Creating Artwork for Woven Fabrics

1. Creating Artwork for Woven Fabrics Intro: Hi, I'm Laura Adams. Have you dreamed of getting your artwork onto woven fabric of thing it and upholstery applications sometimes to hotels. Why ovens are beautiful and durable alternative to print fabrics. They offer texture and depth that you don't often find in print simply due to the nature of how they're made. Not that I don't love prints, I do, but I have a special love in my heart for weapons and soon I hope you will too. I've been a weapons designer for the last 29 years. I'm an expert on designing them and both the residential and commercial markets. There's nothing I love more than a good challenge to take a beautiful piece of art work and turn it into a breathtaking woven that cells into these markets. It so gratifying to happen upon something I've designed out in the world. Now there's a skill to creating weapons, but there's also a skill to creating artwork for weapons. In this class, I'm going to give you a glimpse behind the technical side of Lovins as it relates to your artwork. Explain what you can do to make your artwork more appealing for these applications, and give you some insight on how color comes into play. Our class project will be a simple exercise and creating a basic web and design image in two ways. First, we'll create one that's set up as he would set up your artwork to be used by weapons designer. Then we'll create one that allows you to experience how your artwork would have to be adjusted bioweapons designer in order to work for the loom. You'll have a class handout to reference and worksheets to download to complete the project. You can find all that at textile design pro.com, backslash artwork for woven handout. I hope it opens your eyes to the why behind why it's important to prep your files a certain way and how that will make them more appealing to designers looking for artwork. Most importantly, I hope it helps you to build repeating relationships with designers and design teams that work with you. I can't wait to tell you more. Let's get started. 2. Loom Basics: Now if you follow me at all, you know that I have a deep love for textile history, especially the y and the process. I fully believe that understanding the why and how something has come to be gives you an advantage as you approach your design work. So I'll not only show you how to do this, but why we do this, why we do it this way, and how it came to be this way. Are you ready for some digging in with that art lesson? Don't worry, it really is fascinating. And a deeper understanding of the process will make you a better designer and one that stands out from others. At the end of this class, you'll be begging me to tell you more, or maybe I'll be begging you to ask for more. We'll see, unlike printed fabrics, a lot has to happen to your artwork to make it come to life as a woven wasn't, after all, is a 3D product. It has layers and moving parts called yarns and a lot of math. What you're not a fan of math either. You're about to learn a little woven design secret. Math is beautiful. Let me show you now in order to understand what kind of artwork designers are looking for when it comes to woven fabrics, it's helpful to have at least a basic understanding of how the wounds will utilize the artwork you create. Now there are two types of machines used for weeding Dhabi looms and Jacquard looms. Jacquard looms are the ones that we use for detailed pieces that require artwork. Whereas Dhabi limbs are used mostly for what is referred to in the industry as planes. However, since Jacquard looms were born from Dhabi looms, understanding Dhabi looms will better help you to understand the process as well. So this is a good example of a Dhabi line. What I want you to take note of here is what is known as the harnesses. These not only serve to help separate the warp yarns, those are the vertical yarns running up the loom so that they can remain individual threads throughout the process. They also determined the complexity of the wave or the pattern. Now since this loom only has two harnesses, There are only two lines that can be allowed in the pattern, which means that the only way that can work on this loom is a plane wave or a slight variation of a plane wave. You can see here the graphic layout of a plane wave into its side and illustration of it. This is the most basic and smallest wave that exist. And you actually find it everywhere around the world. Take a look at your sheets as you get into bed tonight. Chances are they're woven plane wave. This wave is also called a tabby weave or calico or taffeta wave. But this tiny little grid of four pixels is the entire pattern. Can you see how restricted this is? The only variety of luck comes from the yarns more than the pattern. Even Dhabi limbs in production today typically only have 12 to 16 harnesses with many happiness PheWAS for. Now, did you just catch what I said about that pattern? Or did you notice anything else about this wave is broken down to its most basic level, which is essentially a pattern of pixels. Why am I showing you all this? Because I want you to understand that these waves are pixel based. Just like programs like Procreate, photoshop, corral, and affinity. The CAD systems used in weaving and the mechanical systems and the loom, read these pixels and react based on what is shown. Just like computer systems rely on the numbers 10 to code. Looms rely on pixels that are shaded, are unshaded to tell them what to do. Now here's a fun fact. Did you know that Jacquard looms were the first computers ever? It's true computers were based off of what we learn from these looms. So not only would the world be naked without textiles, the majority of today's technology wouldn't exist if it weren't for the innovations made in textiles hundreds of years ago. You're welcome. At the end of the day, our beautiful artwork has to speak the language of computers in order for it to become something else. The language of computers is very exact and mathematical and boils down to single square pixels. These are the original looms and the most basic, but they're also the most restrictive. But everything has to start somewhere, right? And all creativity is born from within boundaries. How else can we break them? Let's take a different look in the next video. 