Create a Modern Trailing Floral Pattern in Adobe Illustrator

1. Welcome: Hello, everyone, and welcome to my class. I'm Mel Armstrong, and I am thrilled to have you join me. For years, I have been passionate about pattern design, and I've spent countless hours exploring different techniques to create unique and captivating designs. I've worked with so many clients over the years and license patterns for fabric, stationery, home decor, and much, much more. And now I'm excited to share my knowledge with you. In this class, we'll be diving into the world of floral pattern design. Using the elegant and versatile OG template. You'll learn how to transform this classic shape into a modern trailing floral pattern, all within Adobe Illustrator. Now, you might be wondering why OG templates. Well, OG templates offer a beautiful blend of structure and fluidity. They provide a strong framework for your designs, ensuring symmetry and balance. While also allowing for organic and flowing floral elements. Their classic appeal makes them incredibly versatile, perfect for both traditional and contemporary designs. As you can see, the OG creates a beautiful foundation for a wide range of styles. So by the end of this class, you'll have created your own stunning floral pattern. Ready to be used on a variety of products from fabric to wallpaper. To get started, you'll need Adobe Illustrator. This is our primary tool for designing the pattern. We'll also be sketching out our designs. You might want to have some paper and pencils, or you can use your iPad with the Procreate app, which is what I'll be doing. I've also included some links to some fantastic flower reference photos in the class resources, which will help you with your inspiration. We'll be walking through each step of the process from sketching and planning to creating a seamless repeat in Adobe Illustrator. Share my tips and tricks for creating beautiful and professional looking patterns. I'm so excited to see what you create, so let's get started. 2. Inspiration: Welcome to our first lesson. Now, before we dive into the technical aspects, we need to gather inspiration. In this lesson, we'll explore various sources to spark your creativity for your floral pattern. So the inspiration for my design today, I'm going to use these books here that have some amazing imagery of flowers. These ones in this book here have some beautiful botanical drawings, and you can see some really cool details in these. I think absolutely every sort of flower you can think of is in here. I love this book because it shows you up close and personal with some of the leaves and the flowers and the shapes. And then in this book here, the flower Guide is another favorite of mine. In here, the flowers are all categorized by color, which is really cool. But I like it because it's the photographs. I can see the shapes really well. So for my style of illustration, for this pattern design, I'm looking at other interesting shapes that I can see in these photos. So in this one, for instance, I can see three petals and a little circle in the center, and that's all I would use from that. And then let's find something else. Maybe in this, I can see a cluster of flowers, so I might use that detail. I can see so I can see little white flowers with little yellow dots. And that's all the detail that I am going to use from that. So basically, I'm just really simplifying the shapes that I see here. Once again, this is one of my favorite flowers, the echinacea, and I know these I draw these all the time, and I don't even really need to look at the book. So basically, what I'm going to do is just draw a circle and some petals and make it really simple. And I might put some dots in the top bit there. These are really good books for finding all of those wonderful shapes that you can use. The style of illustration and pattern design is all about simplicity and just creating the shapes and making it really simple. Now, you can take some of the textures and maybe play with them. Sometimes they will take I will take the texture of one flower and put it onto another flower. If I think that will look really good. I'm not going for anything realistic here. I just want them to look pretty and different and interesting. Also, you can obviously use your own photos. I have a huge bank of photos in my Google Drive that I have taken when I'm out and about. I also use Unsplash, which is a really good website for finding royalty free imagery that you can use. You can use these pretty much as they are without any copyright issues. You could recreate them if you wanted to, but they're also good for finding some really cool flower shapes as well. So I will put links to all of these in the resources section so that you can go and check them out for yourself. And another really good place to find some books is the library, obviously, but also charity shops. I'm often in there looking for old gardening magazines, and that's where I find some really interesting flowers. So go check them out, as well. So now we've gathered our inspiration, and our next lesson, we'll begin setting up our OG template in Adobe Illustrator. 3. Ogee Template: In our previous lesson, we gathered inspiration. Now we'll move on to Adobe Illustrator to create our OG template, which will serve as the foundation for our pattern. I'll guide you through the process of creating a precise and reusable template. Okay, so I have opened up Adobe Illustrator, and I'm going to create a new document that is 12 by 12 ". The first thing I need to do is create a circle. So I'm going to use the Ellipse tool, which is on the keyboard and just click inside the artboard there and create a 12 by 12 inch ellipse. And then let's center that into the middle using the horizontal Align center and the vertical align center. And I am just going to fill this with a light gray. Okay, making sure it's selected. Hold down the shift key. Then select the scissors tool, which you see on the keyboard. Then click on the top node, the right node, and the bottom node, and that will cut it out. So now there are three pieces. So now I just want to select the top piece, and I'll just zoom out a bit here so you can see it. So I'm going to select the top one, and I'm going to right click and then select Transform, move. And this one where we want to move it zero horizontally and then 12 " to knock it down, and then click Okay. And then with this one, we're just going to do the opposite. So right, click, transform, move into zero for horizontal, and then -12 in the vertical, and then we'll put it at the top, and then you can click Okay. And then we want to join them together. So I'm just going to click and drag select them, and then right, click, and then join. And that has now created this half OG shape. So now we want to duplicate that. So to do that, I'm just going to grab it in the layers panel and then drag it down to the plus sign, and that will duplicate it and create another copy. We then just want to move it across. So I'm going to right click Transform move, and this time, I want to move it across 12 " and vertically zero. And then click Okay. And then we just want to flip it so that it bumps it up against the left side. So right, click, then select transform, reflect, and you just want to make sure that vertical is selected. And then click Okay. So now we have this lovely OG shape. We just need to join it. So once again, click and drag to select them both, right click and then click Join. And then lastly, we just want to reduce the size. So that is the 12 by 12 inch. You can just go into the Properties panel. And if you can't see that, just go up to Window and then select properties and then select the