I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a designer today.

The traditional route used to feel pretty straightforward. Study design, build a portfolio, get a job at an agency or brand and slowly work your way up.

But honestly... I don’t think that’s the reality anymore.

Over the past few years we’ve seen companies restructure, budgets get cut and incredibly talented creatives get laid off. It doesn’t mean they’re bad designers. It just shows how much the industry is changing.

That’s why I think it’s becoming more important than ever to build a career that isn’t dependent on one thing.

For me, that looks like wearing three different hats.

Designer - Some weeks I’m designing digital fashion for a client, or for my own personal brand.

Content creator - Other weeks I’m filming for Instagram, TikTok, Threads and X, writing this newsletter or putting together longer YouTube tutorials and LinkedIn posts.

Educator - And in between, I’m building Thr3d Academy, making tutorials on YouTube, or speaking at events.

But here’s the part that doesn’t make it into the job title. Those three hats quietly turn into about ten.

Admin. Finance. Client relations. Project management. The list goes on.

Because when you’re a creative freelancer, you’re not just doing the creative work. You’re also the accountant, the assistant, the negotiator and the person chasing an invoice at 9pm. That’s the boring bit nobody really talks about but it’s just as much a part of the job as the design work itself.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

I never really planned for my career to look like this but I’m grateful it does. Not only does it make my work more varied and exciting, it also means I’m not relying on a single source of income or waiting for someone else to create opportunities for me.

Now, that doesn’t mean everyone should quit their job tomorrow and become self-employed. Far from it.

Building multiple income streams takes time, patience and a lot of experimenting. I also think it’s important to be realistic and financially prepared before making any big decisions. For me, it wasn’t about replacing one job overnight. It was about slowly building something alongside it until I felt confident enough to make the leap.

I think that’s the part social media doesn’t always show:

The years of learning.

The evenings spent building something after work.

The trial and error.

If there’s one thing I’d encourage emerging designers to think about, it’s this: how can you create opportunities for yourself instead of waiting for them to appear? That question completely changed the way I approached my career.

I recently made a YouTube video going deeper into this… how I actually juggle being a designer, content creator, and educator, and why I chose this path in the first place. You can watch it below 👇

I’d love to know...do you see yourself having one career for life, or do you think creatives are naturally moving towards wearing multiple hats?

Leave a comment

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I recently attended Creator Fest in London and it got me thinking...

Do designers need to become content creators in order to survive in today’s creative industry?

For me, the answer wasn’t even a question.

I’ve been sharing my digital fashion journey online for the past six years, and I genuinely don’t think my career would be where it is today if I hadn’t started posting.

When I first downloaded Marvelous Designer, I wasn’t thinking about building a personal brand. I wasn’t thinking about becoming a content creator either. I simply wanted somewhere to share my work. Somewhere to document my progress and hopefully connect with people who found digital fashion as fascinating as I did.

Back then, there really wasn’t much digital fashion content online.

In fact, I remember worrying that if I only posted digital fashion, people wouldn’t be interested because it was such a niche topic. Funny how quickly that changed.

A year later NFTs and the metaverse became the hottest topics on the internet and suddenly digital fashion was everywhere. And since I’d already spent months sharing my work consistently, people knew who I was when the industry started paying attention.

That’s how opportunities with Dell, Snapchat and Gucci came about. It’s how I eventually found myself on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. None of those opportunities came from pitching hundreds of emails. They came because someone had already seen my work online.

That was probably the biggest lesson for me. People can’t hire work they’ve never seen.

So when I headed to Creator Fest, I met and listened to creators with a million followers, creators with a thousand followers and creators who were only just starting out. What surprised me wasn’t their audience size. It was that they all had something they genuinely cared about talking about.

They had a point of view and they kept showing up. I think that’s where a lot of designers get stuck.

We spend years learning our craft but very little time learning how to communicate it. We assume the work will speak for itself, but most of the time people need context. They want to know why you made something, how you approached it, what inspired you and what you’ve learnt along the way.

That’s what keeps people coming back. Not perfection but connection.

A few things I’ve learnt from posting content:

1. Consistency beats perfection

One thing I’ve learnt over the years is that people won’t remember you if you disappear for months at a time. Consistency has always been more important than trying to create the “perfect” post. I usually aim to post once a week, although I know that can be difficult if you’re juggling a full-time job alongside your creative work.

2. Don’t build your entire career on one platform

Algorithms change, platforms evolve and sometimes they disappear altogether. That’s why I try to spread my content across different platforms rather than relying on just Instagram or TikTok. Most importantly, build an email list. Social media is borrowed land but your email community is something you actually own.

3. Think of your content as the front door to your business

I like to think of my content as my shop window. It’s where people discover my work and get a feel for who I am. If they like what they see, they’ll naturally want to explore further, whether that’s working with me, joining Patreon or watching YouTube. Content isn’t just about getting views, it’s about opening doors to opportunities.

As designers, we sometimes think that our only pathway to jobs are working with agencies or studios. In this day and age, there are so many ways to make a living and making content is one of them.

So if you’re thinking of sharing your designs or process online, just do it. You have nothing to lose.

Let me know if you want to know how I strategise for my content online as a designer and I’ll be happy to write a post on it.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I had the honour of speaking at New Blood Festival by D&AD and Adobe Live this week. It’s a festival where emerging creatives showcase their work but also celebrate their achievements as they step into industry.

