Hey creative crew,

It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve posted here and I feel like I’m in such a delay with everything. If I haven’t responded to some of your projects, I’m so sorry. I’m trying my best to catch up these days.

The last few months have been the most difficult for me. If you follow me on Instagram you probably know what I’m talking about - in a weird way Instagram became my occasional diary related to art and inevitably life things that influence how I’m feeling and what I’m doing.
I had to give myself time to stop, heal and somehow get back on track with life. The only goal was to start feeling OK and being able to create again.

One thing I learned is that you cannot rush things, you cannot switch yourself on, and you definitely cannot order yourself what to do. Sometimes the only solution is time, time passing by, and you living one day at a time - completing tasks like making a nice meal, cleaning the house, and watching Netflix. One creative thing that helped a lot was gabbing a sketchbook and mindlessly drawing on the couch. The keyword is ‘mindlessly’ because my brain didn’t want to switch off. Another thing that helped was being with family and friends, and also sharing my honest feelings with you guys through a few Instagram posts because so many could relate and so many offered beautiful words of support. Thank you for that - it meant a lot.

I’m happy to say that I’m now feeling pretty good. It’s been a slow process to get here, but things are back on track, and I’ve been able to work on a few amazing projects. One of them is a new Skillshare class. Can you believe it? A few months ago I couldn’t get myself to finish one small task, and now I’ve done a whole complex project. Phew! This calls for a big celebration (and I’m definitely planning one). Sometimes all it takes is one step at a time and celebrating your milestones no matter how small or big. Each time you complete a class and post a project, please, celebrate it, celebrate yourself, and then celebrate each other as well. Community support is priceless. Heads up, I will be awarding one free year of Skillshare for this class!

Gosh, is this post too long? Should I start my own email list? Anyways, if you’re still reading, here is the part about the class itself.

This class is for all you pattern lovers because this time we’ll explore creating narrative patterns (some also call them conversational patterns) and we’ll learn how to use storytelling in pattern design.
These patterns can be lots of fun to make, but they might seem difficult to plan out - so I especially tackled that part. Also, these patterns can be timeless and in trend and therefore easy to license. P.S. One of my narrative patterns is hero print for a collection I recently licensed (can’t say more now, but you’ll hear about it in the future when the collection goes live.) And one last great thing about narrative patterns is that they can be an amazing starting point for developing a whole pattern collection. Doesn’t this all sound great?
By the way, in this class, I will show you how I combine Procreate and Photoshop to create a pattern repeat.

Everything is filmed and now we’re in the final editing and design phase. You guys, it’s gonna be amazing! I feel those butterflies as the moment of hitting the publish button approaches.

Hey, if you’re brave, share how you’re feeling. Good or bad, it makes no difference. It’s not all roses all the time, and that’s fine.

I’m sending you warm hugs, smiles, and lots of love,
Di

Di Ujdi

Illustrator & Art Explorer

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