width and the height needs to be 12 by 12. And if you've got the log on, it will automatically do the height there for you. And then once again, let's just center that in the middle by clicking on the horizontal align center and vertical just to make sure it's right there. Okay, so now we have a OG shape, and this is going to be used as a template. So to save it as a template, I save it in the swatches panel. That way, I can use it four patterns at anytime I want. So firstly, I'm going to remove all these colors that are here at the moment as we don't need them. So I'm just going to click on the first one, which is white, and then hold down the Shift key and then select the last one. And then I can click on delete. And then confirm that. And then what you want to do is to create a new swatch group. So I'm going to click on the folder there, and I'm going to call this pattern templates so that I can add some others to it if I want to. And then we just need to drag that OG shape onto the folder, and now it is in that folder, and now we need to save it. So click on the icon here that is called Swatch Libraries menu and then click on Save Swatches. And then it will default to the Swatches folder for Adobe Illustrator. You can save it here or you could save it somewhere else. Just be aware that you may lose these if you upgrade Illustrator, or what I recommend is copying them over to a new version when you do upgrade. But anyway, I'm not going to save this one because I already have one here called pattern templates, so I don't need another one. But for you, you might want to save it, and then later on, you can add some more templates as you learn how to create them. Alright, so I'm going to cancel that. And let's delete that. Click on the Swatches Library, go to User to find and then select the pattern templates. And then there it is, and you can just click on the folder and add it to your swatches panel. And then you can close that one. And then all I need to do is drag that back on into the center, and then we can start creating our pattern. Now, if you're going to sketch on paper to begin with, you can print this out and use it as a guide. I'm actually going to create my sketch in Procreate, so I will just send that as a PNG over to my iPad. So to do that, I'm going to go to file export, exports, and then I'm going to save it as the OG template. And now I can send that over to my iPad. I can do that using the airdrop as I'm on a MacBook. Or if you want to, you could just email it to yourself and then open it up on your iPad in Procreate. And now you are ready to go. So now we have our OG template set up and ready to go. In the next lesson, we'll start sketching our floral motifs. 4. Sketching: W with our OG template in place, it's time to bring our floral ideas to life through sketching. Okay, so I have picked out a flower for my flower color guide, and I've decided that I want to use this one here called a flannel flower, and I'll just show you a little bit closer up here. I've got this flower with different shapes. It's facing different ways. So I'm going to roughly sketch out each of these. I might actually take some different leaves, but for this particular flower, I just love these shapes, so that is what I'm going to begin with. Okay, so I'm going to create a new canvas in Procreate. You can obviously do your sketch on paper as well on your printed out OG template. But for me, I'm going to sketch in Procreate. I find it's a really good place to be a sketch and move things around, resize them and make them fit really nicely. It's just really great for pattern design. So I'm going to create a new canvas that is let's make it 3,000 by 3,000 pixels. I already have that set up as a template, but you can just type those in yourself, obviously. And then I want to bring in my OG template, which I sent over from Adobe Illustrator. So I'm going to go to the wrench tool here Insert photo and select my OG template. And it's already expanded to the edge of the canvas. But if it hadn't, I could click on Fit to Canvas here, and that will just make it the size of the canvas. Now, also, I have a selection of these templates already set up as a brush library in Procreate, if you're interested. So if I go into my pattern template library here, you can see I've got a bunch of different templates that I use, also some layout suggestions, and I will put a link to this that you can purchase from me to use for your own designs. They come in really handy in Procreate. Alright, so we've got our base template here, and what I'm going to do is just lower the opacity of that layer just so it's just there, and I can see it, and then I'll lock that layer, and let's just create another layer. I'm then going to select my pencil, 60 pencil, and I'll just stick to a dark color here to start sketching. So the first thing I like to do is roughly map out where I'm going to put those flowers. So I have got my book here just in front of me to see the shapes of them. But first, I just want to, like, plot them out. So maybe I want to put one over here. I'm just going to draw a circle there, maybe one down here. And sometimes I'll just draw an oval because I want one that's kind of facing that way, not face on. Maybe one up here. You'll be in here. Maybe up here. And maybe like a little bud here, maybe another bud in here. And then I might just lower the opacity of that and then create another layer on top. If you're doing on paper, you could just rub it out. So it was just a little bit lighter or you could just sketch over the top. So I'm going to start with the facing forward flower, and I like to create just really basic shapes. So nothing too complex. So I'm just going to sketch this out. And I'm going to I'm just looking at my book, create another one down here that's sort of facing up that way. It doesn't matter if you go off the edge slightly. We can adjust everything later on in Illustrator. If it does overlap. Sometimes overlapping is good. Maybe we'll put some stems in here, too. I will put some leaves in too. I'm also going to try and link up all of these stems so that it becomes a trailing floral. You got to remember, too, that flowers aren't always completely perfect, so don't worry too much if they look a bit wonky or different. That's just the nature of petals they're never going to be absolutely perfect. Now, if you are hoping to do a trailing floral, with the OG template, there is a way of connecting the floral the stems. So the bottom left here in the middle is going to connect with the top right there in the middle. So this flower here, the stems going to go down, and then connect to here. And then the same on the other side. So this one here is going to go down. And connect into here. And I can already see a problem here. I'm going to have to move that petal and then have this one connect down into there. But that's not a problem. I'm going to fix that in Adobe Illustrator. Okay, I'm just going to turn off that layer where I plotted out my flowers and just have a quick look at this. So here, I'm pretty happy with this. It's quite rough, but that's all I need to take into Illustrator. I'm going to test this out as a sketch in Illustrator to see how the pattern looks before I commit to any coloring because I do want to match up all these trailing branches to make it look very seamless. So I will do all of that in Illustrator. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to send this over, and I'm going to share it and then just share it as a JPEG and then airdrop it back to my computer and then open it up in Adobe Illustrator. Okay, so I'm going to create a new file in Adobe Illustrator. And this file is gonna be 12 by 12 inch. You could do yours any size you like. My typical go to is a ten by ten or 12 by 12, and 300 DPI. And the first thing I would like to do is get rid of all these swatch colors as I won't be using them, and they clog up my swatch. So to do that, you can go up to Window and then actions, and then let's open up the default actions. Let's just open this up so you can see it a bit better. And then select delete unused panel items and then hit the little arrow here. And Willa, they are gone. Alright, so I'm going to close that down. I'm also now going to bring in my sketch, and I'm just going to drag it onto the artboard. And as you can see, it's enormous. So I'm just going to resize that down to 12 by 12 inch. And then just center it using the horizontal align center and the vertical aligned center. And then let's just zoom back in. So the first thing I want to do is actually test this out to see if I need to make any adjustments to make my trailing florals lineup. If yours doesn't need to be a trailing floral with any lineups, you could skip this bit, but I do recommend doing it just to make sure that your repeat is going to work before you commit to any coloring. The first thing I want to do is actually image trace it. So I am going to go over to my image trace tool. If you can't see that. If you can't see any panel that I already have on here, basically, just go to Window and select the panel. So for this one, it's the image trace one. And for this, I'm just going to keep it as black and white. I'm going to click on Advanced and click on Ignore Color as I don't want any of the white, the background. And then click Trace. And most likely it's probably not going to bring out all of the sketch, so to adjust that, I'm just going to move this threshold up a bit. And you can see it's just bringing out a little bit more. Doesn't have to be perfect. I'm not actually going to use these in the final design. It's actually just my sketch. It's just a guide for where I'm going to color. I know sometimes I do use sketches in the final design. In that case, it would have been a very much neater sketch, and I would have this threshold at a decent level to bring it out. But I'm happy with that. So I'm going to hit Expand. And now we've got this shape. So what I'm going to do now is just hide the image trace. I'm going to select it. I'm going to go to object, pattern make. And then in here, I want to change this to brick by row. And then if we type in the width of the artboard, which is 12, and then type for the width, and then type in six for the height, and you can see it's now placed it all neatly in a lovely pattern. And so now I can see I need to match up some pieces. So this one here needs to join. I need to tuck this in somewhere, so it looks like it's joining. And then this piece here and here. So what I will do is I will dim the outside copies. So all I can see is the main repeat copy. And then I'm going to use the just the blob tool for this and make sure I've got black selected. So I'm just going to mark that there just to line it up. I'm going to do out a bit so I can see what I'm doing. This bit down here needs to be joined up. So this kind of needs to come around to here. And then this bit here is a problem. I want to connect the top bit to the stem here and move this flower over into this gap here. Now, in the pattern tool, it's actually a little bit restricted, so I can't actually cut that out and move it. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to draw a little arrow here to show that I want to move that in there. I'm also going to just indicate where the top of that stem is, and then later on, when I can edit it properly, I can it connect it up to that stem. I'm also going to get rid of this bit here, so I'm just going to scribble over there to let me know that I want to get rid of that. And then I'm going to click Done. And that has now added it to my swatch panel. So I'm going to just drag that over there and pull that pattern on, and I want to convert this to another artboard, and then we can continue editing it and getting it ready for the color. So to convert it to an artboard, if I go into the layers panel and select the bottom layer of that group, it selected the a bounding box. So I'm going to go to object Artboards, convert to artboards. And now we've got this as an artboard. And then I just want to double click on all of it, the group, and remove all these edge pieces that we no longer need as we're going to just work on that middle part, which we now know is lining up nicely, and we just need to fix this bit in here. So firstly, I want to move this over to there. So let's just remove that arrow. I don't need it anymore, and then select this and use the eraser tool just to slice that in half. So now you can see it's been sliced. So now I can use the Easo tool to basically just select this bit. And then if I hit E on the keyboard, I can then rotate it and move it into that section there. And then I'm just going to use my blob tool again. You can use a pencil, anything you like, really to then reconnect this up and maybe put another one there, and maybe we could add another leaf there. And then if we use the eraser tool here, again, we can remove this bit here that I wanted to take out. Okay. So now I know that's going to repeat really well and everything's going to line up. I am going to move on to the color. We can actually also before we do that, remove this original version as we don't need it. So I'm going to click out. We can remove that. We can also remove the artboard as we no longer need it. So I'm just going to hit delete on there, and now we just have the new one left. So we've now sketched our floral motifs and have a clear vision for our pattern. In the next lesson, we'll begin to develop our color motif 5. Colour: Building on our sketches will now focus on developing our color motifs. We'll explore color palettes that complement our floral design and learn how to apply color effectively in Adobe Illustrator. Okay, so I'm all ready to start coloring. I am going to show you a few tips and tricks along the way of how I use Illustrator. I don't use it the same as every other person who creates patterns in Adobe Illustrator. This is just the way I prefer, so it might be something different from what you've done before. But anyway, let's jump in. The first thing I'm going to do is grab my color palette. So I used a tool he called coolers, and I managed to create this color palette by basically starting off with this color here called alloy orange. So I found this color. I love it. So I pull this in. You can lock it. And then if you then hit the space bat on your keyboard, it will rotate through different colors. And when you see one you like, you can lock that and then just do the rest. You'll like that one and that one and then maybe change the last one like that. And so that's how I came up with my color palette. I'll put a link in the resources to show you how to do that. So I'm just going to undo those so I can get back to my original and I just went too far. That's it there. They do have an export function here, so you can export as an ASE. So if I click Export, that has saved it to my downloads folder, I can then go to my swatches library menu here, go to other library. And locate that in my downloads folder. And I'm just going to drag all of those. So I clip the first one, and then the last one with the shift key down. And I'm just going to drag them all onto that folder there, and then just take that black one out. I don't want that one in there. Um, so that's created a folder for them, and then I can save them if I want to. Another thing I like to do is make sure the global is turned