Question for those who create clothing in SL

How long do you usually spend on a clothing project? Do you sketch out what you want or do you just look at what you have (ie textures etc...) to work withand go. Do you usually use a texture or do you paint your clothing on? Im curious because I find I spend a lot of time on just one thing. Im new at this so maybe that is why but between the creating, checking it out with AVpaint then going back and forth between that and Photoshop to fix stuff, Im spending so much time that by the time Im done with the project Im sick of looking at it and everything looks wrong on it. Im not disillusioned Im just wondering if there is a better way to do it than the way Im doing it now.

I am getting better but sometimes to figure out one technique it takes me months.
Certain outfits or textures may take me days to get right, numerous uploads, some I hit wall
but and have to put a side for while.
I have been trying to do digital artwork for over 10 years but I have major health and cognitive problems. For some highly detailed outfit it make take me 40 hours or more and numerous uploads.
Someone who is formally trained, with lots of experience in their art program, knowledgeable about high end programs, equipment may take a whole lot less time then I do.
I have done less uploads since I got avpaint.
I make my own fabrics by hand and with different art add ons. Like Superbladepro..
I use avpainter to get feel of the how the fabric is going to work and make certain editing
their and more editing in my artprogram.

I make clothes for myself and offer some of them for sale too. Most of my clothes designs are not too complex so they don't take a great deal of time. I use the CMFF templates and I find that if one's careful about lining up egdes on the template, the textures match up on a real avatar. I probably spend an hour or two one each design - one could spend a lot longer for something more intricate. I make shirts, dresses (mostly system - yes, they CAN look good if combined with an adjusted av shape) etc. I do my own textures, most of the recent ones have been quite plain although I have done more intricate ones.
One thing I don't make is jeans. The freebie photo-texture jeans I got ages ago are about as good as any I've seen, so there's little point in making fresh ones.

Depends on the complexity. Typical outfit takes about 2 days to get the upper texture right (No jaggies, matching seams front & back..etc) then maybe 1 day for the prim skirt.
Complex outfit can take a week or more.

I never got past t-shirts.. From the free templates available. I use PSP and have the hardest time getting smooth/straight lines. I *know* there must be a different way to do it than freehand painting.. I just haven't found it yet.. (new to psp also)

The complexity does make a difference. I find that I might spend a day or so on a bodice doing the outline etc. (it's all about the cut dahlink!) and yes it is like draw a neckline, upload to avpainter to make sure the seams match, back to PSP etc. over and over Once I have the outline drawn, I save it as a template. Later I will use it again in another outfit, and that saves a lot of time with matching all my edges Once the outline is done then I actually create the bodice. I make most of my own textures (again save them!) or sometimes I find a fabric I love and can't recreate and use that (brocades and jaquards are an example).

I think the important thing is to save every outline and every texture, because if I can save a day's work on a bodice later, that is a good thing If you make a great collar, save it! etc.

One thing I have noticed is that once in a while, the ideas just flow and something will come together so easily it's like magic, other times I will labor and labor and it still looks not salable So I have a few nice things that are pretty popular that fell together in a few hours and others that I work on for days and then shelve to try again later.

Once I have the item done, wrinkles and folds in, etc., it goes back to AvPainter for a final touch up (trying to match wrinkles, folds, and blend seams etc.) before upload. Make sure you are doing your wrinkles and folds all on an overlay, many is the time that I have uploaded to AvPainter for a final tweak, not been happy, and gone back and deleted that layer to do over.

(This really belongs in texture tips forum)

Use your pen tool!

Blimey! Found it! Thanks.

hehe

and rest assured with practice, you will get really good at using it

Hehe I don't know, if I never spotted a tool that was right there on the screen the whole time.. lol Oh well, time will tell.