I held a session called AI x Your Creative Career. It was an intimate session where students, professors and graduates could ask about how I navigate the creative scene with AI.

We got to discuss questions like

➡️How do you even navigate the creative AI platforms and where do I start?

➡️How do you keep creative integrity whilst using generative AI?

➡️How do you handle with the heat online when you post about AI?

So here’s my honest answer of how I actually use it as a digital fashion artist.

How do I even navigate the creative AI platforms and where do I start?

If I’m honest I totally was lost when I first started out with gen AI platforms. There’s so many and it felt overwhelming with choice. It wasn’t until I started using platforms like Adobe Firefly, Midjourney and Flora that I started to get to grips to what is possible within AI workflows because let me tell you, the workflow is not a one button fixes all. You really do need to learn how to prompt and how to articulate yourself properly. Without then most of your generations are a waste of tokens if you are not clear enough.

One thing that helped me a lot was joining communities where people share their workflows, prompts, and experiments. Seeing how other creatives approach these tools really accelerated my learning and opened my eyes to what was actually possible.

How do you keep creative integrity whilst using generative AI?

I tend to use my existing body of 3D work to feed and train into generative AI. I feel a bit icky when people use other creative’s work. When it is just my work, it feels genuinely led by my style. Perhaps this is one I know I am not ripping off someone else’s work. But I did have an interesting discussion with a professor who said “as creatives, we are always inspired by things we see or even creations from other people” And this made me think…is using someone else’s work as inspiration in AI really that different from how we’ve always found inspiration? If you’re inspired by a colour palette, a silhouette, or a composition, but your final outcome is completely different, where do we draw the line? It’s not an easy question, and I don’t think there’s a simple answer. I’d genuinely love to hear what you think because I imagine we’ll be having these conversations for a long time as AI becomes a bigger part of the creative process.

How do you handle with the heat online when you post about AI?

I just take it. I don’t try to argue back. There’s no convincing internet warriors. I feel comfortable using gen AI in a way that is trained upon my existing work or sketches and although I explain that to people online - once they see the word AI then they will see red. Another concern people bring up, and rightly so, is how AI models have been trained. Some companies have used artists’ work without permission, and that’s a valid criticism. Others are trying to take a more ethical approach. Adobe, for example, has been clear that its Firefly models aren’t trained on customers’ creative work, which I think is an important step in the right direction.

That said, I’d be lying if I said the negativity doesn’t affect me. Reading comments can sometimes make me question whether I should even share my AI experiments at all. Not because I don’t believe in what I’m doing, but because it can be exhausting having to defend your intentions every single time. I still think these conversations are worth having though. Technology isn’t going away, so I’d rather talk openly about how we can use it responsibly than pretend it doesn’t exist.

So overall, it was a lovely chat with people who are battling the same battles as me. I’m the type of person where I’m not hating AI or loving AI. I’m just experimenting and seeing what is possible. Most of the students were quite open to AI or more so willing to learn more about it.

It was totally refreshing to see the students start their creative careers. It really reminded me of how I use to be as a student - excited by the prospect of where I could go in the future of creativity. And I think that is the right mindset to have - stay curious not matter what age you are.

Anyhow, I’m glad I landed as a digital fashion artist because now I am working on my advanced course for digital fashion. It’s been months in the making and let me tell you, I am not taking any shortcuts on it. If you want to join the waitlist and be the first to know when the course drops then sign up below.

Join the Waitlist

I will be showing you exactly what I do within my workflow and make it dead easy for you to follow and level up your digital fashion visualisation skills.

Aside from that, I’ve got a few youtube videos coming out and I’m really focusing on content for the rest of this year. Thanks for reading always and I’ll catch you in the next update.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

A few months ago, I got an email from Oatly asking if I’d be interested in designing a digital fashion piece inspired by one of the recipes in their summer recipe book.

Now I’ll be honest... my first thought was “Wait... the oat milk brand?” 😂

Fashion and oat milk wasn’t exactly a collaboration I had imagined before, but that’s actually what made it interesting. Some of the most creative projects come from unexpected briefs and I was curious to see where it would take me.

After looking through the recipes, I landed on one called Matcha Fermented Blueberry. The colours immediately stood out to me and sparked ideas for the visual direction of the outfit.

Whenever I’m designing for a brand, I don’t start with the garment. I start with the story.

• What colours represent the product?

• What mood does it evoke?

• What details can I pull from the brand and translate into fashion?

From there, I built out a moodboard before moving into CLO to construct the garment. Once the silhouette felt right, I textured everything in Substance Painter and then brought the final piece into Cinema 4D to create the scene, lighting and renders.

One thing I love about digital fashion is that inspiration can come from anywhere. A film, a city, a piece of music... or apparently a blueberry matcha oat drink.

And yes, after making the recipe myself, I can officially say I’m now an Oatly fan. 😆

If you’d like to see the entire process from concept to final render and get a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like designing for a brand, I’ve documented the whole journey in my latest YouTube video.

Watch the full process below 👇

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I recently looked back at my old digital fashion toolkit resource and honestly… it felt outdated. Not because the information was “wrong” at the time, but because this industry has shifted so much over the past few years.

So here is an updated version for you to download.

There was a phase where everything was NFTs, metaverse and Web3 hype. Even Facebook rebranded itself to Meta during that era. Looking back now, it honestly feels kind of surreal 😭

A lot of people ended up leaving the industry after that wave slowed down. So naturally, I get asked: “Stephy… why are you still here?”

