Best approach for clothing??

Hi! I've been trying to brush up on the basics for the past month or so, and the usual stuff has been pretty easy to practice (hands, feet, backgrounds, figure drawing, etc) but I find myself at a loss when it comes to learning how to draw clothing? I feel like I just can't get the hang of it, unless i sit and render for ages. Does anyone have any tips when it comes to finding references or how to approach clothing folds? It would be much appreciated ;-;

This was and is always a weakness of mine as well, so my help will be limited. But if you know it's a weakness, practice it hard. Take a sheet and drape it over a chair and draw it. Tack it to the wall at different points so you get different drapes and draw it. This was helpful to me when I could actually convince myself to do it. ;)

Knowing some of the different types of folds helps my brain to get a grip on what I'm seeing. Here's an article I found that talks about some of the main types: http://blog.digitaltutors.com/the-6-fold-types-every-illustrator-should-know-for-drawing-clothing/

I hope someone who has this more figured out will come along to give us more tips!

((I'ma little late, but I just joined the site... forgive me??)

It'll also help to make sure you already know what you're drawing - drawing dresses and a pair of jeans will be so different... if you're drawing a dress, what type of fabric is it? Heavier fabric reacts differently with movement than something super light.

It'll also help to draw the actual figure sketch under the clothing to help you guide where the clothing will go... even if you have a floor length ballgown, knowing where the legs are will help you place the skirt for example.

One approach you could take is to find some decent photos of people in a variety of clothing, copy the photo, and then put tracing paper over your drawing and try to draw the figure nude.

Here are some photos that might help you.