I shoot my own textures and sample them into the templates, then tweak them with the tools, shading, burning, etc. Then another layer will be accents like laces, another layer gets the highlights or accents to that - over and over - and always on layers so I can take stuff out. Recently I have drawing some fabrics also- velvet seems hellish so i may stick to photos of that awhile longer - my mom is seamstress so she has tons of fabrics I can shoot and I am seldom with out my camera when I am out and about. Some creations take only a day others take days- then once the basic system parts are done there is the prim work. Once I learned to manipulate the prims on my own I found the automatic skirt makers a great time saver- but you really do need to know how to do it with out that because other wise your creations come out very uninspired. You can use things like Vint's to make your basic skirt then make adjustments, additions or deletions -then there is the added consideration of what accessories your outfit will include in prim work. And can take days. You want to see mind blowing- look at this blog about the third post maybe- has awesome fantasy clothes - Must have taken forever! http://npirl.blogspot.com/

(Don't underestimate the power of a "brush" - these are premade bush templates that can help u in ur work tremendously) http://www.deviantart.com/#order=9&q=photoshop+brushes

Yes I made a lace brush and wow, it makes things so much easier

my velvet for your lace? :XD

It takes between 30 minutes and several hours to make an item or outfit. I usually mousedraw or scan my own fabrics. If I scan them they start out as colored pencil drawings, and I use them mainly for very basic prim clothes. I make a lot of "tube dresses," some stiff and some with flexible skirts.

For texture based clothes (as opposed to tube dresses) I usually start with two to three mouse drawn textures (or textures made from a highly modified photograph and maybe a piece of clip art). I make a lot of batik and kente, since these are in short supply and I like the way batik looks.

One texture is usually either the pattern (an animal or plant motif), decoration, or a vivid nonseamless version of the background pattern. Sometimes this second pattern is a brush. Sometimes it's a background. Sometimes it's a small image in its own right.

The second texture is the background which is either a seamless pattern or a batik (occaisionally a solid).

The third layer is the mesh netting taken from a template that acts as a guide for making the clothes.

I set up a three layer file for the outfit. The bottom layer is the basic garment/background. The second layer is the collar, more vivid pattern, decorations, or possible pattern or painted on design. The third layer which is semi-transparent is the mesh guide.

Several tricks make for passable texture clothes.

1) SL is mathematical at its heart. A texture TGA is 512*512. That means a repeating pattern (including batiks) needs to be between 120*120 and 175*175. I learned this quite by accident when making a polka dot shirt, my first uploaded texture. I got the size right and thought: "wow this is so easy!" I got lucky.

2) Put a solid or seamless pattern as the first layer. Paint around the edges of the netting to prevent holes. I then fill the resulting shapes with solid color and then paint these shapes with the seamless pattern.

3) If you want a more vivid pattern you can either use a brush or use a nonseamless version of your background pattern. This can go on either the first or second layer. The more vivid pattern often pastes well on the second layer. The eraser tool helps it blend in. The more vivid pattern or the image goes toward the center of the garment away from
those pesky seams. Decorations can go anywhere on a garment.

4) Collars (belts) and straps are fun. Use the path tool in GIMP (vector tool in PSP) to make them. Straps need to thicken at the top or they don't meet. I'm not sure why but that's again, just a quirk of the software.

5) Multiply and screen brushes and pencils can add texture that looks fairly realistic. Sccreening seems to give good pleats. Multiply makes good elastic for gathered waistbands.

6) A separate layer (layer two) with an embossed transparent (sausage) also adds texture but getting that embossed "sausage" smooth enough is hard. The "sausage effect" is good for piping.

7) Remember that a lot of detail doesn't render so straps in the back need to be fairly thick 12-20px is a good width.

Most texture clothes in SL are solids so patterns are in short supply.

I make clothing because my avie is an odd size 7 on height and 50 on thickness (4'8" - 4'10" (144cm) and about 120lb) and also because much of what I see for sale I don't like. There are not enough pretty patterns and not enough clothes that look like something I might actually want to wear in real life.

This is particularly true of formal/semi-formal dresses. This is the 21st Century and sorry, I don't do crinolines. Also most formal dresses are solids in dark colors. Try finding celadon green or a nice orange or a patterned long dress. You can tell I just made two semi-formal long dresses this week. One is orange batik with a bobwhite pattern and a contrasting collar and belt (and interesting collar work in the back) and the other is red and white milleflore pattern (Yes very busy and loud but pretty!) with criss-cross straps in the back. The dress was supposed to have a belt, but when it rendered, the belt got tucked in the skirt. It is still wearable. Next time I'll remember to put the belt on the skirt part of the dress. I am still learning, but getting a useable and fun product is not that hard.

