 MALE
FORMAL |
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| PATTERN MAKING | |||
1. Get your base. For this tutorial, I will be using Joyful Girl's (site closed) Talio base. I usually work from top to bottom, so I start with the hair (which I won't cover in this tutorial).
2. Make a new layer and call it "jacket". Select the darkest colour in your pallette and draw the outline. Let the jacket rest on the shoulders, but when it comes to the sleeves, make them hang as straight as possible. You can button up the jacket with a gentle arc on the left followed by a vertical line to the bottom of the jacket, but you may find it easier just to leave the jacket open. Draw a line from the edge of each side of the neck down to the bottom of the jacket.
Click
here for a close-up view
3. The lapel is a little tricky, but just think of it in terms of triangles. Draw a trangle with one corner starting at the base of the neck and the other meeting the jacket somewhere just below the armpit. At that point, start your next triangle. Draw a line straight out halfway to the arm, then diagonally down until it meets the jacket again. Fill the jacket with your primary colour.
4. Make a new layer below the jacket layer and call it "shirt". Select your darkest shirt colour and draw two crossing, intersecting lines near the base of the neck, or if it's easier, think of it as drawing two mirroring triangles. Draw a line from the point of intersection down to waist level, then across for the bottom of the shirt. Fill the shirt with your primary colour. (Note: if it's a white shirt, don't use pure white, but rather a light grey. This will make life easier when shading later on.)
5. Make a new layer above the shirt layer and call it "tie". Select your darkest tie colour and draw the bottom half of a square (with rounded edges) under the collar. This is the knot. Under the knot, draw two straight lines down to the stomach area. Connect the lines with a V. Fill with your primary colour.
Note: For a more acurate tie, you'll want the vertical lines diverging ever so slightly before coming together at the bottom of the tie. Sometimes with small or medium bases, a more realistically shaped tie looks like a full on 18th century cravat, so you just have to go with what looks good.
6. Make a new layer under the jacket layer for your pants. Try to make them hang straight. The base will determine just how straight you can get - just try to make the lines clean, but not steel-like in their rigidness.
For the pressed pant look, fill your outline, then using the rectangular select tool, select the outermost half of one pant leg. Fill with a colour slightly darker than your primary colour. Do the same for the inner half of the other pantleg. Close up view of pressed pant look.
7. Make a new layer under the pants layer and call it "shoes". Like the pants, the look of the shoe will vary with the base and whether you're getting a front or side view of the foot. For the front view, outline the foot in your darkest shoe colour. Leave a one pixel space underneath the toes and draw a second line, connecting it with the outline at either side of the foot - this is the sole. Draw an arch over the toes - this is the toe.
8. Now you're ready to shade. I am by no means an expert shader and not really confident to give lessons in it, so this is a rough sketch of what I do. First and foremost, I always make copies of every layer so I can always go back to a clean, unshaded layer if I'm not happy with the results. I shade using a burn tool set at 12% opacity on "midtones". I start with a wide brush, then move down to more narrow brushes for details. To shade whites, I use the same settings and choose "highlights". I highlight with a dodge tool set between 12% and 24% opacity on "highlights". For whites, the opacity should be dialed down to about 8%.
The red areas indicate shading/shadows and the yellow indicate highlights.
When you're done, you can add a few extras: cufflinks, buttons, pocketwatches or tieclips. If you want a three piece suit, you can add a layer between the jacket and the shirt, and draw a vest in - it's really easy! Just remember: V at the top, inverted V at the bottom.
For a tuxedo, draw a black suit and add a bowtie instead of a tie. (Bowtie = two rectangle/ovals with a square in the middle). Raise the collar of the shirt a bit and instead of a vest, draw a cumberbund (rectangle) across the waist. A nice corsage can really complete the look.
And there you go: a well-dressed dude!
