Steph Fung Lecture was one of a kind I must say that I really was captivated with all of her works, and the things she has created, I would be doing a lot of summative introducing of herself and works today.
Steph Fung shared her journey from being a graphics designer to a Digital fashion Artist. 3D animation and motion design primarily caught her interest during her sandwich year, leading to investing her time in self-learning 3D applications from diverse tutorials available on YouTube. Though, University surrounded her with creative, and building networks, but the bulk of her creative skills were built from online learning, giving her the ability to learn at her pace. As she advances in her career, she keeps adding to her 3D software capability and continues evolving as a Digital Artist.
What is 3D digital fashion? It is the use of 3D software to create and stitch 2D digital patterns together and provide a production-ready 3D version of a design. This gives an ultrarealistic visual of a garment; it’s drape on a digital avatar and its appearance in motion. This means designers can design and sample cloths much faster with less waste.
Watching Stephy’s digital fashion display and knowing she’s largely self-trained is quite inspirational. I’ve always used pencils and pens to visualize my ideas, and recently learning to use Photoshop. The availability of unlimited online resources can greatly accelerate learning and skills acquisition without worrying about the financial demands. Stephy has shown clearly that having an idea and harnessing technology to express it, not only amplifies the quality of a person’s creativity, but broadens exposure to a global audience.
Stephy’s Digital Fashion merges her Chinese heritage with modern street wear, all presented as 3D animated models. Her unique fashion styles are creatively displayed with moving fabrics, set in beautiful landscapes and scenarios that amplify the uniqueness of her collections. I can resonate with the combination of different cultural styles, as I’m actively exploring merging Nigerian Uli traditional art with Nottingham styles to create my unique design.
Seeing Stephy’s 3D Fashion, animated avatars, I recalled I had seen similar works in Nigeria, where there a lot of talented 3D artist, creating animated videos for advertisements, entertainment and even training. Considering I’ve only used pencils and pens on paper to express my ideas, and learning to use Photoshop 3D in fashion design is the process of developing a 3D prototype out of a 2D digital pattern. With the help of 3D technology, designers can now build a 3D garment directly on a digital avatar (model) of their size.
Stephy’s bold move from a full time to a freelancer during the Covid-19 lockdown as a result of the extra time to learn Digital fashion was a real springboard in her career. During my lockdown in Nigeria, I can say, there was a surge in online activities, a mix on learning and entertainment. Online learning platforms like Udemy, Coursera, ULearn and other expanded their customer base. YouTube definitely is a favorite consumed my data; there were always new information to explore. Perhaps, if I had a personal objective during the lockdown, I would have acquired some additional skills; it’s never too late to start.
NFTs (Non-fungible Tokens) provided Stephy with an alternative source of income, giving control of her works and earnings. NFTs removes the restrictions creative encounter in showcasing their works and generating revenue. The global reach of NFTs combined with social media are powerful technological tools for creative in the fashion industry to reach a wider audience. I admire how Stephy refuses to cage here creativity and also earns revenue from passion by exploring available technological avenues.
Two key things I can draw from Stephy’s experience: first, to build a social media presence (starting with my blog) and secondly, actively research technology tools that can amplify my creativity from ideations to production. In my country, Nigeria, there is a large creative community, with top-notch skillsets, some employed, but majority self-employed. There is a lack of support for these creative, so most of them are faced with paucity of funds to purchase PCs capable of handling 3D designs, animations, motion graphics, gaming development etc. Meta, Microsoft and other local technology hubs like Co-creation Hub (CCHub), organize Hackathon events and training sessions with rewards such as high-end PCs and training support.
Digital Fashion is an exciting area to explore, but requires time, commitment and some assistance for those who are not easily inclined to self-learning. The future of fashion is Digital, and the time to join the trend is now.
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