on. So you can see in each color swatch here, there's a little triangle down the right hand corner. That is saying that global is switched on. If you double click into one of them, you can see here the process color, and then it says global underneath. So basically what that does is that later on, this will come in really handy. Drag out, say four little shapes here. And say later on, I decide that I want everything that is this color should be a different color. Instead of having to go and click and find them all in the document like that, all I need to do is actually just change that color, so I could change it to that color there or that color. And then it changes in the palette as well, in this watch panel as well. So that's a really handy tool. So I'm just going to get rid of those. Let's go back to our design, and now I'm going to start drawing out my color layers. So I like to create grouped layers according to color. So I'm going to start off with the branches because I do want to test that they repeat nicely and match up so that I create that nice trailing floral effect. There's a lot of ways you can do this. You could use the pencil tool, I personally don't like that one. My favorite is the Blob Brush tool, and that is Shift plus B on the keyboard. And the reason I like this is that you're able to then draw just as you do on a piece of paper. So if I select this color here and use the right square bracket just to make it a little bit bigger, I can easily just draw them out. You can also do this with the pentel, but I personally love to be able to draw it myself rather than click it out with a mouse. I find this method much easier. So I'm just going to go around and draw out these branches, and then I will move on to the next step. Now, to do this, I am using my iPad as a graphic tablet. You could use your pencil. You could use your mouse. I love the way the Apple Pencil works. I find it really easy to use. I used to use a Wacom. My wacomm is now getting dusty in the corner of my office. This is a really intuitive way of doing it. The Apple pencil is so intuitive and easy to use. So if you've got a MacBook and Apple iPad, you can link these up using the Mrorin function on your MacBook. And then use your Apple your iPad as the graphic graphics drawing tablet. I have a bonus video on how to do that and how to connect it up at the end of the class. Okay, so I have drawn out all of those branches. I'm just going to turn off my sketch. And have a look. And if I zoom in, you can see there's a few little bumps everywhere. So I'm just going to select them and then use the Smooth tool. I have set a shortcut on mine, it's Shift S. I think with the standard TIM setup, Shift S does something else, and at some point, I've switched it over because I use this all the time. So I recommend doing that if you do use the smooth tool all the time. So there's a couple of options here. You get this little scale thing here and you can drag it up and you can see how it's smoothed out. Your branch, but you have to be really careful. You don't want to go too far. So I only do that really slightly, and then I just go around and drag my pencil over the sections where I think it needs a little bit of smoothing out. I just want it to be a subtle. I just don't want those bumps, but I don't want it to look overly smooth. I still want it to be quite natural. So I'm just going to go around and smooth out these Another thing is, over time, you'll find that you rely on those shortcuts rather than having to go into the menu and find them. The shortcuts really do speed up your process and make it a lot smoother. So I do recommend using shortcuts as much as you can. You will find over time that you'll just use them naturally and not have to think about them, but it does take a little bit of time. Okay, so my branches are all smoothed out and are looking pretty good. Before I go on to the leaves and the flowers, I want to make sure that these are going to repeat because remember, I want to make it look like a trailing floral. So I want to make sure some of the tops and the bottoms are all matching up. And so to do that, I'm going to actually do it via the pattern tool and then make some adjustments and then then continue on. So I'm going to go up to actually, first to select them, go up to object pattern make and then I'm going to go to Brick by Row. I'm going to change the width to 12 and the height to six. And now you can see these bits where I need to just make some slight adjustments in order to make them match up nicely. So this bit here is actually that bit there. This bit here is that bit over there, and then this bit here matches up with that bit there. So pick which one you think is going to be the easiest to smooth out. So for this one, I'm going to go into this one here. I only needs a slight adjustment. I'm going to use the direct selection tool, which is A on the keyboard. And then with each of these little nodules in here, I'm able to manipulate the branch to fit with the one underneath it. So I'm just making the slightest of adjustments. You can also use the Smooth tool as well if you need to. Just if you do raise you cannot undo, so keep that in mind. You have to keep going. Otherwise, you just have to go back out and start again. I'm hoping in future editions of Illustrator, we might get a few more options in here so we can do it on the fly. Alright, I'm happy with that one. Let's go to the next one. Okay. That is looking way better. Now we can see that everything is lining up. So what I'm going to do is click Done, and that has added it to my swatches panel. And so now we're going to create another artboard and use that to continue coloring. So I'm just going to grab that swatch, drag it onto the space. Make sure that I'm on that active layer. Drag that on. And then if I go into that group, select that bottom layer only, go up to object Atboards convert to artboards. And then we just need to remove all those outer ones. So at the moment, they're all grouped. If I double click in, I can then select all the corner pieces and remove them. We just need that centerpiece and go out. Now, it's important not to move these now, so you might want to lock them so they don't get accidentally moved because we now know that these are matching up perfectly. So now we don't need this artboard anymore, but first, I need to copy over the sketch. So I'm just going to turn that back on and unlock it and move that over to this artboard, just as best as you can align it back up with your branches. And then what we can do is go to the Artboards panel and delete the first one, not the second one. And we don't need the branches, either, so we can remove them. So now we've got our training branches that will match up when we repeat them, and we can continue on with coloring. Okay, so I might now do the petals of the flowers back again with my blob tool, and I'm just going to go around and trace my sketch. Obviously, this time it looks a lot smoother than the actual sketch. And then to fill that, let's just turn off the sketch so you can see it better. If I select the direct selection tool, which is A on the keyboard, and then just select the inner part of that outline. You can see it's only selected the inside. So then I hit delete on my keyboard twice, it will remove it, and we've got a filled flower. So I'm just going to continue on with that with the rest of the flowers. Okay, all of the flowers are now done. I am just going to check if they need any smoothing out. I can see a bump there. I don't want them absolutely perfect, but I also don't want any jaggedy edges that look a bit weird. H Okay, I'm happy with that. Now, I like to keep everything organized, so