And honestly, it’s because I still believe fashion and technology belong together. Just maybe not in the exact way we imagined back then.

What’s included:

1. What equipment and tools you need for designing, creating patterns & rendering.

2. Direct links to the tools & program mentioned in the guide.

3. Insight into the digital fashion pipeline.

4. Recommendation for online digital fashion tutorials that I learnt from.

5. My own digital fashion resources to share with you.

6. Explanation the industry and what careers you can head into with digital fashion skills.

I think digital fashion has matured. It’s less about hype now and more about practical experiences, storytelling and integration. The skills needed today are also very different.

It’s no longer enough to just make a cool digital outfit. Designers now need to think more broadly about where their work exists and how people interact with it.

Some designers are moving into physicals using digital means of visualising their collection before manufacturing it in real life. Others are focusing on gaming and virtual worlds, designing skins, wearables and assets that function inside interactive environments.

And then there’s the rise of XR and immersive experiences. More brands want installations, digital storytelling, motion capture, AR filters and experiences that blend physical and digital spaces together.

The people who survive in this space aren’t always the ones chasing hype. They’re usually the ones willing to keep learning, experimenting and evolving alongside the technology.

That’s also one of the reasons I’m rebuilding my educational resources and Thr3d Academy. I want to teach skills that actually reflect where the industry is now, not where it was during the NFT boom.

Curious to know where you think digital fashion is heading next 👀

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

Gen AI is not a one button fix all. I really wish it was.

Now I recently shared with you what I have been concepting and building with Flora AI in my last post. And it was great to really see how far I could push one idea as a solo creative.

But let me be real with you. There were also a lot of moments where AI completely missed the mark and I’m going to share that with you today.

Here’s my original two characters that I wanted to either swap the outfit or add them into a 3D scene.

So here’s the problem:

1. AI has bias and lacks imagination sometimes - When I ask for a 3D scene it throws you an average of what you’re asking for. This is why learning how to prompt is important. It’s such an odd skill to learn because I don’t usually think creatively with words and you almost have to be a micro manager and instruct clearly so that what you imagine in your head to turns into something that is relatively feasible with AI.

   

2. 80% there… but the rest is meh - Gen AI is great with speed and iteration BUT it needs you to drive it. I cannot tell you how many times, I’ve played around with Nano Banana Pro or GPT Image 2 and AI decides to add in a new character or extra arm that I did not ask for. And most of all, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve felt frustrated because the generation was so close but still wrong.

3. Video is WAY harder than still images - Having consistency from a character, product design or outfit is HARD af. One frame might look amazing… and then the next frame completely changes the character design or silhouette. As someone working in digital fashion, consistency matters a lot to me. Especially when trying to build believable worlds and characters.

4. AI still struggles with proportions - I wanted to generate a collectible model on a table and it did great but it made the keyboard so small in comparison to everything else. It felt silly. But details such as scale, proportion, and spatial relationships still confuse AI a lot more than people realise.

So yes, a lot that can go wrong and it made me realise that you really have to know what to prompt and how to direct the vision for it go right with gen AI. If you don’t then gen AI can easily override and give you outputs that are subpar.

Anyways, I will continue to experiment and learn the best practices of combining AI and 3D. Whatever I learn I will share back to you.

Let me know your thoughts and have you tried using gen AI in your projects?

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

If you know me, you know I’ve always played around with fashion in AR, metaverse skins and phygitals. This time, I wanted to use Flora AI to come up with concept to illustrate this idea that fashion is not just about physical clothing.

One thing I’ve always loved about digital fashion is that a single design can live in multiple spaces at once. A jacket doesn’t just have to be a jacket. It can become a gaming skin, part of a collectible figure, exist inside a digital world or even become a physical piece in the future.

And honestly, this is where things started getting really interesting for me.

I began by feeding in my own digital fashion designs and exploring how they could exist on different 3D characters inspired by my sketches. Seeing rough concepts from my sketchbook evolve into fully visualised characters felt a bit surreal. Instead of only thinking about “the outfit”, I started thinking about who these characters are, where they live, what kind of world they exist in, and what story the clothing tells about them.

I also got to experiment more with typography and graphic elements, using Illustrator to start with to help build out logos before iterating it with AI. It stopped feeling like I was just designing fashion pieces and started feeling more like building an actual IP.

That’s probably the biggest thing this process made me realise. As independent designers, we’re no longer limited to creating just a clothing collection. We can build entire worlds around our ideas.

The more I explored, the more I started thinking about gaming, virtual spaces, and even collectibles. I’ve always been fascinated by how brands like Pop Mart create characters and universes that people emotionally connect with. It made me wonder what that could look like through the lens of digital fashion and my own Chinese streetwear-inspired aesthetic.

And because I was able to visualise ideas quickly, it allowed me to experiment faster than I normally would during a traditional concepting phase. Some ideas worked immediately, others absolutely did not 😭 but even the failed generations helped me understand the direction more clearly.

I think that’s what excites me most about this space right now. Not replacing creativity, but expanding what’s possible for independent creatives who already have strong ideas and worlds in their heads.

If you’re a designer who is interested in building worlds around your ideas or building your own brand then I genuinely think it’s worth experimenting with.

