Painting clothes in Photoshop - step seven

 I fixed 'em. Ahhh...sleeves I can live with now. A bit more medieval looking, and more in tune with the look I seem to be working toward. Yes, you are right; sometimes not much in my pictures is planned... I just get there by somehow finding and inventing things along the way. Hey- watch out... this blouse might end up with green polka dots before I'm done.

But seriously, what you see above is the finished blouse. It's become even more golden in color, the folds more defined, and shadows and hilights well in tune with where the light is coming from.

Having the "laying over" or windblown parts of the blouse on a separate layer allows me to do a couple things. First, I can adjust their color, making sure they are consistent, without messing with the main blouse. I also makes it easier to airbrush their shadows underneath, on the blouse (or an inbetween layer), and skin where necessary.

Remember I mentioned another change coming on those lace shadows? Right. I clicked a button on the layer palette that created a mask for that layer. Using a large airbrush, I painted in the mask, making the lace shadows in the center of her chest fainter than those where the blouse is very close to her skin, just like real shadows behave in the real world. Even though this is fantasy, there are certain real-world constructs that people expect to see. The way light works in our world is something that people depend on in order believe a scene. And that is why it is so crucial to remember not only how it works, but where it is coming from.

Just like one more thing on her blouse... the hilight along her left side (right as we look at it). Notice the darker shadow (called the terminator) that runs down her side? Also notice that it does not run down the outer edge of her blouse. Along edges, pay careful attention. Look at reference pictures. Different cloth acts in many different ways. But in this picture, the cloth has a sheen, and near the edge reflects a brighter color brought on by the skylight.

This blouse may seem like a ton of work, but we must remember that good work is better created by 2000 small brushstrokes than one large one. Small enhancements, done gently, one after another, and pretty soon you are onto something.