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Flat designs are caused by designing a garment as a flat sketch rather than designing on the form. A jacket isn’t a flat shape. It is a garment that goes over a 3D shape, folds over on itself and creates a shadow where those two layers meet. If you don’t draw the garment as being on the form, then the jacket will look like a sticker on the model. If you draw a jacket without thinking of it on a form, then it will look like a sticker on the model. So think of the body as basic geometric shapes (a cylinder for the arm, a box for the body and a ball for the shoulder) and draw the garment as if it had to go over those shapes. Where the garment is stretched over the shape, draw it as being stretched, where it folds in on itself, draw it as folded.
Don’t press too hard on the pencil when you are drawing. All the lines will be the same weight, which will mean that they are all competing with each other for attention. Instead, let some of the lines fade into the background and darken the ones that you want to stand out. For instance, you might want to darken the fold in a jacket that crosses over the body because this will make the viewer think the fold is in front of other parts of the garment. You might also want to leave the side seam that runs down the side of the garment lighter because it runs down the back. Lighter lines create the illusion of depth without the need for complicated shading. If your design is already too busy, don’t feel the need to darken every single line. Instead, lighten up some of the less important lines.
How to create depth in your drawings Shadows can also help create the illusion of depth, but when done incorrectly can make the garment look dirty. Instead of randomly dotting shadows all over the garment and smearing them with your finger to make big dark blobs, think of the places where shadows would naturally occur. Shadows occur under the edge of the collar, under a pleat, under a belt and under a fold. Start by placing a little shadow under every edge that sticks out. Even a tiny line of shading can help create the illusion of one layer of fabric passing over another. Don’t fill in big areas with shadow. Leaving them partially blank will help keep the fabric looking clean.
In a short practice exercise, try spending a few minutes on a single fold. Choose a garment and identify the deepest part of the fold. Then draw that fold several times from slightly different angles. Then spend a few minutes putting shadows only on the part of the fold that is turned away from the light source. This will help you get into the habit of thinking about the creases of the garment when you draw.
Sometimes you just need to step away from your designs and take a fresh look at them. Turn your sketchbook upside down or look at your designs in a mirror. Proportions and misplaced shadows are often more visible from a backwards perspective. Fix a couple of them and see if that helps.