And so I’ve partnered with FLORA and have a discount link with 25% off for new users if you want to try it yourself here.

Lastly, let me know what you think about this process? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I had the honour of speaking at OFFF Festival last week. I was brought over by Adobe to speak about my digital fashion journey. If you haven’t been to OFFF before, well let me explain by saying it is one of the biggest design focused festival in Europe. You will get a mixture of illustrators, graphic designers, mixed media artists, photographers, 3D designers and motion designers all staying in Barcelona for 3 days.

I’m not going to lie, I was extremely nervous because this was the biggest stage I have ever spoken on. There were around 1700 people in attendance and I thought the best way to talk about my journey is less about the projects I’ve worked on but more about the mindset.

Now do I enjoy speaking? Yes and no, it’s petrifying but at the same time rewarding. I always get butterflies in my stomach before heading on stage but once the nerves settle and I get into my flow then I really get to share my perspective and story proudly to so many new people.

I will also let you on a little secret, I actually spoke at OFFF 2 years before and I was so nervous that I spoke faster than usual and ended up finishing 10 minutes earlier. I was so annoyed at myself back then, so when Adobe presented me with this opportunity - I knew I had to do better than last time and you know what… I did. I was more confident and charismatic this time and it was all due to my endless practising sessions days and nights before.

So let me share some advice that I had shared that day in case you missed the talk:

• It’s ok to suck at first - practice makes perfect. I started in digital fashion 6 years ago not knowing what I was going to do with my skills. You can even see my first digital fashion piece if you scroll to the bottom of my Instagram. We all start somewhere, you just got to keep going to get good at what you do. And your work will not be perfect the first time you make it - just keep going until you become proficient and confident at what you do.

• It’s ok to fail - I have failed more times than I can count. It’s important to fail so you can figure out what works and what doesn’t. Even working in this industry for so long, I don’t have all the answers but I will try my best to figure it out. And the ones who look like they have everything all figured out, trust me they don’t. They’re just better at moving on when they do fail.

• It’s ok not have it all figured out - it’s a pretty uncertain time in the creative industry due to the economy and also with AI taking over. I’m not sure where my career will go within the next 5 years but all I know is that I will stay adaptable and continue to learn whilst the economy hopefully gets better. And this is the mindset I would love to share with everyone - stay curious.

I hope these few points give you some comfort and insight how I currently feel about the industry. It’s not easy being a creative right now - budgets are down, all projects seemed to be AI focused and we don’t know what jobs will be lost or created through the impact of AI. So hold on tight as we ride this wave of uncertainty.

On the topic of learning

I have uploaded my latest Patreon video and it’s all about learning how to make this hoodie from scratch from CLO to Substance Painter to then Cinema4D. If you would like to improve your 3D skills in digital fashion then head over to this link here.

I make mistakes too

I uploaded a Youtube video a few weeks ago and one of my community members said, “Stephy, the background music volume is clashing too much and you left a mistake where you re-say a sentence because you said a mistake”.

In my head, I thought “NOOOOOOOOOOOO I messed up” but actually in reality, I’m so glad that my Fun G community looks out for me even when I make mistakes. So thank you for giving me constructive criticism - I can take it as long as it’s actually constructive and helpful.

Moral of the story, do not edit whilst you’re half awake - you do not make your finest work like that. Anyways, I improved the video edit and reuploaded it so if you haven’t watched it already then here you go:

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I wanted to share a few thoughts about how I feel about the creative industry right now. Doesn’t it all feel confusing?

I’m slightly stuck in a space where I don’t know what I’m going to be doing or what tools I should focus on. If anything, everything on social media tells me I need to learn it ALL (if you have been on my twitch streams recently, you know I have been trying to learn Blender).

But here’s the thing about learning, it’s hard, it sucks and I am a beginner again. Whether it’s learning Blender or whether it’s learning how to use AI creatively. The results are ok for a long while before it becomes good and maybe I’ve forgotten how it feels to learn from scratch. I mean…I’ve been a 3D artist for 8 years now and it feels tiring to constantly stay updated with the new features, new tools, new ways of working and so on.

Let me just pause here and just shout out that I have new Youtube video out showcasing how I made Kim Possible inspired out. If you want to see the whole digital fashion process then go check it out.

And you know, it’s been an interesting time for me as a digital fashion artist because seeing the rise and fall of the metaverse (even Meta killed their own metaverse space ‘Meta Horizons’ recently) has been an odd feeling.

I was in the space when digital fashion was hot and NFTs were booming and everyone was going to head to the metaverse to play and connect with people online. But ever since people returned from lockdown and the AI boom accelerated especially from 2023 onwards, a lot of optimism in the digital fashion space decreased and you could even say the creative space has become so divided with AI.

Now I know this post sounds so pessimistic but I really wanted to share my honest thoughts with you because even though many people have left the digital fashion space in pursuit of AI, physical fashion or just left the industry completely - I chose to stay.

Maybe because I’m delusional but also because I can still see the immense potential digital fashion has towards the fashion industry and also how it can be merged with technology and gaming.

So no, digital fashion isn’t taking over physical fashion. And yes, AI can spit out beautiful photography and 3D renders within seconds. But one thing is that AI doesn’t have in 3D is the fundamentals or flexibility to change the 3D asset once it’s been generated.

