Create a Surface Pattern Idea Book - 5 Day Challenge

1. Introduction: I'm really Ryland, a surface pattern designer and artist out of San Diego, California Today I'm gonna show you how to create a surface pattern idea book. One of my favorite things about surface pattern design are the limitless possibilities in terms of subject matter. I use my idea book to capture and infuse my everyday life into my patterns. By the end of this class, which includes a five day sketch challenge, students will have started their Surface pattern idea book, and we'll have the know how to use this book to inspire future patterns and spark new ideas . This class is for current or aspiring surface pattern designers or artists looking for a creative boost and a way to use the world around them to inspire their art. If you already have service pattern design skills and illustrator or Photoshopped, you can use this book right away to start inspiring your next pattern. If you don't and you're new to the surface pattern design world, there are some amazing introductory and intermediate level courses on skill share that I would highly recommend that you check out in the next section. All go over the supplies you need to complete this class C. There 2. Supply List: supply for this class is pretty basic and straightforward, and most likely you have everything that you need on hand. But I'll go over what I like to use my preferences are and why, So that you know what I'm using during class. So the first thing you're gonna need is a sketchbook, and I like to use a plain black sketchbook. I'd like it to be bound because my service pattern idea, but I like to be really, really nice and clean pretty much in every way. So if you look at my pictures from my pages in my service pattern Idea book, they tend to be really, really clean. A lot of really clean lines, not a lot of shading. Not a lot of detail on. I do that on purpose so that I have the option later, Teoh skin these indirectly or put him on watercolor paper and paint them or shade them digitally and really keep my options open as faras. How I want to, uh, designed them in high. Want to color them? Um, You see, I also keep him pretty big and spaced out, and that's a lot different than my other sketchbooks on the other sketchbooks air pretty messy and, uh, usually end up being coloring books for my kids. But this particular, uh, sketchbook I like to keep really, really clean. And I like to keep away from my kids so you can use any sketchbook that you prefer. I tend Dubai sketchbooks on sale at my local art store, And I really don't have a preference is for his brand. They all work pretty well. Um, the next thing you're gonna need is a pencil, Whether that's artist pencil, whether that is a chemical pencil, a number two pencil. If it sketches and you can erase it, then you're good. Uh, the next thing you're gonna need is any racer, because sketching the whole idea is that we're gonna be a racing a bit. And, uh, nothing's gonna be perfect right as we put it down. And then the last thing that you're gonna need is a black ink pen, and this is the one thing I'm particular on because I'm left handed and I tend to smear everything. So I use the micron blacking pens and and I really like them a lot. But you could grab any old pen out of your drunk junk drawer and and that would work. Find his well, um, and the last thing that's optional would be to use your cell phone or a camera to take pictures of subject matter that you want to sketch. Usually, this will be helpful if it's something that moves like I have chickens in my backyard, so I'm sure will be sketching one of them during this class, and, uh, it's much easier for me to just snap a picture of them because they're constantly moving. 3. Class Project: and in this section we're going to talk about your class project and what it is that you should have completed and uploaded by the end of the course. By the end of the course, you should have your 1st 5 pages of your surface pattern idea book completed. This will serve as a jumping off point and a place where you control inspiration and create more pages so that you can use this book as inspiration for future patterns. This course consists of a five day sketch challenge in which you will be given a broad topic each day to use to sketch from your everyday life. On Day one, you'll be sketching from an outdoor environment. On Day two, you'll be sketching your favorite room in your home. On Day three, you'll be sketching your favorite place outside of your home. On Day four, you will be sketching things that inspire you, and on Day five you'll be sketching things that you use every day. These five topics are purposely broad so that you're drawing from your own environment, and we can really see your voice shine through, and your sketches are obviously going to be different than my sketches because we live in different places and the thing to look out for is a common thread that runs through each of your pages and things that you just really start noticing. That you are inspired by, um so I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's differences and interpretations, and I can't wait to see what we come up with, so let's get started. 