I'm going to group all of those. I'm going to select the top one in the layers panel, hold down shift and select the bottom one, and then command G to group those together. Alright. Now I'm going to do the centers of the flowers. Okay, now I just want to add some details. So let's add some dots to the center of the flowers, and I'm going to select this darker color. And then let's just see what size. Make those a bit bigger. So write square bracket to increase the size. And then I can just dot them in And lastly, I want to add some detail, some little lines to the petals and to be able to define some of those petals as well, but at the moment, look a bit funny and also to the leaves. So I'm going to stick with that color, and I'm going to decrease the size cause I want it not so big. Zoom in, and I'm just going to still too big. And that's okay. And I'm literally just sort of, like, dabbing it on to make it look like a broken line. You could do an unbroken line. This is just something I like to do. Kind of makes it a bit more scratchy, I guess. And then I need to define this petal that's there. Okay. That looks pretty good. Let's group those. And I'm going to do some lines for the leaves as well. So I'm going to use this lighter color and then come in. This time, I'm sort of going over the edge because I want it to go from the top to the bottom, and then I will show you how to quickly clip those so that they are just on the leaf. Alright, that's all the leaves done. Let's group those marks on the leaf. And I'm just going to turn off some of these background these other layers. Keep that one. Keep that one that one off. Just so I can show you whoops. How to remove the overlaps. So if we grab both, we've both got the leaves selected and the lines, my other favorite tool, other than the Blob tool is the shape builder tool. Which is Shift plus M. And if you can see when I'm dragging across, they change, and you could theoretically just click and drag to join those two together, and it creates one object, but I don't want to do that. All I want to do is actually just get rid of these end pieces here. So you can see when I hover over it, it shows a plus. I want to change that to a minus so that when I click it, it disappears. So to do that, I'm going to hold down option and then just click on it. And you can see it just disappears. And I can just go around and click on each of those pieces, making sure I've got the option down to get rid of all of them. There are other ways to do this. You can create a clipping mask. You can draw inside the leaf. But I find this one is relatively quick and easy to do and probably my favorite. Alright, I think I've done all of those. Whoops, not one more up here. And now I will turn back on those layers and the stems. All right. That's looking pretty good. Now, there is one thing I want to do. I'm finding that the contrast between this purple and the rest of the colors is not popping enough for me. So I'm going to try and find a pinkish color that I can use instead. So a bit more brighter so that I could change that. So I had a bit of time flipping through encore, and I found this color here called plum, which I think gives a little bit more contrast. So I'm just going to try that out. So I'm going to copy that hex code. Go back in here, and now remember how I said you should use global colors. Instead of having to pick all those colors, all those flowers, I just need to change the color of this purply mauve color. So I'm just going to paste in the hex code and click Okay, and there is my pink version, which I think looks better. So I'm going to stick with that, and you can see that it's changed in the watches panel as well. With our colored motifs ready, we're now prepared to compose our pet within the OG template. In the next lesson, we'll arrange our elements and create our repeating pattern tile. 6. Pattern Composition: In our previous lesson, we developed our color motifs. Now we'll focus on arranging these motifs within our OG template to create a cohesive and visually appealing pattern. We'll also learn the techniques to create a flawless, seamless repeat in Adobe Illustrator. Okay, now we are ready to transform this into a pattern. So what I'm going to do is first turn back on my branches layer, grab everything, go up to object, pattern, make. Then we want to switch that to brick by row, type 12 in the width, 12 ", and six in the height. And if you wanted to if you didn't want to have any overlaps, you could go in and adjust these slightly, but actually, I don't mind them. It gives it more depth, so I am going to keep those. I'm going to click Done. And that's put it into my swatches panel. So let's first test that out and just see what it looks like. I'm going to grab the rectangular tool. I'm going to select another layer, and then just drag that out and fill that with my pattern. And as you can see at the moment, it doesn't have a background. So what we can do to test out a background here, we can just grab that layer, duplicate it by dragging it down to the plus. Select the bottom layer and then give it a background. And that looks pretty good. Now, so far, I'm happy with that, but I do want to go a step further and give it more depth. And if you've taken my class called master pattern designs like a Pro, you'll see I have lots of different methods for creating depth and balance in your patterns. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to add some texture to the background to create some lovely depth on this. So first of all, I'm going to actually Delete that one and that one. And we are going to drag out the actual palette repeat tile and turn that into an artboard, and then I'm going to add the background texture. So once again, to select the bounding box, you can actually go in and sort of try and select it, but that's a bit hard. So I'm going to go into the group and select that bottom layer. I'm going to turn that into an artboard, so go up to object artboards, convert to artboards. I'm also going to create a background layer. So I'm just going to create that using the rectangle tool, drag that out across. I'm going to go outside that bounding artboard box and create a background layer and then drag it to the bottom of that group. Now, if I was to export that artboard, which is now the second one as a tile, it would be a repeating pattern. But I do want to add my texture. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to create another layer. On top, I'm going to lock that layer, the original layer. I might lock the other layer just so that we don't accidentally do this on the wrong layer. So we've got another separate layer altogether. I'm going to use my blob tool again and I'm going to select a dark color. This is probably not the color I'm going to end up with. I'm just going to start with it so I can see it clearly. Let's increase the size. I'm just going to do some dots to see the size of them quite like them, so I'm going to continue with that. And I'm basically just going to actually know, I'm going to go a little bit smaller, and I'm just going to dab in all the way around and create some texture in the background. This is going to create a lovely effect to make it. The main elements pop out at you. You see this done in William Morris designs. You'll often see it in my designs. I love this technique. And I actually find this quite meditative, just dotting around. You could create brushes to do this, but I like doing it manually. All right, so I might speed this up, and I'll see you at the end. One other thing also, I'm not going to go outside the bounds of the box, the bounding box. I'm going to keep it all within unless it's the top, the top