the page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for a fashion sketchbook?
Cream toned paper with a smooth to slightly textured surface works best, since it takes fineliner cleanly and holds thin marker and watercolor washes without much bleeding or buckling.
Do I need to know how to draw faces to start a fashion sketchbook?
No, most fashion sketchbook pages focus on the outfit and figure proportions rather than facial detail, so a simple oval with suggested features is enough for every idea in this list.
What is the easiest way to get fashion figure proportions right?
Use the head as a measuring unit, stacking it roughly nine times down the body, which keeps the figure looking fashion-tall and balanced without needing formal figure drawing training.
Should I use marker or watercolor for a fashion sketchbook?
Either works well, alcohol marker gives flat, graphic colour fast while watercolor gives softer, more blended results, and many pages in this list combine both for different effects.
How long does one fashion sketchbook page usually take?
Most single-figure or flat-lay pages in this list take between twenty and forty minutes, depending on how much pattern or texture work, like plaid or sequins, you add.