3. The Role of Pixels: Okay, so we know that all computer-based woven fabrics and prints, by the way, are made up of a single pixel so that computers can read them and make sense of them. Computers are very precise, very black and white and only work based off of the information that we give them. Though, our artwork might be very complex and devastatingly beautiful, it still has to be broken down into the most basic and simplified version of itself in order for the computer to be able to do anything with it. Let me show you what I mean. In prints. The pixels are square. When you create a file that is 300 DPI, which is based off what the machinery can handled. By the way, you're creating a file in which every inch is composed of 300 square pixels in both directions. Those are so tiny that I can't even see them. It's not 300 pixels total in an inch. It's 300 in both directions. That's 90 thousand pixels in an inch. And yet the machinery is so advanced, it can be that exact. Now here are some examples of different pixelated squares. The first is a one hundred, one hundred pixels square, and obviously this is larger than an inch, but I can't even show you what a 100 by 100 pixels looks like in an inch because it becomes too fine for the odd to see. Keep in mind that the standard DPI is 300, which is three times this and also held within one inch. So imagine shrinking that down to one inch and then tripling the number of squares in that inch. That is 300 DPI. Beside it you can see 50 by 5025 by 25. Can you see how unrefined the edges become as the pixels become fewer. If you were to create a print where the dots per inch, we're a 100 instead of 300. You can see from this how the individual squares will be larger, which would make your artwork not as crisp. And some applications, the higher the DPI, the more detailed and refine a print can be. Now when printers first arrived on the scene, the DPIs were lower. And as you can imagine, the result was not as impressive as what we can achieve today. I can't even begin to think what we might be able to do in the future. Now here's another example. I've drawn a diamond using three different pixel sizes. On the left, there's 50 by 50 pixels. Then you'll see 25 by 25 pixels and then 12 by 12. The dominant at 50 pixels is much more refined and smooth than the one at 12th. And these aren't even down to a one inch scale. But you get the idea. The higher the dots or pixels per inch, the better the image you achieve. And weapons, we aren't just putting ink onto a base cloth. That is a straightforward and consistent process. While the fabric basis may change the way that the printer works will always remain the same as putting the color pixels onto the fabric in the exact place at your digital artwork has told it to go. What happens, however, we're creating a 3D object with endless variables. The shape of a single pixel isn't necessarily even a square and will change based on these variables. A print designer may purchase your artwork because they love it and can use it exactly as it is going into production fairly quickly. But what happens? Designers have to style a fabric based on the artwork, as well as the yarns, the machinery, and finishes available for them to use. They could take your same piece of artwork and make a 100 different fabrics based on using different combinations of yarns and finishes. So really in order to create a woven from a piece of digital art, a highly skilled weapons designer must come alongside you to help you cross the finish line with your fabric. Or you can learn these skills yourself. Now this is why woven meals have in-house designers. You can't just drop a piece of artwork onto a loom and press the Go button. There's a lot of other things that have to happen and be considered in order to turn a piece of artwork into a woven fabric. But just like a print, woven still have to break the pattern down to a single pixel in order to talk to the computer as loom. Now next, I'll show you how a common pixel setup for woven so that you can better understand the difference. 4. How Pixels Translate to Wovens: Now as we've just seen, a standard pixel for prints as a square wave. And the only way that you could use a square pixel as a building block would be if you were using a yarn that was the exact same size in the horizontal and vertical directions. Remember that as loop pot holders he made as a kid. These are the perfect example of a yarn that is the exact same size in both directions. The way that it translates digitally is into a square pixel. And you can see on this image shown in yellow how that square shape would look in a digital file. This is the plane wave that we saw earlier. However, more often than not, that is not the case in textiles. In fact, for home decor is almost never the case. What is most common is a rectangular pixel that is created by having a vertical warp yarn that is much smaller than the horizontal fill yarn. This has done for many reasons, but the main one is for complexity. It's much easier for a manufacturer to keep a single-sided warp yarn in the vertical direction, Loom and then just vary the size of the fill yarn in the horizontal direction. Now for the sake of this explanation, we're going to say that the warp yarn is half the size of the filling yarn. So you can see here when the warp or vertical yarn is half