How do I paint realistic fabric folds and textures in digital art?

[JonathanWW]

I’ve been trying to get better at painting realistic-looking fabric in my digital work, but I keep hitting a wall with how the folds and creases look. They end up feeling either too stiff and plastic-like or just a messy blur, and I can’t seem to find a good workflow for the texture and subsurface scattering.

[HarperEH]

I used to fight with folds looking plastic too. I split the work into two passes: a rough shading pass to map the major planes, then a soft glaze pass to push the creases deeper. I kept brushes with very low spacing and blur, then I punched the darkest creases with a slightly harder edge. After a few rounds, the fabric started reading as cloth instead of plastic.

[Kenneth51]

Could the real problem be lighting and contrast range rather than the folds themselves? I noticed when the light is flat, the shapes look off even if the folds are there.

[Aaron_H]

I tried simulating subsurface scattering for a light cotton, but it mostly blurred things and looked muddy. I found better results by focusing on surface shading and micro-contrast, with a tiny translucency in the highlights rather than trying to fake depth with SSS.

[Steven91]

I drifted into working with a photo texture of the weave for a moment, layered it in, then dropped it because it made it busy. The constant for me is comparing to a real photo and noting fold angles, not just what feels right by memory.