4. Day 1 Outdoors: And if you live in the country, this might look a little bit different than if you look in the city and you're drawing from your balcony overlooking buildings or whether you decide to go to the park or a pond with ducks or the beach. Or really, the possibilities are pretty endless here. So for my outdoor challenge, I decided to use my backyard, and my backyard is a big source of happiness for myself and my family. We spend a lot of time outside, and the space really reflects our values and our lifestyle. We eat a lot outside. We have a fire pit, we garden, we have fruit trees, we have chickens on DSO. There's a lot of options for things to draw and things that I'm really interested in and it even reflects. My designers said it quite a bit in my taste. So the first drawing that I made was a lantern, Um, and it reminds me a lot of camping and being outdoors, and I think I could do a whole pattern revolving around camping supplies and materials and include that lantern in there. You know, the second drying that you see kind of cause my hands in the way. But the second drawing is a Makram, a plant hanger that I made, and I think I could add a succulent or an airplane plant and make that even more bohemian and kind of do a pattern that's bohemian feel that centers around around that. And then the drawing that I'm working on now is a lantern, and it also has that bohemian type feel to it. And so I think I could even combine the plant hanger and the lantern and make a really neat bohemian potter. Now this next trying is a branch of our lemon tree, and once again we just really love our fruits and veggies and growing things and having a very lively and active backyard. And the final thing is a Zandt outline of a chicken, and I think I could make something really cute and fun out of that 5. Day 2 Favorite Room: to sketch challenge is drawing objects from your favorite room, and I had a really hard time deciding between my living room and kitchen on this one. Eso I look forward to seeing what you guys think, so I decided to go with the living room as my favorite room in the house. And the reason being is because of this wood stove that we have that I just am obsessed with. And it's kind of a rarity in Southern California, but the second it turns cold enough, we turn it on, and it just makes the room so cozy. And I could totally see it paired with some hot chocolate. Or submit mittens or, uh, some other just really nice fall and winter weather type objects for for a pattern. The next thing I drew was a lamp, and lighting is always kind of interesting, and so there's a lot of things you can do with that. And then the objects that I drew after that was a mid century modern chair, and that's kind of trendy right now, the mid surgery, modern style, and so I'm sure there's a lot of things I could do there as well um, the thing that I'm drawing right now is a wood carved frame, and I really like wood carvings and really attracted to them. And I really like the patterns that they have in the intricate details, so I might not use that particular picture, but I could use some of the details within it. And then the last thing that I'm drawing is an actual woodcarving in one of the tables that we have. And it's the same idea. I like toe abstract a little bit in these challenges and in in the things that I draw because you never know what elements you can kind of take from that and utilize in other parents. 6. Day 3 Favorite Place: three sketch challenge is drawing from your favorite place outside of your home. This is going to be very, very different for everyone. And I can't wait to see what places you go to for inspiration. So for my favorite place, I chose a local coffee shop that I've actually been going to since I was in high school. And this is a really good opportunity for me to start abstracting a little bit in this challenge. And there are a lot of really interesting tiles in this place and some tribal art. And so I'm using those shapes to kind of make my own patterns and kind of brainstorm a little bit and free flow a little bit. And, uh, this is a good thing to kind of add to your patterns because not because you need those secondary elements within your patterns. And a lot of times when you just kind of free flow a little bit, uh, you might find some interesting patterns to kind of add into a subject matter that that maybe is a little bit more detailed. Um, that weird heart shaped thing is actually my lot, and what was kind of showing in my latte when it was served to me, and so that's kind of interesting. I don't know if it's something I can use, but it's kind of cool. And then, um, I drew a magnolia, but I was really hoping that the magnolias were blooming when I got there because they're such pretty flowers. But that's the but and will have to go back when it's when it's blooming and the last thing is just an umbrella. 