underdrawing

Noun

underdrawing (plural underdrawings)

1. A sketch done on the ground of a work of art before paint, pastel, ink, or other more permanent medium is applied.
   • Depending on the medium used, underdrawing in embroidery and other decorative techniques may be revealed by radiography where it is relatively radio-absorbent in comparison to other materials used either in the original artefact or in later mounting and conservation methods.2007, Sonia O'Connor, Mary Brooks, X-Radiography of Textiles, Dress and Related Objects, page 153
   • When subjected to printing or photocopying, the blue underdrawing will disappear, leaving only the ink lines.2013, Chip Sullivan, Drawing the Landscape, pages 3-35
2. An image of a figure that is slid under the page on which a designer draws a garment, so that the result conforms to the figure's proportions.
   • You can use a croquis as an underdrawing for fashion drawing2016, Irina V Ivanova, Haute Couture Fashion Illustration Resource Book, page 11
   • Used as a base or underdrawing, it can be slipped under a page in the sketchbook and worked off of from there.2022, Linda Tain, Portfolio Presentation for Fashion Designers, page 75
3. An underdrawn cover or lining of the underside of a floor or roof with plasterwork, boarding, or similar.
   • He has the whole of the room underdrawn, with the exception of two bays at one end; he admits plenty of air by the windows in the roof into the triangular shaped space formed by the roof and the underdrawing; it is here deprived of its moisture, and passes into the spinning room, where the...1876, Great Britain. HM Factory Inspectorate, Factories and Workshops, page 37
   • Tongued and grooved boards ⅝ in. thick form the underdrawing for the roof.1950 September, “Fish Vans for British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 583