side or the left side, and then we can then repeat those over. So it's just the top and the left. I can go over, so I can slightly go over up here if I want to, but not on the right or the bottom. Alright, so I'm just going to continue on, and I will see you when I'm close to done. Okay. That is done. I'm going to select all of those and just change the opacity down. So they are more subtle and that makes them look like they're right in the background. I just realized I jotted over there as well. I can then just turn off the other pattern here, the rest of the pattern here, and I just want to grab anything that is crossed over that top bit. And then I'm going to right click Transform move. And we're going to type zero in the horizontal and then 12 vertically, and then you can see them jump down to the bottom, and then we want to hit copy to copy them. We also then I can see there's a couple here that might be overlapping, so I'm just going to go in here and just nudge these a little bit, so they're not right on top of each other. Okay, and then I need to do the same for the left side to copy them over to the right side. And this will ensure that they all um repeat with the pattern. So we're going to move. And this time, we're going to go 12 across and zero down. And then copy. And then we can turn on that background layer again. And now we have the left side repeating on the right and the top on the bottom. And I'm going to drag that down into that layer below. So that will group together. On that one artboard. Okay. So now that is our repeating tile. Okay, now I just want to see if this is going to repeat nicely. So I do want to add it to my swatch panel. So if I were to just grab everything and pull it over, and then grab a rectangular tool and then add it, you'll see that it hasn't done it very well. So let's remove that. So I'm just going to create another bounding box. I'm going to click on the workspace there and create a 12 by 12 inch. And this one needs to have no fill and no stroke. So I'm going to remove that fill, I'm going to center it both vertically and horizontally, and then it needs to go at the bottom. So now if we select all of it and drag it on you can see it now looks slightly different. Let's see if that has now created pattern. I can select it, select my rectangular tool, and then drag that out, and you can see that now is repeating really nicely. It's got the trailing floral effect, and it's looking pretty good. So you can then use that artboard there, which is the second artboard to export. Just make sure you export as a artboard. So file export as and then select Um, I'm going to say JPEG for this and use the artboards and then the second artboard and then Export. You also want to make sure that art optimized is on and that the quality is at the maximum and the Resolution 300 and then click Okay. So now we've successfully composed our pattern and created a seamless repeat. Now we'll explore how to create multiple color ways of design, expanding versatility. 7. Colourways: Building on our completed pattern will now explore the power of color variations. We'll learn how to create multiple colorways of our design, giving it a fresh and diverse look. Creating multiple colorways for your pattern designs isn't just a nice to have. It's a strategic move that significantly enhances your designs potential. Think of it as giving your pattern a wardrobe of different personalities. So here's why you should embrace the power of color variations. Firstly, it can broaden your audience appeal. People have diverse tastes and what resonates with one person might not appeal to another. So by offering multiple colorways, you cater to a wider spectrum of preferences, increasing the likelihood of your design finding its perfect match. Imagine a bright, playful pattern. While it might be perfect for children's products, a more muted, sophisticated version could attract an entirely different demographic interested in home decor. It can help by boosting marketability and sales. So retailers often seek a variety to offer their customers. Multiple colorways make your designs more attractive to buyers, increasing the chances of your patterns being selected for production and offering a range of color options can also lead to increased sales. Offering a range of color options can lead to increased sales. Customers might be drawn to the same pattern in different color palettes leading to multiple purchases. It can enhance design versatility, so a single pattern can take on a vastly different mood. Application simply by changing its colors. A bold, vibrant color way might be ideal for active wear, while a soft pastel version could be perfect for nursery decor. Color ways allow you to explore the full potential of your pattern, showcasing its adaptability and versatility across various product categories. It's great for creating seasonal or trend driven collections. So color trends change regularly, and so by adapting multiple colorways, you can quickly adapt your designs to reflect current trends or seasonal palettes. This agility allows you to stay relevant and competitive in the ever evolving design market. And lastly, client presentations when presenting designs to clients, offering multiple colorways allows the client to see the full potential of the design and allows them to make a color selection that best fits their needs. So, in essence, multiple colorways transform your patterns from singular creations into adaptable assets, maximizing their market potential and allowing you to connect with a broader audience. So let's see how we can do that in Adobe Illustrator. So the first thing I want to do before I recolor this is to create a duplicate of this repeating tile, so we only change the duplicate copy. So I'm just going to this one is in a group at the moment. So all I need to do is hold down Option, click and drag to duplicate it. And then I also want to make sure this is on an artboard so that if I do change colors, I can then export it as a repeating tile. So within that group, I'm just going to click on that bottom repeat the bounding box, go up to object. Sorry, object Artboards convert to artboards. Now, you might get this. It says, basically that it can't create an artboard because it's a clipping mask. So to get around that issue, what I need to do is actually put this on a separate layer to what the original one was on. So at the moment, it's on this layer three here. I'm just going to create a new one on top. Then I'm going to select this one here and just drag it up into that new layer. And how it I lock that other layer so we don't mess anything up. So now if I go into this layer and I select that bottom bounding box there, I should be able to go to object Artboards convert to artboards, and now it is a new artboard. We've got number three there, which is exactly what I wanted. Okay, so to recolor. So I'm going to select it all, go into this option here called recolor artwork. And initially, it'll give you this box here. The advanced options here, which is what I normally go into. But this one here will give you a few options. You can go into the color library here and you can select a different library. So say you want to change it to a sort of a pop art fiel, you could select that, and it's going to give you some different colors. You can even move those around and adjust them if you want some greens. And so forth. So I'm going to undo all of that. And get back to where I was. And then I'm going to click on Advanced Options because this is what I normally use, and it gives you a number of other options. So you can see it shows your swatch group. So this is basically what is in your swatch panel over