Ralektra- the hand drawn lace I have you can see on my Scheherezade (I think) dress- you can see it in world or in the SxStreets or on my blog- it is one of the older ones, so you wd have to page back thru the blog a bit. I have another lace dress, Arachne, that is a photographed piece of lace that i cut and tweaked and blended. I have not made any lace brushes myself but did find some in Deviant- I haven't tried them yet though.

Sounds like me To graduate from the Gimp course I am taking (again) I have to make a business shirt complete with a pocket, buttons, collar ... a few things I know I'm leaving out. I pray I can make that and not have to fool with clothes again.

I've said it before - hats off to all the clothes designers!!

It generally takes me between one to two days to complete an outfit. Just depends on the complexity and how things are flowing. I don't know how long you're considering a long time, but you will get faster as you gain more experience. Sometimes I sketch a design out first, but usually not. I really don't know why I don't when I work in SL because I always sketch out designs first for things I make in real life. If you don't have a graphics tablet, for me at least, it's much easier than drawing with a mouse.

And yes...Vector/Pen Tool is your friend... as are layers...lots and lots and lots of layers!

depends on what I am making, if I have made something similar before, and how detailed it is to be
can take a few hours to a few weeks to complete an outfit

Im glad to know Im not the only one who takes awhile to complete stuff. I always think that everyone else whips this stuff out in minutes while I plod along. It takes me sometimes even a couple evenings to finish the top, depending on if I make the texture file myself or if I even have what I want. I have so many ideas sometimes its even overwhelming to decide what I want to do. lol Its nice to read others ideas of how they create things. Thanks guys!

heh nope, you are not alone
I have some stuff I have been working on for months.. many months... stuff I go back to, work on some more, put aside etc

I am a bit of a perfectionist, and sometimes I just won't put stuff out because it is not to my standards... those things I spend a lot of time on (over a long span of time)

then again, sometimes some things just seem to snap into place

take today for example, I decided I wanted a new updo hairdo, so I decided to make ti myself.... and within a few hours I had the hair done.. (which is unusual for me, as hair is usually a long process for me)

and it ended up pretty darn good too LOL

weird how that works... sometimes stuff just falls into place, other times it takes forever...

IM me sometime, I'll take you shopping!

I'd love to learn about clothing-making, if anyone would like to help me, IM me in-world anytime!

What I find hard to er, find are clothes that cover the belly...I don't always want to go around in clubgear.

It's out there I don't do clubgear...I haven't eaten breakfast yet so names of places are escaping me, but I don't wear low-riser jeans and all my shirts cover my belly.

Looking through the names of the designers on this and the Advice on Sales thread would get you started though.

yep they are out there
seems more and more designers are starting to put out sweaters and shirts that use the panty layer to make them tucked in even with low riders (and jacket layer to have the untucked look over lowriders and any other jeans)

I know I have made a couple myself... and have seen them out there in other places too

Wow. anywhere from 30 minutes to ... IDK, 80 hours and still not done so it gets tossed.

Some of both. I have come across textures in world or on the web that strike an idea. When I was trying to do production work to fill a store, I did a lot with AVPainter and drawing on with solid blocks of colors. The move to PhotoShop and replace the color blocks with fabric textures and clean up the lines and add shading. Sometimes I have to go back and forth between AVP and PS several times. Sometimes it goes quickly. It all depends on how happy I am with the edges, seams and shading.

Both.

Ive made quite a few brushes out of fonts (dingbats) that I have. They turned out pretty good and I can use them for cut outs or with color. Sometimes I make the brush pattern really large then I can use it as fabric.

Ive noticed with the avpainter that it distorts the color of the texture file. So you create like a pattern with the cut you want in it then take it to AvPainter and do your corrections then go back to photoshop and add the texture you want to see?