Your project for this class is to create a narrative pattern design.

As you will see narrative patterns can be timeless and in trend, and therefore easy to license. It all depends on the story you decide to illustrate. Here is a list of possible topics that you can use or get inspired by:

Narrative Pattern Topics:

- Winter: Ski resort; Christmas village; Games kids play in the snow; Mountain village
- Summer: Seaside holidays; Swimming; Activities by the pool; Snorkeling;
- Travel: Traveling the world by boat; Camping; Hiking; Exploring the jungle; Space travel; Different means of transportation; Historic cities;
- Everyday: Going to school; At the playground; Everyday life in the city; Planting the garden; Farm activities
- Landscapes: Landscape views from an airplane; Sky filled with hot air balloons; Meadows; Hills and roads
- Animals: Underwater life; Farm animals; Jungle animals

Narrative pattern examples:

- Pinterest inspiration board

The most basic but very useful advice is to go with something close to your heart. With something that excites you, something that you want to do in the future or something you did in the past and have good memories of. Remember, the best stories are the ones coming from within you. When you reach that place and open it you’ll see how many ideas will start pouring out not just for this pattern but for a whole collection that you might want to develop later.

You can document your process and your final design, and share it all in the project section of the class. As you will see, posting a project is a great way to get motivated and find encouragement.

I can’t wait to see what you’ll create.

Procreate brush sets I used:

- Chromagraph set from True Grit Texture Supply
- Standard Pens set from RetroSupply

My vintage design classes:

If you want to learn more about adding a vintage vibe to your illustrations and designs, check out this class:
- Matchbox Label Techniques: Illustration, Vintage Design & Print Textures

And if you’re interested in typography this is a follow-up class:
- Matchbox Label Techniques: Typography, Vintage Fonts & Text Arrangement

Historical pattern design:

This is a class by my fellow Skillshare teacher Bearbell about making an accurate historical Toile de Jouy, check it out if you’re interested in that style of pattern design:
- Classic Pattern Styles - Learn To Design Toile de Jouy Patterns

Susan Nielson

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