Just so start off, I DO NOT COPY sims from other artists.

I do not actually look at any sims when browsing for sim related cc. In fact, i do not know of any circumstance where I have actually searched for sims yet alone downloaded them. 

Please do not accuse me of stealing the works of other artists. I respect their rights and personally i respect myself too much to resort to stealing work that is not mine and passing it off as my art. Yes, I consider making sims an art so obviously i take it very seriously. 

Here is my sim making process:

1. I take a random sim from CAS, usually the one that appears immediately when you enter CAS, and the first thing I'll do is change his/ her skintone. I try to vary my choices so that my sims won't have a generic look to them. Also, it gives me the chance to play around more since different skintones have different highlights and shadows. 
   
   
2. Next I put the sims' hair up into a bun that does not obstruct any part of the face. This will give me a somewhat neat "canvas" to toggle with. I also remove all makeup and put on my chosen contacts (which i also try to vary from sim to sim). I also choose the eyebrow that I prefer (i try not to use the ones I have used before). 
   
   
3. Next comes alot of toggling with the sliders. ALOT ALOT of toggling. 
   
   
4. After I'm satisfied with the look, I begin choosing the type of makeup I want for her and applying it. This may change how certain features look so I may have to go back to toggle with the features sliders again later. I usually do not put the opacity of the makeup at 100% unless it's for lipstick.
   
   
5. I go back to toggle with the features' sliders if necessary and then it's on to hair and hair color. I choose the hair style to fit my sim's faceshape and features. I usually have a few hairstyles downloaded on standby and if those don't fit her, I go out searching for more. Hair color is also chosen to fit the sim I'm making. I may have a hair color in mind but more often than not I change it to suit the sim and not the other way around. 
   
   
6. For clothes and accessories, I usually keep my sim free from accessories with the exception of extra lashes as i don't want the sim file to be too huge (one less thing to download ^^). Clothing-wise, I prefer full outfits also because of me being lazy and wanting one less item to download. 
   
   
7. I bring my sim into game mode and start taking pictures. I always check to see if the pictures turn out good and if there is something that doesn't look good I go back to CAS and toggle somemore before going back to game mode to double check. 
   
   
8. After everything is settled and finalised, I go to CAS again and remove all CC not from TSR before exporting the sim. The file is then uploaded into a vanilla game to check for errors in file before being submitted to TSR.