here. You also can adjust the number of colors that you want to reduce it to. So say you wanted to reduce it to just two colors or three colors, you could do that. And so now it's automatically done that. And I'm just going to put that back. You can also change it to another built in color palette. So let's say, try this prehistoric one, and that's what it's done. Now, just be mindful in here there is no undo. So on the previous pop up, it did actually have an undo, but in the advanced, it doesn't. So if you decide you don't like that, my suggestion is to basically cancel, go back out and then go back in, so you don't lose what you had. You can also select different colors. And here, so say I just want to change this purply blue navy to a lighter color, I could do that. Um and then I can use this randomly change color order in order to apply it. And that's created quite a nice little change, as well. If you keep clicking on there, it'll just keep randomly changing the order, but still keeping the same colors. So that can produce some interesting effects. The next one over here just changes the saturation and brightness of each of those colors that you already had. And then I don't actually use this last one at all, so I'm not going to go into that. And also, use a custom palette. So maybe you can bring in one that you've defined before. It's basically picked the colors from this new palette that are the closest match to what's there currently, which is quite a cool effect. So my favorite way is just to run through the color order to create new combinations until I find something that I like. And once you found something that you like, if you click on Okay, that is going to add it to your swatch palette and I've just noticed that it's added it there, but I can tell that it's incorrect because it doesn't have the bounding box. So what I can do is just create that quickly. So I'm just going to use the rectangular tool and I'm going to create a 12 by 12 inch rectangle. I don't want any fill or stroke on that. And then I just want to center it on that artboard, and I need to make sure that it is on that layer, so we're just going to drag it up there. So now I should be able to grab all of that, drag it onto my artboard. And now I can tell that it looks good. So I'm going to test it out on my test one here. I just need to unlock it, and there is the other colorway. And now I'm going to create another one. So I'm going to create another layer. I'm going to grab all of that, hold down the option key and drag and duplicate that and then just drag it onto that new layer, and I'll lock that previous layer. I'm going to grab that bounding box at the bottom and duplicate it, and then grab the bottom one and go to object artboards, convert to artboards. I'm now going to select all of that, go up to actually, now I'm going to bring in a different palette. So I'm going to go to user defined and bring in this new palette that I've created and add it to my swatchboard. And then if I select it all go to recolor artwork, go to Advanced Options. I can now see that new palette is now on the swatch groups. I'm going to just click on that group, and you'll see it automatically update the color palette and then I'm going to use the randomly change color order to see what happens. And I'm just going to stick with that one. So I'm going to click on Okay and then say yes to changing the swatch group. And all that means is that it's reordered them there. And then I'm going to just drag that onto my palette, and you can see it's up there. So let's go test that out. I just need to unlock that and apply that new pattern. So there's another completely different look as well. And now I'm going to create another one. So I'm going to create another layer. I'm going to grab all of that, hold down the option key and drag and duplicate that and then just drag it onto that new layer, and I'll lock that previous layer. I'm going to grab that bounding box at the bottom and duplicate it, and then grab the bottom one and go to object artboards, convert to artboards. I'm now going to select all of that, go up to actually, now I'm going to bring in a different palette. So I'm going to go to user defined and bring in this new palette that I've created and add it to my swatchboard. And then if I select it all go to recolor artwork, go to Advanced Options. I can now see that new palette is now on the swatch groups. I'm going to just click on that group, and you'll see it automatically update the color palette and then I'm going to use the randomly change color order to see what happens. And I'm just going to stick with that one. So I'm going to click on Okay, and then say yes to changing the swatch group. And all that means is that it's re ordered them there. And then I'm going to just drag that onto my palette, and you can see it's up there. So let's go test that out. I just need to unlock that and apply that new pattern. So there's another completely different look, as well. We've created multiple colorways of our pattern, given it a wide range of applications. In our final lesson, we'll learn how to present our design in a realistic mockup showing its potential. 8. Mockups: In our final lesson, we'll take our completed pattern and create a realistic mockup. My preference is to use Photoshop for mockups, but you can actually create mockups in Adobe Illustrator. There are just a few limitations to it. So in the new Adobe Illustrator 2025, you can actually create mockups automatically. So I'm going to use this design here to place onto a mock up. So if I just go up to Window and then to mock up, you can see in here it's got a few different choices. I've got apparel. Branding, graphics, digital products and packaging. So if I select my pattern here and then click onto this one here, which is a notebook, and then click on Preview Mockup. It is placed on there. And obviously, we need to manipulate that a bit. So I'm going to click on Place on Canvas. Okay, so once it's on the Canvas, we can just expand this out to fit over the notebook. By just grabbing the anchor points here and pulling them out. And to keep the dimensions, hold down the Shift key, then just drag it out until it expands outside the edges of the notebook. And then you want to change the blending mode so that the texture of the actual notebook shows through. So in the properties panel, if you can't see that, go to Window and then select properties. In there, I'm going to change the opacity here. I'm going to click on the dropdown here and select multiply. And there it is. Now, the functionality of this is a bit wonky. You might notice that some of the insides of my flowers are missing. And there's also this weird gap up here in the corner. So, it also on the top, it's kind of wrapped over. So it isn't the best of mockups. Sorry, I'm just getting that back on the screen there. So, personally, I would prefer to do this in Photoshop. So let's jump into Photoshop. So I've just opened up my pattern repeat tile, and the first thing I want to do is add it to my patterns swatchbard. So if you can't see that, just go up to Window and select patterns. And then all I need to do is click the plus sign, and then that will add it on there, which means I can now use that to apply it to any sort of mockups I might have. So I'm going to use this mockup here that I purchased from Cretz and I will leave a link for you to have a look at their website. They probably have the best mockups that you could purchase. I am a bit of a serial purchaser when it comes to mocks, but they really do make fantastic mockup. So I have this one. I use it all the time. You might see it on my socials. So I have downloaded this, and we're