I am requesting a volunteer to review a book entitled Computer-Aided Flat Sketching for the Fashion Industry by Barbara Sultan. If you already have this book and have used it, I’d like to hear from you.

Otherwise, I will send my copy to have it reviewed by a volunteer. The book is a step by step instruction manual for illustrating flat and technical sketches using the Illustrator program from Adobe so the most appropriate person to review this book would already own Illustrator. I bought the book as it was advertised that one only needed basic computer skills but that is not true. One must also know the basics of Illustrator -which I do have- which I don’t. I would prefer a beginner level Illustrator user over an expert user.

The biggest frustration I have with the book is that it fails to explain how one is to load the background layer upon which one would then render the flats. Otherwise, the book looks like an excellent resource for those of us who can’t draw well enough to convey technical details proportionately. Well, that and the use of the word “croqui”. By the way, don’t use that word in real life -outside of school- and in mixed company because the kind of people I know will smirk or snort if you do. Use the word “sketch” instead. It’s better to impress people with skills rather than esoteric vocabulary anyway.

This comes in preparation of Miracle’s postings on line sheets. She’ll be explaining what those are and how to do your own but you’ll still need line art to make up your own line sheets. Lastly, I can see this book would be a very useful tool in generating technical specs in a clear, concise way. If you’re interested, let me know.