"Hi, I love your work and I was wondering if you'd teach me how to do what you do? Thanks!"
I am so flattered when I'm asked this question. It means someone loves what I do so much they want to do it themselves and possibly sell their own versions. I've thought about it and really, there's a few things to know and do to start doing what I do.
1) Take building classes in Second Life. Any class, all classes. I spent nearly a year going to any building class I could find, from boats to houses to jewelry. Each class teaches you something new and useful that you may eventually need for making clothing.
2) Learn some type of image manipulation program. Gimp, Photoshop, Inkscape, whatever you can afford and have handy, learn it. You'll need this to create your own clothing and textures.
3) Find the Second Life clothing templates by either Chip Midnight or Robin Sojourner. You'll need those so you can line up the clothing seams correctly.
4) Check out clothing making tutorials on Youtube for Second Life. It helps a lot.
5) Be totally ethical and never, ever steal someone else's work or images from the web. Know the law and the facts. If you hope to grow a business, then you must be ethical because your name and reputation are on the line. For example, I never use the work of a living designer, nor of any designer after the 1920s. There are some designers I will never touch, like Dior or Chanel. These are living fashion Houses and one does not mess with the legalities of copyright infringement or IP a.k.a intellectual property infringement. Do realize that there are REAL legal consequences for screwing with such things. Be ethical and honorable. It will serve you well in the end.
6) Realize that breaking into the fashion selling gig in Second Life takes as much work as it does in real life! So now you've practiced for hours and hours, you've got your packaging down, you know what genre of clothing you love and want to sell. Now, you have to find a place to sell it. Look around your favorite RP sims, try to stay away from malls, depending on what you sell. Utilize Marketplace and put your items up there. Always present a professional appearance in both your packaging and your goods.
Figure on two or three years to get a 'name' in the fashion circles. It's hard work, but if you really want it you'll succeed. You'll have to build up stock and be religious about releasing items on a fairly routine basis. You'll also have to have consistant, realistic pricing for what you offer. You'll have to figure rents, advertising, and other expenses into your budget. Above all, you must be true to your own style and your own vision for your brand.
And that's my lecture for today!
I wish you much luck on your journey into the fashion jungles of Second Life.