Here's another one of those design questions that's rather on point right now ... especially if you're a fashion student ...
@thefashionindie: https://www.instagram.com/p/C02fEicv1Ib
I wonder what will be acceptable for fashion portfolios in 5 years. If concept is king will designers be required to understand all the different art mediums? I still have markers and microns but with AI what will be the new media. Educators have to transform the way they teach
What is going to become of fashion illustrations now that AI is here? Would you allow me to put this one to rest simply and bluntly? Besides what we see in magazines or TV sewing shows, I haven't seen a single fashion illustration come across my desk in over 35 years. That's right, I've never been given one to follow to make a pattern. Typically a big brand fashion designer does these pretty drawings in pencil or watercolour to show how divinely inspired and clever they are and then hands them off to production who very quickly turn the impossible drawing into a somewhat more practical trade sketch that regular working people like me can use to actually make patterns. Honestly, most people in the fashion game make very simple messy sketches on things as simple as a serviette!, or use an iPad and croquis outline to record what's in their head. Most of the bigger companies I work for do nothing more than take old photos from their previous work and simply draw things like new leglines or whatever straight over the top ... heck I've only just a few days ago been given three different photos and told to create a pattern based on the parts from each that the client liked ... and this is very normal. Fashion illustrations are not!
But if you go to fashion school they'll tell you that fashion illustration is the ultimate and most important skill you need as a designer ... you have to be able to communicate your design ideas clearly and effectively. Well that's absolute rubbish to be honest ... there is nothing clear nor effective about a fashion illustration ... they're a contrived and distorted fantasy that rarely reflects any kind of natural proportion ... they're a terrible way to communicate anything more than concept. And here's where AI comes in .... what you get is something photorealistic so ultimately the most proportional means of communication possible. And what are the biggest complaints? Oh that many of these garments could never be made! I could most certainly claim the same about fashion illustrations ... by designers that should apparently know better. I'm hearing through my various groups that AI is certainly better for communication, but get this ... apps like Resleeve can take your fashion illustration and turn it into a photorealistic image ... and, wait for it, put in the missing seams that would make it possible to construct the garment that were missed by the "designer". Ouchy, burn, burn.\
In another recent thread, I watched as several people commenting on an AI thread in one of my industry mailing groups, took apart a young designer for creating designs in another AI app I haven't yet seen. The most common criticism was that the model looked so unrealistic (body shape) as to make the attempt at design comical ... personally I thought the model was very normal but I try not to comment on the model. Two things did come out of that conversation ... firstly, that fashion illustrations have never been proportional or realistic so how is AI comical and fashion illustration not?? ... and secondly, this app (much like Resleeve) can take your seed image and create the garment on top ... ie; the model everyone said was unrealistic (which it wasn't at all) was actually a real person with the garment placed over her!! Oh dear that's embarrassing right?
Then we have the comment on the IG post above that AI is facing lots of legal problems. Don't let that fool you either. The issue is mostly about IP/copyright. Firstly try to remember that there's almost no IP/copyright in fashion to begin with. Secondly there are concerns about AI stealing images ... AI analyses an image for details, styles and lines according to algorithms in much the same way as you or I might study an image and draw inspiration from it ... that is not illegal ... it's also the basis of teaching! AI does not make a collage from stored images ... that just doesn't work. Thirdly, most of the images put into an AI are those you put in yourself! AI can create just from a prompt, but it's way more effective to use a prompt to edit your own seeded image/photo ... otherwise you're just taking pot luck.
Can you insert code into an image that'll mess with AI and stop it being read? Well yes you can .. it's called a watermark or robot exclusion. Can AI remove watermarks/exclusions? Well not only can it remove them, but it can enhance a low resolution image now and re-analyse. But there's this issue of closing the gate after the horse has bolted ... the analyses have alread been done ... not allowing new images to be analysed really isn't an issue for AI because people are voluntarily feeding them their own images by the millions daily. By sticking in normal photos instead of those online already enhanced by photoshop what we're actually getting are more realistic and refined results out of AI.
Anyway, I digress. What is the point of a fashion illustration? To effectively communicate a design concept to the client or production team. Which communicates more effectively? A watercolour/ink illustration or a photorealistic and proportional AI image?
