Hello my friends! In my first tutorial I taught you how to colour your fashion croquis in Adobe Photoshop. Now I will only cover the make up aspect, and will move through this fairly quickly. If you do not recognize the tools I am using or missed the first tutorial click here.

As you can see in the first picture I started on a blank slate. This sketch is also another part of my Spring 2010 collection.

Step 1: After coloring the croquis and applying highlights and shadows utilizing the dodge and burn tool, you should flatten the original picture. After you flatten, click and drag down to the 'new layer' tab to create a duplicate layer. Then click new layer a couple of times, and name each section eye shadow, blush, etc.

Originally written for my personal blog, www.AnnieJackson.me

I have this absolutely amazing book. It is called The Science of Sexy and I feel like every dressmaker, Etsy seller, and designer who plans to design for niche groups should have it. It's only $12.50 on Amazon so you really have no excuse, btw. The author of this book is a special occasion wear designer for a whole host of A-list names and has developed a scientific way of breaking down people's body types into categories based on their measurements (so you do not have to visually look at them to decide). Using measurements there are 12 groups you could belong to, and then within each group your body could be of 4 shapes. This gives a total of 48 categories which are discussed and illustrated! Amazon has a look inside, but as usual it sucks so I've included a couple of (really bad quality) photos below so that you can see what you get.

Here is the index page for all the body categories. The previous pages explained how to determine your group (colour) and your body shape:

Within the body types the author then breaks each body type down into what cut lines and colours look good on it and demonstrates by using the same body to illustrate two looks. One look makes the body look bad, the other look is very flattering! Since posting my plus-sized survey the other day there have been a number of comments from plus sized ladies that they wish clothing companies would just make clothes in their size. These ladies are frustrated and I don't think anyone has every really demonstrated why clothing companies just can't do this -- why a lot of the clothing would not sell and thus the company would need to produce new styles and patterns. A company can not simply produce 3 or 4 of it's 12 item line in a larger size, it doesn't work that way because if they don't offer everything in all sizes they will loose clients and the styles that are offered in bigger sizes will not be sold (because those customers won't be in the store). So, for a company to offer plus sizes they need new designs that are flattering to all body shapes, new patterns, and also new fit models and therefore new samples. It's really expensive not to mention difficult to design a line that will flatter both smaller and larger sizes. This is the main reason companies do not simply grade up their sizes. I'm going to use my really bad quality photos from The Science of Sexy to demonstrate this.

This tutorial will focus primarily on coloring your fashion Croquis in Adobe Photoshop. I will be using a previous Sketch of the Day post from my blog I will call Sweet Pea. I currently set up the file in a basic RGB for now, but if I were to print this I would set up my document in CMYK mode with the resolution set to 300 pixels.

After you scan in or open your fashion sketch in Photoshop, you need to create two duplicate copies. These additional copies will be named Drawing and Color. These additional copies come in handy when you have made too many errors, and can't go back within your history. The additional layers prevent you from compromising the original pictures.

Next, select the brush tool and click 'airbrush' in the brushes option tab in the upper right part of the screen. Then set the brush set control to fade shown in the picture below. Fade simulates natural paint brush strokes.

Kathleen Fasanella posted an extremely helpful entry a couple days ago on Fashion-Incubator. An excerpt:

As I did last year, I’ve created a spreadsheet listing dates, locations and websites (xls) of each show. It would seem we’ve lost and gained a few shows from last February. Gone: ASAP, Eco Show, Magia at Magic. New shows: FN Platform (shoes) and Workroom (?). As ever, the WWIN show is a must stop for DE women’s apparel lines. They also have a kidswear show, the competing Magic kids show is nothing to write home about. It’s harder to get to these last two shows (long story) but it’s worth the effort. All of the show links are in the spreadsheet.

Included in the post are links to a spreadsheet she's made with a calendar of events as well as links to FORTY-FOUR (44!) posts on her website about trade shows.

Visit the Fashion-Incubator blog to read the entry in full, get the spreadsheet, and find all those awesome other posts!

By popular demand (the demand coming after I repeated what Stefanie said about me needing to teach this class to a few people, and them all saying YES YES YES PLEASE): I’m teaching another online class starting after the 15th of this month on marketing, branding and communicating your message effectively.

We’re going to do this a little differently than the current set of classes, though. I want to be sure that the class members have something to teach each other, too, whether it’s because they are from a different discipline, or because they sell their products in venues the majority of students don’t, or… (etc).

Get more information on the Knitgrrl blog.

Cool new contest offered by Simplicity::

Think you have what it takes to be a designer? Put your creativity and talent to the test in Simplicity’s Inspired by Project Runway® Pattern Design Contest. You may find your original design added to the Simplicity Pattern Collection and marketed worldwide!

