Where to Start for a beginner?

Hello Everyone

I am quite new to Secondlife and loving it so much, I have a question and please forgive me if this has been answered, if so, perhaps someone can direct me to the right forum.

I am wishing to start my own designs, I want to do my own original work, I realize the learning curve is steep, But I have the paitience and time to learn both Photoshop and what ever other software I need.

I completed a nice tutorial for making a Shirt in Photoshop, it went really well
But I want to be able to make something orginal, pants or skirts etc

Please just point me in the right direction as to where to start, I am a little confused
again please accecpt my apologies if this has already been answered

Regards

Manaia Sopor

P.S So many of you great designers out there, I adore your work and aspire to do quality work someday.
BIG Hugs and thanks to Palomma, She was very kind to me =)

Manaia, I cannot emphasize enough how much Photoshop experience means if you're going to work with textures. (Paintshop Pro and Gimp are also good, but the digital art standard seems to be Photoshop). If you're serious, it might pay to enroll in some PS classes near you. Get a flatbed scanner to scan your own textures. And practice, practice, practice.

I also recommend that you look for the better instructional books on Photoshop that are around - I started out with Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book, which was a great introduction. I have a few others too, but right now my favorite is Real World Adobe Photoshop, which I picked up at Chosen Few's recommendation (I think?). It has taken me to a new level in understanding how to preserve image quality, avoid tonal adjustments and use histograms so my textures don't blur and fade when I upload them.

Check the links stickied at the top of this section, but I also recommend that you do a Google on any combination of "Photoshop", "tutorial", "texture", etc. There is a wealth of PS knowledge available for free out there, though you may have to be careful if the tutorial uses a different version of PS than you own.

Start simple. Play with alpha channels, transparencies, and 3D shading with dodge/burn. Upload your stuff and try it on, then delete it and try again. Also, SHOP! This is the easiest part, my favorite - I'm not encouraging you to steal other people's ideas, but no artist can exist in a vacuum. You will gain a lot of inspiration from the wonderful texture work so many SL merchants create. And you can also see some that are mediocre, giving you an idea on what not to do. Taken together, it gives you a complete picture on what you can do in SL.

While you're at it, be sure to download Chip Midnight's high-res clothing templates, available in JPG and PSD formats. They are priceless, and the best first step you can take.

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate the information, I have a lot to study and learn, but I have to start somewhere =)

Thanks again

Manaia

Welcome to SL!

Chip's templates are great. Robin Sojurner has some good templates as well.

Collect fashion magazines at your local library, and books on fashion design. Study them.

Look for design ideas that will fit within the restrictions of SL clothing meshes. For example, an A-line skirt, sheath skirt or Cheongsam dress is pretty easy. A coat that is open to the ankles and will flap in the breeze as you walk is nigh unto impossible. (I suppose there is some way to do it with particles, or with the new flexi-prims, but not easy, yet.)

Learn to live with the fact that some things are simply going to have to be unrealistic. T-shirts in RL don't cling to a woman's chest like that, except in a wet t-shirt contest. And maybe not even then! Sleves on some fashions, like Kimonos, require shapes that are impossible on the standard SL Mesh.

Learn how clothing drapes on the body! You can do amazing things in Photoshop by adding apparent sags and wrinkles where the cloth would really do that. But it looks incredibly strange if you get those in the wrong place! One good reference source is 'how to draw' books, that cover how to draw characters in various types of clothing. The "How to draw Manga" series has some excellent ones in that regard.

Take a good set of templates, like Chip's or Robin's, and scale them to 512x512, and make a 'Tenmplate outfit' by applying those grids to each type of clothing. That can be invaluable in showing you where things will be in your design, and most importantly, what parts of the fabric are going to distort as you move. (The front triangular panel on the SL skirt is EVIL! Ugh! horrible distortion there!) If you visit Robin's store, she has a texture turorial there which includes pre-made template outfit clothes. Her Tutorial ROCKS, incidentally!

Start with simple forms that can be made with the sliders, adding textures and alpha chanels to make it look good. When you have that working, consider what can be done by adding prim parts, like prim skirts. Remember, however, that any prim parts take up attachment points, and may move in unexpected ways if attached to the wrong places! Personally, I won't wear most prim-based fashions for that reason.

Don't forget assymetrical tops!

Why don't we have 2 arms in the template?! *cries*

*laughs* Oh yes! I have a lovely, sexy dress in my closet that I can't possibly make in SL, because it is asymmetrical. Has one full sleve, and one bare arm and shoulder. In SL Clothes, and in SL skins, for that matter, anything placed on one arm is mirrored on the other, as the templates only have a single arm!

No tattoos for "Mother" on one arm, boys! Not unless you also want one on the other arm for "rehtoM"! (Though I suppose one could do a symmetrical design for "MOM", and have it on both arms...)

Frist of all thank you very much for everyones input, Your information has been extremely helpful, slowly but surely I am working my way around photoshop CS2 And most important of all having sooo much fun.

Also a personal thank you to all the people out there in Second Life, whom have taken the time to explain things to me and show me stuff I never knew. And to the great people out there who post the tutorials for us beginners to learn from .This is the best community I have ever been a part of in my 15 years of being involved with online things.

Nea Ree, your the best hon ! Luv ya !


Warm Regards

Manaia