7. Day 4 Things that Inspire You: four sketch challenge is probably the most broad topic that we have, and that's drawing things that inspire you. So I'm looking forward to seeing how you interpret that. So this challenge was the hardest one for me to do because there are not a lot of material things that are all that inspirational to me. So this is gonna have to be a little bit more symbolic. And one of the most inspirational relationships in my life is the one that I have with my husband. So I was singing of how to symbolize marriage and the obvious choices Wedding Rings. But I wanted something a little bit more personal, a little less obvious. And, um, we got married in a old industrial building in San Diego, and we decorated it so cool. And there were all of these really colorful, beautiful prayer flags strewn all around the building, and they really kind of took over as this is the theme of the wedding and they mean a lot to us. So that's my first drawing and my second drawing our books. And as much as I literally love books, I also just really love gaining knowledge, and I am constantly looking to learn new things, whether that's a craft or whether that's just information, and that's something that's just really important to me. And then the thing that I'm doing right now is our cat boo boo happy cat who was named by my daughter. And you've seen her in some of the videos? Probably. And she is hilarious and super cute and brings a lot of joy to our family. And we have a lot of animals that bring a lot of joy to our family, and the last thing is coffee, because coffee is just the best. 8. Day 5 Things you Use Everyday: challenges to sketch objects that you use every day. I imagine this is where we're going to get the most similarities among projects, but we'll see. So for the everyday objects, I'm actually starting with the pen that I'm using to draw. And, uh, now's a good time to talk about wonky lines because the lines on that pen are really wonky . And it's OK, because if I'm going to color that digitally, I'm gonna put that in, and I'm gonna use the pen tool and illustrator to make sure that my lines look a lot better . Um, and then the next thing that I drew is my water bottle, because I use it every day and then my iPhone, which I'm sure a lot of people will have on there as well. Toilet paper. I think you could make kind of a funny pattern with that. And then the last thing is my sketchbook, and hopefully you'll use your sketchbook everyday, too. 9. Tips and Tricks: thin section is probably the most important one in the class in that we've started this surface pattern design book and now what do we do with it? So I'm gonna go over with you how it is that I best utilize my book and where to kind of go from here? Tip number one for best utilizing your surface pattern idea book is making sure that you sketching it every single day and it may seem obvious, but the more sketches that you have, the more those ideas were going to snowball off of each other. And the more options you're gonna have for really neat patterns. Tip number two is to use objects that you've drawn in this challenge to inspire new pages. So, for example, in my challenge, I drew Lantern That reminds me of camping. And so I'll use that lantern to create a whole other page of all camping supplies. And I also drew a branch of lemons, and I can use that to draw other Citrus plants or kitchen supplies or gardening supplies. Really, the options here are limitless in it's really all about what you see when you look at your sketches, what you're attracted to and which ones you really want to build upon. Tip three is to combine similar objects from different pages. So even though the challenges each day or different, you might start to see a common theme. Run through your pages, and that's something to pay attention to. For example, in my outdoor page, I have this Makram, a plan hanging and this bohemian lantern that seemed to kind of go together, and I can even combine them with some patterns for my favorite room. I can combine them with some patterns from my favorite place, and I could even combine them with my prayer flags from my inspirational page. Another example of this is that I happen to have two different frames on two different pages, and I could do a really cool pattern based just around interesting, intricate frames. So really, look for those common threads and see what you can put together. Tip for is to create pages with shapes and florals and other objects that can really be compliments to your main themes. In my book, I have pages that are dedicated to certain types of florals and certain types of shapes and patterns so that when I've come up with a really great theme, I can pull from those to complement and to really take my pattern to the next level. Here are some examples from my finished work as to how I combine my main themes with some florals and some accents. This is also really helpful. Tip. If you're creating patterns and collections, which I would really highly recommend, that you dio tip five is all about finding references to expand on your designs and on your ideas. So even though we're drawing from our real lives and the world around us, it's perfectly acceptable to use Google or Pinterest or whatever search engine. You prefer to get some references on how to draw things that you wanna add onto the patterns that you've created in the ideas that you've come up with. For example, in my woodland themed pattern, I had this idea Teoh make all of these sleeping animals, and I don't know exactly what these animals look like when they sleep. So I put in skunk to Google Search and I find a couple reference photos of a skunk sleeping , and then I know how I want to create that shape, and that's a good way to use the Internet for reference. 10. Thanks!: Well, that's it for our courts and our five day challenge. Thank you so much for joining us. And please make sure that you upload your sketchbook pages to our class project section. I can't wait to see what you all came up with. And if you have any questions or comments, please make sure to post him to this discussion board and I'll make sure to get back to you six.