How Fashion SketchING BringS Designers More $$$
A breakdown by Mariartjournal
The words “fashion designer” sound lovely, but behind them there are actually dozens of totally different jobs:
■ One person designs T-shirt prints
■ Another hand-makes gowns for celebrities on the red carpet
Both are “designers,” sure — but the difference between them is basically the same as between a vet and a brain surgeon in medicine
To help you figure out where you want to grow and what tools you truly need, I broke all designers down into clear, simple categories.
And the most important part — I explained who can boost their income by 2–5× thanks to fashion sketching
And who is honestly better off focusing on something else
■ One person designs T-shirt prints
■ Another hand-makes gowns for celebrities on the red carpet
Both are “designers,” sure — but the difference between them is basically the same as between a vet and a brain surgeon in medicine
To help you figure out where you want to grow and what tools you truly need, I broke all designers down into clear, simple categories.
And the most important part — I explained who can boost their income by 2–5× thanks to fashion sketching
And who is honestly better off focusing on something else
Category 1. Designers who work directly with people
■ Tailors / ateliers
■ Small production teams
■ Costume designers
■ Stylist–designers
■ Designers who create looks for ad campaigns
Basically, anyone who deals with an actual human being —
a client with emotions, doubts, and the full right to say: “Hmm… I don’t love this”
For you, a sketch isn’t some cute extra. It’s a tool that can seriously boost your income
Not because “that’s the rule”, but because clients don’t pay for abstract ideas — they pay for seeing their vision come to life
And when the client isn’t happy? You lose money. And reputation.
Even if you technically did everything right.
The saddest part?
You can nail the assignment perfectly… and the client still might say: “This is not what I imagined.”
One of my friends — a costume designer — literally lost a job like that.
She followed the brief to the letter, but the director had a totally different picture in his head
A sketch helps you:
■ get on the same page before the work even starts
■ charge more (and confidently)
■ avoid endless revisions
■ keep your clients coming back
And honestly, a lot of clients love this whole process — talking through ideas, picking versions, feeling like they’re co-creating with the designer
People happily pay extra for that feeling of being part of something
■ Tailors / ateliers
■ Small production teams
■ Costume designers
■ Stylist–designers
■ Designers who create looks for ad campaigns
Basically, anyone who deals with an actual human being —
a client with emotions, doubts, and the full right to say: “Hmm… I don’t love this”
For you, a sketch isn’t some cute extra. It’s a tool that can seriously boost your income
Not because “that’s the rule”, but because clients don’t pay for abstract ideas — they pay for seeing their vision come to life
And when the client isn’t happy? You lose money. And reputation.
Even if you technically did everything right.
The saddest part?
You can nail the assignment perfectly… and the client still might say: “This is not what I imagined.”
One of my friends — a costume designer — literally lost a job like that.
She followed the brief to the letter, but the director had a totally different picture in his head
A sketch helps you:
■ get on the same page before the work even starts
■ charge more (and confidently)
■ avoid endless revisions
■ keep your clients coming back
And honestly, a lot of clients love this whole process — talking through ideas, picking versions, feeling like they’re co-creating with the designer
People happily pay extra for that feeling of being part of something
- This reminds me of one story that fits perfectly here.
Back in my last year of school, I suddenly got obsessed with fashion design — and especially with the idea of custom-made clothing.
