Can Someone Tell Me How?

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The answer is to look very carefully at how light and shadow fall on RL fabrics. Don't think of it as "how do I paint a wrinkle". Think instead about how the lighting and shading looks as the fabric bends and folds in space. As the best art professor I ever had used to say all the time, always approach every drawing/painting simply as a problem of light and shadow, and you'll never go wrong.

The best advice I can give you is to do drapery studies. For centuries now, artists who have wished to draw and paint realistic clothing have spent entire lifetimes doing exactly that. Learning to paint convincing fabric is a skill that takes patience and practice to develop, and ongoing practice to maintain.

Here's a drapery study Da Vinci did when he was around 20:



And here's another from when he was closer to 30:



It was those studies that enabled him to paint paintings like these:






Doing similar studies yourself will teach you how to paint convincing wrinkled clothing for SL or any other environment, like these pants, for example:



Notice how the light and shadow fall on the folds of the pants. It's exactly the same as how it falls on those draperies.

Grab a bed sheet, throw it randomly over a chair, and draw it. If you've never done this kind of thing before, be prepared for your first few attempts to be pretty bad, no matter what your current level of artistic skill. With repeated practice, you'll get better and better at it. Absolutely no one (not even a master like Da Vinci) has ever been good at it right from the start. It's a skill, not a talent, and as such, has to be developed.

If you're really serious about this, I'd highly recommend you enroll in a drawing/painting class at a local college or adult learning center. Make sure the instructor knows you're especially interested in drapery studies. Trust me; it'll be well worth your time.




All that said, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say you can't get decent results after reading a tutorial or two. You certainly can, if you've already got artistic skill and experience. But I take it from the way you worded your question that you're probably lacking in experience. The only way to change that, obviously, is practice, practice, practice. And drapery studies are the absolute best way to get it.

I would assume it's not actually black and white paint, but Burn and Dodge, applied to an overlay. At least I hope that's what it is. If it is actually paint, then the artist has a thing or two to learn about the benefits of non-destructive workflow.
could be paint on a new layer... with the layer set as doge/burn (or lighten/darken, etc)?



as someone that's taken more than a few traditional art classes, I'm impressed by anyone with an eye for certain things... that 'simple understanding' isn't so simple for some (yes I just said I suck).

I need to KNOW where the wrinkle is to shade it... either by reference, or by having it set up... free hand?... not a chance.

but then I'm more technically minded... 6 mos and no one caught that the buttons were on the wrong side?

I can kind of paint, but I don't like to. I'm better suited for other things.

A long time ago, some buddies of mine were into speed painting. They would pick a subject and then paint it within a certain time limit. I think they used 1 hour as the limit. Since I wanted the practice, I decided to participate.

I ran into an interesting problem. My brain was getting in the way. I was approaching from a more technical perspective. I was playing way too much with brush settings and all that instead of actually painting.

I finally said to myself, "Just paint it!"

And I did. I let go of the brush settings and all that and just painted. I let go and went with the flow. It was good.

One thing I'm in the habit of doing is setting some rules when I go to do certain things. For example, I'll limit myself to what brush settings I can use. That is, I'll only allow myself to change size of the brush but not opacity. Or I'll limit myself to 3 different brushes. This is what works for me. Otherwise the other part of my brain will start to take over and get in the way.

I ran into an interesting problem. My brain was getting in the way. I was approaching from a more technical perspective. I was playing way too much with brush settings and all that instead of actually painting.

I finally said to myself, "Just paint it!"

I'd follow along quietly (meaning no posted results)... surely the practice couldn't hurt me (hopefully it'd turn out better than my speed chess experiments)