going to use this. I'm going to demonstrate how to use this in Photoshop. So here is the mockup in Photoshop. And what I want to do is update the pattern on there to my new pattern that we've just created. So in the layers panel, I'm just going to scroll down until I get to the ones that say design. So there's a few. They have one for each of the sleeves and then each of the body pieces. So I'm going to start with the front left piece, and it is all I need to do is double click on it. It's a smart object, so it'll take you into another file. When you first get it, you might not have this pattern filled there. You'll just have this here called sample design. So you can either just grab your pattern and drag it on and then you don't even need it clipped at the moment, it's clipped to that one. I'm just going to unclip it. You don't need that. You can then double click on it, you change the scale. So I'm going to bump that down, and then just take a note of what size I end up with because I will apply that to the other ones as well. So then I can just close that and save it. And it's applied it to the pattern. And then I'm just going to do the same for the other pieces. And this time, I'm just going to update the one I've got there already and change the scale to 40% and the pattern as well. And then the sleeves. And then we can also update the color of the binding and also the rainbow. So you just need to find those layers. And so here's the binding, and I can just update that color if I double click on it, and then I can select the color from my pattern. And I'll do the ribbon, as well. And then I'm just going to update the rainbow colors. And I'm just going to select colors from my design. Okay, and the last thing I'm going to do is turn on my logo here, which I already had loaded and just update the color so that it matches my design. And now this is ready for social media or my portfolio. Now, if you're interested in creating your own mockups, I do have a class on how to create realistic mockups on skill share here. I will leave a link in the download for you to have a look at that if you are keen. We've now completed our project and learned how to create stunning mockup of our floral OG pattern. 9. Your Project: Now, let's dive into the details of the project. Your main task is to design a unique floral pattern using the OG template provided in the class resources or one that you have created yourself, following along with my lesson. Now, you'll take this simple shape and transform it into a vibrant, repeating floral pattern. Utilize Adobe Illustrator to design and refine your pattern and ensure your pattern tile creates a seamless repeat. To complete this project, upload it to the project gallery, you can upload a low res, a JPEG of your pattern. Just don't upload the repeating tile, make it a snapshot of it. You could also upload a mood board if you created one showing us your inspiration and color palette. And finally, you could upload a mockup of your design using my tips for creating a mockup. So here are some tips to help you create a fantastic pattern. Look everywhere for inspiration. Nature, botanical gardens, vintage illustrations, online design resources. The possibilities are endless. Don't jump straight into Illustrator. Sketch your floral elements and pattern layouts on paper or in Procreate, as I've shown in the lessons. This will help you refine your ideas and save you a lot of time later on. Choose a limited color palette to a cohesive look. I typically use around five colors. Most importantly, let your unique style shine through. Avoid copying existing designs and create something that is truly your own. And to help you along the way, I have included some helpful resources in the class materials. These include links to free stock photo websites for flower inspiration, color palette generators to help you create harmonious color schemes. These resources will give you a great starting point for gathering inspiration and building your design. I highly encourage you to share your work in the project area this is a fantastic opportunity to receive feedback from me and your fellow students. We're all here to learn and grow together. I can't wait to see what you create. Remember, the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the process. 10. Conclusion: And just like that, we've reached the end of our class. I hope you've enjoyed learning how to create your own modern trailing floral pattern using the OG template in Adobe Illustrator. But this is just the beginning. I encourage you to take what you've learned and continue exploring. Experiment with different floral motifs, try various color palettes, and even play around with different OG template variations. The possibilities really are endless. And don't be afraid to push the boundaries and discover your own unique style. The more you practice, the more confident and creative you'll become. Now, I'd love to see what you've created, so please share your floral pattern in the project gallery. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your work see feedback from me and your fellow students and inspire others. Building a creative community is so important, and I believe that sharing our work is a vital part of the learning process. So please don't be shy. Share your creations, leave comments on other students' projects, and engage with the class community. Thank you so much for joining me on this creative journey. I've truly enjoyed sharing my passion for pattern design with you. I hope you have been inspired to continue exploring the world of floral patterns and create designs that you love. Keep creating, keep learning, and I will see you in my next class. See ya. 11. Bonus Lesson - Connecting iPad to MacBook: Okay, so I wanted to show you how I connect my iPad to my computer so that I can use it as a tablet. I used to use my Wacom, and then I bought an iPad and realized that the iPad was just as good. To in order to do this, I have a MacBook Pro, which you can see underneath there, and that is linked up to a screen. You can obviously do this with your MacBook without another screen, but I use a big monitor for when I'm at home at my desk. So all you need to do is go up into you can either go into this icon here or this one here, which is the screen Mirroring one. Um, and then you just need to select your iPad. Now, if it doesn't come up in that list, you can go to display setting, and then you can then add it. So you can go in here and you can add it if it's not already on there. But mine's already there, so I'm just going to select iPad. And then you should see it pop up onto my screen here. Now, if you're finding that it keeps cutting out, I do have another cable here. This is a thunderbolt cable, and I plug that in. I most often use it with the cable as I find the Bluetooth is a bit problematic, so it will disconnect a lot. So if I plug that in, I've plugged it into my computer, and then I can plug it in. Well, this is a bit hard when you're trying to film, as well, but play it into my iPad. And now I can now I know that it's not going to disconnect. And so now I can use my pencil and use that as a tablet, and I can also look at the screen or I look at my iPad. And basically, you can use your pencil now like a drawing tool as well as the mouse. So that's really handy for when I'm drawing an Illustrator. You still need your keyboard close by. I use all the shortcuts on my keyboard to be able to do all the stuff that I do on my iPad. So yeah, that's why using the shortcuts are really handy. Otherwise, you can just use your mouse, as well to do all of that. Alright. I hope that was helpful. Yeah, if you have any questions, let me know.