Simple Wrinkle Creation for Photoshop & GIMP Users

In keeping with last week's bikini and t-shirt contest, I thought I'd take it one step further before continuing on my regular photo touchup and photoshop/GIMP tutorials! Today we are going to learn one of the things I just KNOW clothing creators get asked most often: wrinkle creation.

Now, this is just one method of wrinkle creation, the one that works best for me. There are a million ways to create wrinkles in fabric, but I am going to show you the one I have found simplest.

To do this tutorial, you will need:

1. Photoshop or GIMP

2. A Photoshop/GIMP clothing file to work on (I have provided the one I will be using for this tutorial - download here). NOTE: This tutorial assumes you have some basic knowledge of Photoshop and GIMP, such as what a layer is, how to create a new one, and how to apply filters.

3. The willingness to learn! Remember, no one starts out at the top.

Please select the tutorial you would like to read: Photoshop | GIMP

Simple Wrinkles in Photoshop; Step-by-Step:

1. Open your clothing file and create a new layer directly beneath the UV layer.

2. With a soft brush tool (for a 1024x1024 file, I typically use a soft brush of about 15px - keep in mind, the bigger the brush, the bigger the wrinkle will be), draw some horizontal black lines where you'd like your wrinkles to appear. You can draw them in a straight line or contoured to the UV's curves; it is up to you. (*TIP: You might want to keep the UV Layer displaying for now so that you can keep track of where your seams and edges are, to ensure that your wrinkles do not overlap the seams of the shirt; to hide the UV layer, click the eye icon to its left.)

3. Once you have done this, duplicate the layer you just drew on (do this by dragging the layer from your layers list to the Create New Layer icon - it looks like a post-it note - on the lower right corner of your layers list). You should now have 2 sets of black lines.

4. Select the layer below the layer  you just duplicated (the original layer you drew the wrinkles onto) and go to Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation. Turn the Lightness all the way to +100. This will turn the black lines to white. This layer will now act as your wrinkle highlight. (*TIP: You may also press Ctrl+I to invert the layer's color, which will also turn the layer white)

5. Nudge the wrinkle highlight layer so that it appears just above the wrinkle shadow layer. We've got the basis of some awesome wrinkles going now, eh?! For now, you may hide your UV Layer if you have it showing. You can bring it back again later if you need it.

6. Select your wrinkle shadow layer (the black lines) and go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Choose an angle of 0 and a distance of about 50px. Repeat this step with the wrinkle highlight (white lines) layer.

7. Now we have the basic wrinkles created! Let's make them actually blend with the fabric. Select the wrinkle highlight layer and change it's blending mode to "Overlay". The blending mode can be changed in the upper left drop down menu of your Layers tab.

8. Select your wrinkle shadow layer and change its blending mode to "Multiply". Feel free to adjust its opacity (transparency) to your liking. I find that an opacity of between 40 and 60 work great.

Simple Wrinkles in GIMP; Step-by-Step:

1. Open your clothing file and create a new layer directly beneath the UV layer.

2. With a soft brush tool (for a 1024x1024 file, I typically use a soft brush of about 15px - keep in mind, the bigger the brush, the bigger the wrinkle will be), draw some horizontal black lines where you'd like your wrinkles to appear. You can draw them in a straight line or contoured to the UV's curves; it is up to you. (*TIP: You might want to keep the UV Layer displaying for now so that you can keep track of where your seams and edges are, to ensure that your wrinkles do not overlap the seams of the shirt; to hide the UV layer, click the eye icon to its left.)

3. Once you have done this, duplicate the layer you just drew on (do this by right clicking on the layer and selecting Duplicate Layer). You should now have 2 sets of black lines.

4. Select the layer below the layer  you just duplicated (the original layer you drew the wrinkles onto) and go to Colors > Invert. This will turn the black lines to white. This layer will now act as your wrinkle highlight.

5. Move the wrinkle highlight layer so that it appears just above the wrinkle shadow layer (you may need to turn off the UV layer to do this). We've got the basis of some awesome wrinkles going now, eh?! For now, you may hide your UV Layer if you have it showing. You can bring it back again later if you need it.

6. Select your wrinkle shadow layer (the black lines) and go to Filters > Blur > Motion Blur. Choose a Linear blur type, an angle of 0 and a length of about 50px. Repeat this step with the wrinkle highlight (white lines) layer. You may need to reposition your layers a bit (GIMP does not blur from the middle the way Photoshop does apparently, rather it blurs from right to left, which will shift the layers slightly to the left).

7. Now we have the basic wrinkles created! Let's make them actually blend with the fabric. Select the wrinkle highlight layer and change it's blending mode to "Overlay". The blending mode can be changed in the upper "Mode" drop down menu of your Layers tab.

8. Select your wrinkle shadow layer and change its blending mode to "Multiply". Feel free to adjust its opacity (transparency) to your liking. I find that an opacity of between 40 and 60 work great.

Congratulations! You have finished your wrinkles!

A few tips for your wrinkle progression:

1. Using the WARP transformation tool (Edit > Transform > Warp for Photoshop users, warp is unfortunately not available in GIMP that I can find) is a great way to adjust the contour, or curve, of your wrinkles once you have drawn them.

2. Don't be afraid to play with Opacity or blending modes with your wrinkles to help make them look more natural.

3. The bigger the brush you use, the bigger the wrinkle will be! For smaller wrinkles, use smaller brushes.

4. Watch out for those UV edges!