I also recently went to San Francisco for an AI Summit with Adobe and chatted with a handful of creatives of how AI should be used within our workflow. My workflow is 2D > 3D and so I was curious to see how a big company like Adobe was choosing to support creatives from all disciplines. Some people there did not like AI and some were enthusiastic, so it was great to hear from everyone’s perspective.

Things we could all agree on in general was that people want more transparency from companies who are promoting AI on energy consumption, IP protection and producing less AI slop. A lot of creatives wanted AI to be shown in real world projects, projects that actually make a difference to the client or the artist in a way that still protects creative integrity. And to be real with you, some creatives felt put off with experimenting with AI since they know they will be subjected to criticism online and even I had a fair share of that.

Now I’m not going to tell you how to feel about AI. This post is not for that. But what I will say is that I’m open to using AI to help me concept or to help speed up parts of my workflow. I still find enjoyment in creating with 3D and would like to keep it that way and use AI minimally. Actually, I have been been playing around a lot with Flora AI but more to come on that later because I do think it’s a helpful tool for creatives and would love to share some thoughts with you.

But overall, it’s been hard for a lot of freelancers in the creative industry because budgets has been reduced, most projects are to promote AI tools and digital fashion has been pushed to the side (I call this the shiny object syndrome).

So for a lot of us, it’s about uncertainty in the space and survival. However, I’m always a learner and I’m always sharing what I learn online and I continue to do that as the industry constantly evolves.

I hope this post gives you some reality of what it’s like as a creative freelancer. I mean…freelancing has always came with uncertainty but the industry is definitely feeling a bit rocky right now and adds more uncertainty to it.

Let me know how you feel about the industry right now? All I can say is, stay learning, keep adapting and continue improving your craft.

Last Announcement

I will be speaking at OFFF Festival on the 15th April at 5PM. This is my second time speaking but this time…I will be speaking on mainstage (cue the panic screaming). I can’t wait to talk about my creative journey as a digital fashion artist and sprinkle some honesty - actually a lot of what is written in this post is probably going to be re-said in my talk. If you are in Barcelona, feel free to reach out and say hi!

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

You better be ready for what’s coming next - it seems that gaming will be the new frontier.

Let’s be honest though, fashion has always had a place in gaming ever since there was a need for gaming skins but now with CLO and Unreal Engine Livesync plugin, it opens up a lot more opportunities for 3D designers to dive into the world of XR, live experiences and gaming.

I had the honour of attending CLO x Epic Games Event yesterday.

The evening started off with Bryan Kim talking about how AI may produce photo realistic renders but doesn’t have the data nor flexibility to edit. The perks of 3D is being able tweak it accurately and have fit data to back it up (this is especially useful if you want to manufacture it irl - things like grading, textures, measurements are stored within CLO to be able to send and translate to other designers - AI render has less uses than just being a visual).

It then swiftly moved into the panel talk which has great perspectives from Kathy McGee - Senior Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, Yao Yao - 3D Visualiser at Vivienne Westwood and Julien Blockschmidt - independent designer who works with live stage visuals within Unreal Engine and CLO. One thing they all had in common was the importance of using digital fashion in a sustainable way and being able to preserve fashion with 3D digital visualisations but also they emphasised how storytelling will be very important especially in the age of AI where authenticity and interconnectivity is growing.

As someone who has tested Unreal Engine, let me tell you, I am by no means an expert. I’ve been learning 3D for the past 8 years but Unreal Engine’s learning curve is huge (not impossible but huge). You really have to go into the program with an aim or you will be easily lost in the numerous buttons and opportunities with the program.

One thing to note is that CLO has been updated their Livesync plugin to Unreal constantly so it’s safe to say that it will continue to improve.

Now why would we even want to learn this program? If you are a fashion designer, you’re probably thinking AI is the better option at this rate combined with CLO. But if you are searching beyond making just a physical piece of clothing and want to have your designs live in a digital world and be able to be experienced through gaming or live experiences then Unreal Engine is the program to learn.

Not only it is incredibly powerful with real time rendering but you can create beautiful worlds of your own - this is where the storytelling aspect comes in. I believe that the next digital fashion artists will have to become creative technologists and storytellers. We will have to practice our art direction and world building skills.

Technology has made it so easy to generate ideas or thoughts but how do we stand out?

After chatting to industry figures it was clear that there is still this ambiguity around digital fashion and where it will head but the energy I felt in the room was overwhelmingly positive. Maybe since it’s a new year, people felt more eager to learn and accept new ways of technology and perhaps the uncertainty is also influenced by the turmoil of AI and the current economy.

So here’s my question for you, do you think you will give Unreal Engine a try?

I know I will but…I will definitely need a lot of practice. If you want to learn together with then feel free to join my discord and we can cry together when when we hit technical difficulties.

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I have a FREE tutorial for you on how to make a knife pleated skirt in CLO.

Enjoy the video and feel free to suggest any other outfits you would like me to design.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

Lately I’ve been thinking about how some things in fashion look simple… until you actually try to make them.

Pleats are one of those things.

From the outside, a pleated skirt feels straightforward. But once I started building them properly in 3D, I realised how much intention sits inside every fold. Every decision considering the spacing, depth, fabric behaviour changes how the garment moves and feels.

That’s why my latest tutorial ended up becoming a two-part series.

Not because I wanted to stretch it out.
But because the process itself needed room.

In Part 1, I stayed inside CLO and focused purely on construction. I explored three types of pleats: knife pleats, box pleats, and accordion pleats. On paper they’re all just folds but in practice, they behave completely differently (see below).

