Every now and then we get asked about the process of how we make our patterns. Recently we were asked about the Lyric Portrait style. In typing it all out I decided to share it with y'all as well, as it is one of the styles we get asked about most.
For Lyric portraits I grab as many reference photos as I can get. I tend to start out by just googling the show and seeing what is out there. If needed I go to recordings and screen capture the images I need. Through this process I am looking at different poses and trying to decide what will look best when put in pixel form. The best images are ones that have a sense of movment to them. I like to get a few for different lighting options and in case I need to change out any body parts such as arm placement or anything. If needed I use Inkscape to put the images together how I want them or get them rotated the right way and make any shading marks I need. This isn't hugely a necessary step for most, but sometimes is needed.
I used the first image here for the final pattern, but used the second photo for clothing refences. Of course this one didn't require any editing to put together. Unforctunately those images, when I do need to create them, tend to get put straight in the program, so I don't have them to upload here.
Then I take the main image I want to work with and load it as a layer in the background of WinStitch. Then I go in with a palette that I have pre-selected that shows the shading lines better than the real colors will (I typically use some purples for the skin and red for small details and random colors for the rest.) I do this both because the shading might be more subtle with some colors like brown and because it allows me to get the form down without worrying about the colors. This results in a very "trust the process" kind of deal.
Then I use Lord Libidan's skin and sometimes hair charts to pick out coloring for those (as long as it can be used, for ones like the Cats one or Elphaba I just move on to the next step.) Then I take my DMC color chart and use it to select the rest of the colors and change them out.
For smalls I have a two boxes templates that I pre-did and saved so that they are all roughly the same size. For ones that are an independent size I then size them. I place the background font in a box before I move the image in, arranging it like you would newspaper font (which Cyn also does, because I have no spatial awareness for that sort of thing). If I need to do any shading on that I might do it at this point or might do it after the image is placed depending what effect I'm going for. Most of the time I place the image first, then remove the back stitch from over it line by line. Then I place temp backstitch lines to mark off where I want the gradient lines. Then I change the color. This is sometimes done manually or sometimes I take it to another window and just change color. It depends on the effect and what it needs.
Then I take the poster and compare the fonts to fonts I have already. If it matches close to one of the base alphabets I have I lay out my words and edit the base so that it fits better. If it is more a unique font I take the letters I can from the poster and create a full font based off of it (or have Cyn do it :) ). Then I place those lines and use the same temp backstitch trick to mark off how I want my gradient to go on those letters and apply it.
The last thing I do is draw out my mini image for on top, if it's getting one, and place it. this might be something from the poster, the show itself, or something particular to the character. What I choose often depends on if I need to make a set or not. If I need to make a set I want to make sure it will fit for all the charicters.
Then I put it into stitch view to check that all of that came out the way I wanted it and make changes if I need.
If anyone would like to know how we do other patterns let us know! It's always interesting to share something like this as I often don't think about the steps involved myself.
- - Tina
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