the size of the fill or horizontal yarn. It creates a rectangular pixel, shown here in yellow. And that is the component that caste systems used to create the pattern, not a square pixel, as in other programs. It has to allow for different size yarn choices and it has to be able to vary from fabric to fabric. Because of that, when your artwork, which is squared pixel-based, is used by a weapons designer to create a fabric. They will have to adjust your artwork into whatever set up they are using based off of the yarns in both directions. It's not a simple process and 90% of the time they will have to completely redraw your artwork based on their choices. Then if they change their mind and decide on another construction, they will more than likely have to completely redraw it again. But honestly, they don't mind As part of that process. But you understanding that process will help you to help them through the artwork that you develop for them. Now I notice is a lot. I truly believed that knowledge like this is rare and if you know, it only makes you stronger than someone else who might not understand the why behind things. And knowledge is powerful. So last thing before we get into setting up your artwork, a little show and tell. As light as the early 990s, weeding meals were just beginning to transition over from hand painted weaving charts to computer aided design. My first job out of college was as an in-house weapons designer. And in order to make the loom read the computer files, we had to write a computer program for every single pattern. I was literally writing code in an old computer language called Unix and I didn't even know it. I couldn't write that code today if my life depended on it. Now, at the same time, there was a woman working beside me that only a few years before had been hand painting graph paper to be translated into cards. We're hung on the loom and read, almost like reading braille. It's incredible to think about and amazing to see how far technology can come in such a short time. Now, here's an example of a hand painted piece of textile art from 1907. It's over a 100 years old. You can see where the artist's hand painted the pixels in gouache paint on graph paper, which is called point paper, that allowed for rectangular pixels so that the different sized yarns could be represented and the pattern can be figured out in the right scale. Are you taking out or is it just me? It's okay if it's just me. But I hope I'm opening your eyes to the whys behind how we set up files today. It's important to know the y's because once you understand how things work, you can push the limits and go on to create incredible things. Now, does this mean you don't need to vectorize your patterns? Will not necessarily. And I'll show you why in the next video. 5. Setting Up Your Files: Now as an artist, the types of artwork you're creating can only be replicated on a Jacquard loom. On a Jacquard loom, the artwork is the star and the waves are created to showcase that art work. A weapons designer's job is to envision and design a piece of fabric that makes the artwork come to life in a way that's usable and durable and beautiful. Remember those pixels we've talked about earlier and how the higher the pixel count, the more detailed and refined a print can be. The same is true for weapons. And when it comes to machinery, Adobe loom essentially makes it very pixelated patterns, like the plane wave that we looked at. Since in general, most are using only 12 pixels in both directions in a Jacquard loom. However, each pixel is individually controlled. A Jacquard loom is only restricted by the size of the repeat. It can wave, and within that repeat it can be patterns that are, so we're fine. They look hand painted. Creating a beautiful Jack or fabric begins with choosing the artwork, which of course is where you come in. And now that you understand the why behind how it has to be set up in a certain way. Let's talk about what you can do to make yourself so appealing and easy to work with that designers will come to you again and again when they need artwork. You'll also see the value of extras artwork here. Of course, your pattern must be in a seamless repeat. The design needs to have a seamless repeat in both directions. That's a given. It shouldn't have any flaws or trash or errors or lungs in either direction indefinitely. This is your most important role as a surface pattern designer. They are relying on you to do this part of your job well, and if you do, they will appreciate you for it. Surface pattern designers that don't do this well aren't used as often, even if their artwork is amazing. Because it puts the burden back on the woman's designer to go in and clean up your artwork and essentially recreate your idea into a seamless repeat. It's a lot of additional work that they just don't have time for. And it shows that you aren't concerned with how your work will look out in the world. The repeat must fit into a standard loom repeat. Horizontal loom repeat sizes vary from limb to limb and manufacturing facility to facility. The designer may need your file to repeat at 9.5131827 or even 54 inches. If you have a vectorized file, they are possibly you, if they ask, would easily be able to reassess the file to accommodate the loom, while the designer will still have to restaurants the file so they can re-size it to allow for rectangular pixels. Starting at the right repeat size goes a very long way and keeping that process a smooth one. You'll be much appreciated for that. You can refer to our class handout for a list of standard sizes, yeast, solid areas of color, and what isn't design. The colors in your pattern will be replaced with waves. Each color in a pattern represents a single wave, and each color has to be a solid area with no trash or extra pixels use for shading. Vector S files