Knife pleats feel disciplined. Everything moves in one direction. They’re clean, controlled, and quietly powerful.

Box pleats feel heavier and more structured. They create volume without constant movement. They hold their shape.

Accordion pleats encourages movement. They’re beautiful and cute but unforgiving if the structure isn’t right.

So here’s the breakdown of what you will learn on my Patreon this month and next.

In Part 1 you will learn in CLO3D:

• Creating knife pleats, box pleats, and accordion pleats

• Understanding how different pleats affect movement and structure

• Developing a knife pleat skirt further with a belt and hardware

• Adjusting fabric and physical properties for realism

• Texturing directly in CLO

In Part 2 you will learn in Substance Painter & Cinema 4D:

• Organising clean UVs for texturing

• Texturing the skirt in Substance Painter

• Building a simple 3D scene in Cinema 4D

• Lighting, camera angles, and composition

• Rendering in Redshift

My patrons also have access to the 3D files to download and play with.

And actually splitting the tutorial like this felt closer to how I actually work which is building first, polishing second.

If you’re exploring digital fashion, garment construction, or just trying to make your 3D work feel more intentional, I hope this process encourages you to give yourself more time with the details.

If you’d like to follow the full pleated skirt workflow the check out the tutorial here.

And if you’re just here to read, reflect and learn, well I’m really glad you’re here too.

Thanks for spending a moment with me.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I wanted to share a personal story with you about my creative career. I think it’s super important to know that your creative career does not need to be linear.

If you don’t feel like reading then feel free to grab a coffee and watch the video here💙

A lot of people think, you study a subject and that’s your job and field for the rest of your life. I learnt pretty quickly that isn’t the case.

I never thought I’d be working in digital fashion when I first graduated and entered the creative scene.

Fast forward a few years and now, I’m a digital fashion artist, content creator, and educator.

But my journey definitely didn’t start there.

Let me rewind a bit.

I actually studied graphic design. And I loved it due to understanding typography, layout, design principles and learning how visuals translate across digital and physical spaces.

But what really got me excited was movement. Seeing type and shapes come alive on screen. You see I was obsessed with Disney, Ghibli, Pixar and there was something magical about storytelling through motion.

That curiosity slowly pulled me into motion design, from 2D to eventually 3D.

At the time, I thought I’d end up in branding or advertising.
And for a while, I did.

I worked at VFX companies and design studios. And landed a role at Selfridges after graduation.

I was a motion designer there, working on everything screen-related in-store and online from 2D animations to 3D visuals.

It was a great job but then Covid hit and something shifted.

While working full-time, I was also making personal work at night, on weekends and everything in between.

I think deep down I knew my creativity wasn’t being used in the way I wanted it to be because when you work for brands, you’re always designing for someone else’s vision. But when I designed for myself, I felt free again. Like I had got my creative soul back.

So when I suddenly got extra time back as I got to work from home during lockdown, I realised I had so much time left to do something instead of commuting.

So I started learning Marvelous Designer just out of curiosity.

• I posted my experiments on Instagram.

• Shared them with a small community.

• Then started posting new looks every week.

What I didn’t really talk about back then was this...I’d always wanted to design my own clothes but I didn’t have the physical skills, sewing machine or fabrics.

Digital fashion changed that as all I needed was my computer.
And that felt like magic.

I could design something in a few hours and experiment freely.
Make the clothes I’d always wanted to wear and that’s where my Chinese streetwear influence really came through.

After a few weeks of posting consistently, I’d built a small portfolio.
And then clients started reaching out.

At the same time, a community was forming.
Which you now know as the Fun Gs.

So I took a leap and I quit my job. Dived deep into freelancing in digital fashion.

And I’m so glad I did because over the past five years, that decision has led me to things I never imagined.

• Being listed on Forbes 30 Under 30.

• Working with global brands.

• Speaking internationally about my work.

• Experimenting with AR.

• Turning digital designs into physical garments.

• Creating metaverse wearables.

• Exhibiting work on Oxford Street with motion capture.

It’s been a rollercoaster.
In the best and hardest ways.

And now, I feel ready to slow down a little.
And share what I’ve learned with you.

Because honestly… if I hadn’t quit my job, I would’ve never known this life was possible.

Working across fashion, tech, and gaming.
Using my designs to explore culture and identity.
Building a community that cares about the future of fashion.

Was I scared to quit? Yes.

Did I know exactly how it would turn out? Not at all.

But I also want to be transparent.

• I had six months of savings as a backup in case I fail.

• I’d also been freelancing on the side since university so I had a good understanding of that way of working.

• And I had a strong creative network I could lean on for advice.

Freelancing is definitely scary but we can talk more about that in another post.

Reflecting over the past years, I’m grateful to my younger self for being brave, for learning Marvelous Designer and for putting work out there before it felt “ready”.

Even now I’m still constantly learning and improving my craft (Blender and Unreal I’m looking at you).

Let me know if you’ve ever quit a job to chase something uncertain or if you’re thinking about it.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I’ve created this tutorial to help you understand what goes into constructing trousers in CLO.

In this free tutorial you can learn how to:

• Pattern Drafter (New CLO Feature)

• Building Denim Jeans:

• Topstitching Techniques:

• Importing Illustrator Vectors to CLO:

• Puckering

• Texturing

• Lighting

• Render

Enjoy and feel free to post your results on discord.

