Layered effect

I am having trouble making layered skirts. I want several layer’s of light material. Every time I try to do a semi-transparent layer it just looks like a dull coat of paint on top of the base material.

Any ideas on how I can get a better 3D look to the layers?

Jen

There's really only two aspects of an image that give it a 3d quality and that's highlights and shadows. Your best bet is to play around with drop shadowing the upper layers and adding some bevel to visible edges. That can go a long way towards making the upper layers pop up off the lower ones. Folds and wrinkles can also help a lot since different layers should have different topography. If you're doing semi-transparent layers try to think in terms of how much light should pass through each layer and darken (and possibly slightly desaturate) the underlying layers accordingly.