Yes, I once thought they were almost the same too 😅
But no!
Even though they may look similar,
in reality they are completely different things (totally).

The key difference is in the purpose
If we simplify it:

The illustrator’s goal:
■ to present the subject
■ to evoke emotion in the viewer

The designer’s goal:
■ to clearly communicate their idea
■ to think through details and nuances

Do you see anything similar here? Yeah… me neither 🙈

And this would’ve just been an interesting observation,
if it weren’t for one huge catch 😭

So what’s the catch?
Almost all lessons on fashion sketching / fashion illustration / fashion drawing
are created by illustrators - for illustrators

Even at universities and paid courses,
drawing for designers is often taught by fine artists 😭😭😭
And they teach:
■ copying from references instead of drawing original ideas
■ academic drawing instead of design-focused sketching
■ artistic distortion instead of accuracy
■ creating emotion instead of communicating ideas and details

Personally, in every “fashion design” course I took,
the sketching modules were focused on illustration, not design

Many of my students from, all over the world say the same thing:
"We wish we had been taught this way at university" (с)

And honestly, that’s frustrating %&*(^%$,
especially since I was a beginner back then, trusted my teachers, and didn’t realize what was happening...

Instead of conclusions
■ If you’ve tried learning fashion sketching and it didn’t work out, maybe you were simply learning the wrong thing 😭❤️

■ If you’re an illustrator who feels stuck,
try approaching sketching from a designer’s perspective —
you might discover a whole new world ❤️

UPD. At a high skill level, the line starts to blur:
an illustrator may begin drawing their own ideas,
and a designer may start leaning into more artistic expression.