You may have noticed that this tutorial is from my Patreon channel.

The difference is that this tutorial is working solely in CLO whereas my patrons get to go further with learning texturing techniques in Substance Painter and lighting and building scenes with Cinema4D and Redshift.

The difference between the two is huge:

So if you want to level up, make your renders look more realistic and dive deeper then head over to my patreon here.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I wish someone had told me this when I first started freelancing - so now I’m sharing it you so you can be more prepared than I was.

If I’m honest, freelancing didn’t come with a manual.
Most of what I know now came from trial, error, and a lot of uncomfortable moments.

So here we go...

1. Share your work. You really have nothing to lose.

Posting your work online is scary.
I get it.

There’s this fear of being judged, misunderstood, or not being “good enough” yet.

But here’s the truth.
The person who cares most about your work… is you.

Most of my client work now comes from people simply seeing what I post online.
Opportunities I never thought I’d get came from just putting my work out there consistently.

As long as you’re improving, learning, and sharing within your community,
don’t let fear stop you.

You’re allowed to grow in public.

2. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Last year, I randomly emailed W1 Curates.
Completely out of the blue.

I asked if I could showcase my digital fashion work on Oxford Street.
The busiest street in London.

That one email changed my career.

Because of it, I can now say I’ve created an experiential digital fashion exhibition in London.

Was it shameless?
Maybe.

But they could see my work online.
They could see what I was capable of.

Clients and collaborators can only say yes when they know what you can do.
So ask.
The worst thing that happens is… nothing.

3. You don’t have to be just one thing.

For a long time, I thought I had to fit into one box.
Designer or Artist.
That’s it.

But over time, I branched out.

Video editing
Consulting
Teaching
Content creation
Social media strategy
Live streaming

Being an artist is still my core.
But adding these skill sets opened doors I never expected.

I spent the last three months live streaming with Adobe.
Which is wild, considering I’ve used their tools every single day for years.

Sometimes your “extra” skills are the bridge to opportunities you didn’t even know existed.

4. Create things you actually love.

Some of my favourite designs didn’t come from client work.
They came from my own interests, inspirations, and lived experiences.

Client work is important.
But personal work is where your voice grows.

Make time to explore ideas that excite you.
That curiosity feeds your craft more than any brief ever could.

5. Time isn’t unlimited. And neither is your energy.

This one is still a work in progress for me.

There’s only one of me.
And sometimes it’s easy to feel stretched in every direction.

I’ve started saying no to projects.
Even when it felt wrong.
Even when it was scary.

Because my energy and health matter more than any opportunity.

Now I block time in my calendar.
For work.
For rest.
For family.
For friends.

My creative brain doesn’t function when all I do is work.
And not every opportunity deserves a yes.

These are the things I wish I knew when I first started.
So I’m sharing them with you, my Fun G community.

If any of this resonated with you or if you have questions you’re sitting with, drop them in the comments.

Free File out for Patrons

For anyone on my Supreme Fun G tier on Patreon - you will now have access to this file (CLO, Substance Painter and Cinema4D). However if you want to purchase this without subscribing to my Patreon you can buy it here.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I had to say no to an opportunity recently.
And honestly… it felt really wrong at first.

But then I reminded myself
there’s only one of me.

If I keep giving all my time to client work,
there’s no space left for what I truly care about.

And that’s teaching digital fashion.
That’s always been my real passion. 😁

I’m constantly asked the same questions.
“Stephy, how do I work smoothly between programs?”
“How do I make my 3D look more high quality and polished?” 🤔

So I’m finally putting this out into the universe.

Next year, I’m launching an advanced digital fashion course.
This one is for those of you who already have some experience.
You know the basics.
You just want to refine your workflow.
Improve your digital skills.
And your end result.

I’ll be sharing how I personally move between tools of Daz3d, Clo3d, Substance Painter, Cinema4d & Blender.

And also how I build stylised, polished digital fashion looks from start to finish. 💙

If that sounds like you,
the Thr3d Academy waitlist is now open.

Sign up here 👇
https://stephyfung.com/thr3dacademysignup/

More details coming very soon.
And thank you always for supporting this journey.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

We’re ending the year with something big!

This month’s advanced Patreon tutorial is officially live and it kicks off a brand-new two-part series on building trousers from scratch.

Part 1 (December) – Available Now

This month focuses fully on CLO3D and preparing our garment for texturing.
Here’s what you’ll learn:

✨ How to use CLO’s new Pattern Drafter
✨ Building denim jeans step-by-step
✨ Adding accurate topstitching
✨ Creating realistic puckering
✨ Importing Illustrator vectors into CLO
✨ Mesh optimisation to quads
✨ Clean UV organisation ready for Substance Painter

And yes - you get all the work files: CLO, Substance Painter and Cinema4D.

Part 2 (January) – Coming Next Month

We’ll bring the garment to life through:
🎨 Texturing in Substance Painter
⚙️ Smart generators
💡 Lighting in Cinema4D
📸 Camera angles + render settings
✨ Final polished output

This is a complete workflow perfect for anyone levelling up their digital fashion pipeline or building industry-ready garments.

So if you want to learn then join me here.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

Not just the shape of a jacket or the way fabric drapes but the feeling, the rhythm, the attitude of a model walk.

So, I decided to test it.

