can someone please help me

i am not very good with technical explinations but would love to make my own clothes to sell v. cheap on sl, But i cant understand tutorials i need some step by step guiding and help please if anyone would share their wisdom with me i would be very greatful
thanks Neave Nightfire

Your best bet would be to search for in world classes on clothes making. Also, you probably can follow written tutorials if you work at it and don't just convince yourself that it's beyond you. Making clothing for SL isn't very difficult. Most of the difficulty comes from learning to be proficient with your paint program (photoshop or whatever you're using). You might want to think about investing in a good book about your software of choice and get good and familiar with its tools. Trying to learn to make SL clothing and learn your paint program at the same time can be difficult.

Neave...listen to Chip...the man knows what he's talking about.

Tutorials are a necessary evil, one in which we all must tread through if we are serious about our craft.

Also, like Chip mentioned, pick up a few good books on your software of choice. They are invaluable, and are also great references for future trouble-shooting.

Good luck.

I finally got me a book to help me with clothing making (GIMP). Not only did it enlighten me about what the tutorials were talking about but my using the SL templates (Chip's by the way ) to apply the lessons learned from the book I also started seeing how the seam matching and distortions affect your items due to the avatar mesh. So any book you get will help you immensly in your SL creation efforts. Surprisingly, quickly too.

You might also take a look at the tutorials on Natalia Zelmanov's blog (http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/2006/11/build.html). They are VERY easy to follow, and a good way to begin learning about making clothes (and other things) in SL.

No matter what path you take, making clothes is work, and making good clothes is hard work until you get good at it. You will have to learn basic techniques and learn to handle some sophisticated programs, like Photoshop, to make anything much more complicated than a T-shirt. It will take time. Don't get discouraged -- have fun.

Which book did you get for Gimp if you don't mind me asking?

Learning to make nice clothes in SL is about as easy or hard as making nice clothes in real life. If you are a true beginner, you will spend many hours making many mistakes.

Don't be discouraged. Just keep learning a little more every day. Search Google for tutorials. Maybe even write a tutoiral when you figure out how to do something.

Someday, if you keep working on it, maybe you will be the expert that everybody else listens to.

"Beginning GIMP from Novice to Professional" by Akkana Peck

I got mine from Amazon.com for about $30.

I would agree with Chip in that you have to somewhat master your paint program BEFORE creating clothing for SL. Start simple, there are tons of websites with beginner tutorials and even more books out there for beginners. Once you feel comfortable with your program and understand the basics - then you should endeavor into creating clothes for SL. Here's a list of websites that offer Photoshop and other program tutorials for free:

www.pixel2life.com
www.tutorialized.com
http://photoshoptutorials.ws/
http://www.absolutecross.com/tutorials/photoshop/
http://www.fstutorials.com/
http://www.planetphotoshop.com/category/tutorials/?id=tutorials

Also the most pertinent things that I have found that deal specifically (in Photoshop) with clothing creation in SL:

Brushes
Patterns (creating them and using them)
Overlay layers
Adjustment layers - specifically Hue/Saturation, Curves and Levels
Liquify
Smudge
Dodge & Burn
Paths and Shape layers
Alpha Channels
Selections (magic wand, selection mask)
Clone tool (although I really don't use this tool that often, maybe occasionally)
Layer Comps - this is great when you have several different colors or patterns and streamlines the whole "saving" process.

One of the best things you could do is to start small - create a few T-shirts using Robin's T-shirt file. Also take the PSD files that SL provides and look at how those were created - although they aren't the best quality clothing it will still give you some idea of how to lay clothing out on the template. Also learn and use your shortcut keys - they will save time and frustration (not to mention your hand).

Edit: Some of the things I DON"T USE...

Bevel and emboss - unless I am creating a metallic jewel for the clothing, this should not be used. You can get a lot more mileage from your overlay layers and using the dodge and burn tool

Photosourced satin or other clothing that is shaded - yuck! It is much better to create your own and the lighting will be correct as well