I had zero money and zero sewing skills…
…but I did have a friend with possibilities. She wasn’t shopping at Gucci or anything, but every season her parents updated her wardrobe in the upper mid-range
I basically infected her with my enthusiasm. We came up with a tiny “collection,” and she went to an atelier to order five everyday summer dresses
But once she actually got to the studio… she froze. The designer spoke in this dry, detached way, didn’t ask about details, and my friend suddenly felt like she wasn’t being understood at all. In the end she ordered only two dresses instead of five
Two weeks later she picked them up — the craftsmanship was perfect, but the feeling was “meh… not wow”
She went back to regular stores. And the designer lost a client who could’ve easily brought her over $10,000 a year
Student work — “Fashion Sketching Step by Step” course
Category 2. Designers in big business
We’re talking about designers who work inside mid-size and major brands, fashion houses, and large-scale production teams
Yes, these companies usually have their own in-house “atelier,”
but 95% of designers there focus on completely different things:
■ reading the market and tracking global trends
■ shaping the product line for the upcoming season
■ preparing styles for production
■ developing and supervising all the tech documentation
In this world, no one cares how exactly you create. Sketch it, sculpt it, drape it straight on the mannequin — whatever gets the idea across
Big business only looks at numbers and processes: cost of production, timelines, sell-through, profit, and performance metrics
Here, a sketch is more of a personal creative tool. If it supports your process — perfect. If not — you can absolutely work without it
We’re talking about designers who work inside mid-size and major brands, fashion houses, and large-scale production teams
Yes, these companies usually have their own in-house “atelier,”
but 95% of designers there focus on completely different things:
■ reading the market and tracking global trends
■ shaping the product line for the upcoming season
■ preparing styles for production
■ developing and supervising all the tech documentation
In this world, no one cares how exactly you create. Sketch it, sculpt it, drape it straight on the mannequin — whatever gets the idea across
Big business only looks at numbers and processes: cost of production, timelines, sell-through, profit, and performance metrics
Here, a sketch is more of a personal creative tool. If it supports your process — perfect. If not — you can absolutely work without it
- Let me spill a bit of industry tea
A lot of big brands don’t “create” in the artistic sense at all.
They build their collections like a designer kit — from trending fabrics, trending colors, trending silhouettes, all pulled straight from reports the analytics team prepared.
It’s less about inspiration and more about: “This will sell. This is safe. This is what the market expects.”
Student work — “Fashion Sketching Step by Step” course
Category 3. Creative designers
■ Indie brand founders
■ Couture creators
■ Designers who work for runway shows and social media
For you, a sketch is a way to save thousands of dollars on collections and keep the whole process under control
A good drawing:
■ cuts down the number of test samples
■ reduces the amount of rework
■ makes it easier to brief assistants — and makes their work way more precise
■ speeds up the entire collection-prep process
Your time is way too valuable to be sewing blindly
■ Indie brand founders
■ Couture creators
■ Designers who work for runway shows and social media
For you, a sketch is a way to save thousands of dollars on collections and keep the whole process under control
A good drawing:
■ cuts down the number of test samples
■ reduces the amount of rework
■ makes it easier to brief assistants — and makes their work way more precise
■ speeds up the entire collection-prep process
Your time is way too valuable to be sewing blindly
Student work — “Fashion Sketching Step by Step” course
Category 4. Designers who upcycle pieces
You buy clothes, transform them, and resell them
Here, clean, careful alterations matter more than deep pre-planning.
Detailed sketches aren’t needed — they actually slow you down
But there’s a catch. If you ever start taking custom orders, you instantly move into Category 1 — “designers who work with people”. And that’s when sketches start affecting your income
You buy clothes, transform them, and resell them
Here, clean, careful alterations matter more than deep pre-planning.
Detailed sketches aren’t needed — they actually slow you down
But there’s a catch. If you ever start taking custom orders, you instantly move into Category 1 — “designers who work with people”. And that’s when sketches start affecting your income
Student work — “Fashion Sketching Step by Step” course
And the last category — 5. “Designer for yourself”
These are people who have ideas and want to wear something personal and unique. You feel that design is either your hobby (or maybe a future direction you want to explore)
In the beginning, you’ll run into the classic situation:
In your head, that fabric + those sleeves look absolutely stunning.
But the final result often turns out to be… “ehh, not really”
A sketch helps you avoid unnecessary expenses. You see the outcome before you spend money — and you don’t waste your budget on things that won’t work
These are people who have ideas and want to wear something personal and unique. You feel that design is either your hobby (or maybe a future direction you want to explore)
In the beginning, you’ll run into the classic situation:
In your head, that fabric + those sleeves look absolutely stunning.
But the final result often turns out to be… “ehh, not really”
A sketch helps you avoid unnecessary expenses. You see the outcome before you spend money — and you don’t waste your budget on things that won’t work
Student work — “Fashion Sketching Step by Step” course
- Hope this made things a little clearer — and helped you understand why fashion sketches matter so much for a designer ❤️
In the next part, I’ll show you how a fashion sketch can become a designer’s cheat code — for building a career and growing your income
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- P.P.S. If this breakdown could help someone you know, pass it on