I took one of my 3D digital fashion pieces and ran it through multiple AI video platforms using the same prompt:

“The outfits walked slowly towards the camera in a slow model walk manner. The camera zooms out, revealing more of the cityscape.”

I tried:
🧠 Google Flow
🎥 Google Veo 3
🎨 Midjourney
💬 OpenAI
🔥 Adobe Firefly

The results? Let’s just say… some understood movement, some forgot gravity existed 😂 As an artist from a 3D background, I was analysing the movement of the walk, some walks were sassy and others a bit bumpy. I was also analysing the fabric texture, some added extra detail whilst others maintained the sheen of the metallic outfit.

There is also camera movement, the atmosphere, the lighting etc, there’s just so much to ANALYSE. So as you can see, there is a lot to check and it’s not just as simple as generating one prompt and it suddenly looks amazing.

But what’s interesting is how differently each AI “interprets” fashion.
Some focus on shape, others texture, and some invent whole new aesthetics I wouldn’t have imagined. (Some even added random shapes and styles and it was a total face palm moment)

As designers, this is where we need to experiment - not to replace our creativity, but to see how these tools can extend it.

✨ In my latest Patreon video, I share my results and thoughts on how we can use these platforms to enhance our creative workflows (not lose ourselves in them).

What do you think? Can AI ever capture the soul of fashion, or will it always be missing that human touch?

👉 Watch the full breakdown on Patreon.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

Had an awesome time chatting on a panel at Adobe Max London about my process as a digital fashion artist and my thoughts about Adobe’s latest AI updates as well as how creatives should be utilising AI in their workflow.

Some were really exciting like the new object masking update. I instantly thought, “Ooh, this could actually speed up my video editing!” But others… felt a bit much. Firefly seems to be integrated into everything now, which makes it feel slightly crowded.

One thing I did appreciate though was Adobe clarifying that they don’t train their AI on customer work. That’s a big win for protecting artists’ IP especially when it’s most valuable asset a designer could have 🙌

They’ve also introduced a new space where you can train your own custom model where you can basically upload images of your work and have AI generate new pieces in your style. And the best part? It stays private, only accessible through your own account.

But stepping back for a second let’s talk bigger picture. Because yes, Adobe is huge in the creative space, but they’re definitely not the only ones diving headfirst into AI.

If you’re like me… you’re probably on the fence about generative AI. I can definitely see the perks, but I can also see how easy it is for people to misuse it and generate too much of it.

Here’s my take: it’s all about keeping your creative integrity. There are so many ways to shortcut the creative process with AI now, but the real challenge is using it to enhance your workflow, not replace your creative soul.

What worries me most is the younger generation losing touch with problem solving skills, critical thinking and the appreciation for craft. When everything can be generated in seconds, lighting, textures, sketches, there’s a risk of skipping the learning process entirely.

As a digital fashion artist, I know how long it takes to learn both 3D and fashion. They’re both tough crafts on their own which is exactly why I teach on YouTube and Patreon. Because mastering these skills is so important before letting AI assist you.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti AI. I’m just cautious about how it’s used. Creativity still needs that spark and emotional depth - after all, to be human is to be emotional. We are filled with emotions that drives purpose throughout the day. AI on the other hand is an empty shell that given instructions to fulfil.

And when it comes to fashion, the whole “AI-generated model” thing still feels strange to me. We design clothes to be worn, to move with the body. If AI generates the model, how does that affects the livelihood of models?

Something that really stuck with me from Adobe Max London was this:
There’s no point in running away from AI, it’s already going to become part of our everyday lives. The real question is how we use it.

How do we work with it responsibly, ethically, and creatively without losing what makes our art human?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. How are you feeling about AI in your creative process right now?

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord

I just posted a new YouTube tutorial where I make a jacket from scratch in CLO. And… let’s be real, it wasn’t smooth. I made mistakes and CLO crashed on me whilst I was recording.

And yep, I kept all of it in. Because honestly, this is what 3D is like. Trial and error. Figuring things out as you go. Learning from the mess.

I wanted you to see that side of my process.

The part that doesn’t always look perfect. The part where an idea evolves, sometimes fails, but eventually comes together. That’s where the magic happens.

So enjoy the video and I’m looking to make more tutorials on Youtube so message me with suggestions of what you would like to learn next.

I also hopped on Rule of Thirds to talk about my journey from graphic designer, to 3D artist, to digital fashion creator. It’s a pretty honest chat about how I got here and what it takes to build something you love. You can watch the podcast below.

For the rest of 2025, I’m going all-in on building my Thr3d Academy course. It’s going to be practical, and personal and everything I wish I had when I was starting out.

If you want to level up your digital fashion skills, the waiting list is open here.

Learn Digital Fashion with Me

🟢 Youtube - FREE tutorials

🔵 Twitch - FREE Weekly Live Streams, every Wednesday UK 9PM

🟣 Patreon - Exclusive access to Stephy’s technical tips and industry advice

⚪ Thr3d Academy - Advanced course that will help break you into industry - sign up to the waitlist

🟡 1:1 Consultation - Personalised advice tailored to your brand - helping you implement digital fashion into your workflow

Lastly, if you want to join a digital fashion focused community and chat to other Fun Gs then join my discord server by clicking the image above.

★ Stephy Fung ★

IG | Twitter | Tiktok | Youtube | Twitch | Patreon | Discord