are perfect for this artwork that isn't designed in solid areas of color will again put the burden of doing this work onto the woman's designer who will have to clean up your artwork into solid color areas before they can use it. Used 300 dots per inch minimum. Set up your file with at least 300 DPI. This allows the designer to start with the Christmas version of the file and as of right now is the max size machinery can handle. It's not likely that the fabric will ever be woven at this high of a thread count. But it gives the weapons designer the ability to start with a clean version and adjust as needed. Remember our diamond example, a piece of artwork or the low dpi that's pixelated, will again put the burden back on the weapons dishonor to redraw your artwork into a more refined version that they can use. That can not only be challenging, but time-consuming. Make lines at least two pixels wide in both directions. Finally, one last tip. As we saw in the Dhabi law, the smallest way that exist is to pixels by two pixels. When you design, keep in mind that any lines you use have to be made at least two-by-two pixels to even be able to apply a wave to that area. Keep all lines a minimum of that. You can see on this pixelated version of a heart that the outline is only one pixel wide and high. In this example, the outline would disappear on the woven because there's literally no wave that can be placed on top of this area of the design. Are you taking good notes? I hope so. Keeping these things in mind and pointing out to dishonors that you've taken the extra steps to do this, we'll give you a serious edge over other artists. Everyone needs someone on their side, right? If you can show the designers that you approach, that you're doing your best to help in the process, you'll be invaluable. Now, one last thing, a word on color and how it comes into play in the next video. 6. A Word on Color: While it digitally printed fabric can allow for hundreds of colours and shading. If you want. A woven typically only has about eight to 12 tidal waves used, which means they only need eight to 12 title colors. Vector as files with solid areas of color are much easier to reduce colors down than those that aren't. As you can start your design at a max of 12 colors or even work at eight. You'll be appreciated for that. When coloring your artwork, understand that the final piece may not reflect your coloration at all. The reason for that is that what happens, designers are limited to the colors of the yarns that they have in stock. If you paint with a neon purple, but they don't have that color, they'll have to adjust it to their liking or to a color that they have on hand. You need to approach woman's understanding that it's not a direct copy of your artwork like a print. Other things come into play and you need to allow the woman's designer leeway to interpret your artwork as best as I can while maintaining as much of your vision as possible. Now one last helpful tip. Above all else, color cells. If you can gear your artwork toward the industry you are pitching to, you're more likely to get the sale. It helps the Lovins designer formulae a stronger vision of the end product. I've personally not purchased artwork that was not colored wheel because I had a hard time envisioning how it would look in the final state. Even if the artwork is amazing, a harsh coloration can make it look dated or unusable. Now on the other hand, I've purchased artwork for projects in the past because it was colored beautifully, only to realize later that the art itself didn't lend well to a woven product. Now I should have seen that, but I was wowed by the color and fell in love with it. So we can both live and learn from that, right. 7. Class Project: Are you ready to put all this knowledge into use for your class project? I want to make sure that you understand how you can help in the process and what your artwork will go through as it moves from digital art to a web and digital file that then speaks to the loom. Using the attached Illustrator file or printable PDF file, draw out a circle that is 2525 wide using square pixels. You want to make the edges as smooth and as much like a circle as possible. If you're using the Illustrator file, you can simply fill in the squares. If you're using the PDF, you can simply color in the squares. Once complete, this represents the file that the woven designer will get from you. Next, using the attached Illustrator file or printable PDF file, draw out a circle that is 25 wide and however high you need using the rectangular pixels, making the edges as smooth and as much like a circle as possible. If you're using the Illustrator file, you can simply fill in the squares. If you're using the PDF, you can simply color in the squares. Once complete, this represents how the Lovins designer will have to adjust your file for the womb. Post your work in the project gallery and let me know what you think about the differences in these two files. 8. Conclusion: I hope you've enjoyed this class. And not only have a better understanding of why ovens, but a new appreciation of the path that your artwork must take to become a weapon. As the artist, you and the weapons designer play an equally significant role. Understanding your part and how you can help will make you a more valuable artists to the designer. If you haven't already downloaded it. The handout for this class can be found at textile design pro.com, backslash artwork for weapons handout. Also make sure to post your project in the project gallery for feedback and encouragement. I can't wait to hear what you think of the process. As always, thanks for allowing me to share my deep love of woven textiles with you. I look forward to seeing you in future classes as I spread my love of textiles to as many of you as possible. I'll see you soon.