GRAND PRIZE: Winner will win a trip to NYC, meet with the Design and Production staff. The winning original design will be produced and distributed worldwide as an Inspired by Project Runway® pattern in the Simplicity Pattern Collection and featured on www.simplicity.com.

+First Prize: Brother Project Runway® Sewing Machine,a $300 Simplicity.com shopping spree and your design featured on Simplicity.com.

+Second Prize: Simplicity Bias Tape Maker and a Simplicity Rotary Cutter Machine.

+Third Prize: A $50 Simplicity.com shopping spree and Simplicity 8” Shears.

For more info go to the Simplicity website.

 

p.s. forgot to mention, US only.

I came across a really interesting article today via the TFIA twitter account. The article is a very intellectual discussion on books available on this topic. Books that speak about design regarding how it is, or is not, taken seriously. Books which ask the question: Is it time we take design seriously?

An excerpt:

Design is a word that is increasingly diffuse in its application, used in myriad contexts, occasionally spurious, occasionally absurd. From the “designer” jeans and must-have lemon-squeezers of the 1980s, to “designer” drugs and “process design”, the word has been applied liberally to branded consumables and management-speak. Its most recent high-profile use has been in the notion of intelligent design, which transforms God into a creative. En route, we have become familiar with fonts, web layouts and graphic techniques that were formerly the preserve of trained graphic designers. In the astonishing array of “design” objects we now own, from iPhones, shoes and handbags to coffee-makers and cars, we consume design at an unprecedented rate, and are intimately familiar with its vocabulary and its tropes. You can now even buy “design art”, a weird hybrid of the useful, the useless and the very, very expensive.

To read the entire article visit the Financial Times.

A fun contest being offered by the makers of Hokey Croquis:

The Croquis is a boutique fashion illustration company providing made-to-order sketches. You can commission a piece for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or even as a gift for yourself. Explore their products, learn about their process, and view examples at www.thecroquis.com.

The Prize!

The Croquis will be doing a custom fashion illustration portrait of one lucky prizewinner, The winner will upload their photo to be illustrated, and one of The Croquis’ New York City based, traditionally trained fabulous fashion illustrators, will render the custom croquis illustration of you! (or whomever you choose)

The final piece will be in your choice of black or white studio frame, 16"x20”

For a chance to win…

A lot of people struggle with developing patterns for pants. There always seems to be problems: The crotch sags, the butt sags, the waist rides up, the crotch rides up; no matter what they do they just can not get that pattern to fit properly. What is the cause and how can we fix it? This article aims to answer just that by taking a logical and theoretical approach and examining just what those curves do and where to put them.

The Crotch Seam

First of all, I think it is important to establish that the negative space theory concerning the shape of the crotch seam is more myth than truth (for those of you not familiar with the theory, the idea is that a perfectly fitting crotch seam will follow the curves of the body-i.e. negative space of the body). Consider if this idea were applied to a straight princess seam- the two are similar: the crotch seam curves out from under the derriere and curves back over, and a princess seam curves out over the breast and over.

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday March 26, 2010. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday August 13, 2010.

CALL FOR PAPERS
2nd Global Conference:
FASHION EXPLORING CRITICAL ISSUES
Thursday 23rd September – Sunday 26th September 2010
Oriel College, Oxford

Fashion is a statement, a stylised form of expression which displays and begins to define a person, a place, a class, a time, a religion, a culture, and even a nation. This interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary conference seeks to explore the historical, social, cultural, psychological and artistic phenomenon of fashion. Fashion lies at the very heart of persons, their sense of identity and the communities in which they live. Individuals emerge as icons of beauty and style; cities are identified as centres of fashion. The project will assess the history and meanings of fashion; evaluate its expressions in politics, music, film, media and consumer culture; determine its effect on gender, sexuality, class, race, age and identity; examine the practice, tools, and business of fashion; consider the methodologies of studying fashion; and explore future directions and trends.

Papers, presentations, workshops and pre-formed are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:

1. Understanding Fashion
~ Fashion, Style, Taste-Making, and Chic
~ Fashion and Fashionability
~ Fashion and Zeitgeist
~ History of Fashion
~ Fashion Theory
~ Fashion, Politics, and Ideology: e.g., ‘message’ fashion; fashion as a political platform, fashion as defiance; graffiti as a fashion statement

2. Studying Fashion
~ Tools and Methodology; disciplines and perspectives; professions and trades
~ Documentation
~ Identifying, defining and refining concepts: e.g., ‘style,’ ‘fashion,’ ‘look,’ ‘fad,’ ‘trend,’ ‘in & out’
~ ‘Chasing’ Fashion: Studying fashion collections, archives, and museums
~ Fashion collections; fashion archives
~ Designers and Muses

(Please click readmore for all the information)