Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi. Welcome to this class on seamless Scribble
patterns Inpropriate. What if I told you that one of the most boring and so called procrastinating
activity which is scribbling, can be turned into a profitable and sellable digital artwork? Yes, my name is Srihari. I'm a digital artist and I
have experience of creating patterns and digital
illustrations for over four years now. Have you ever felt
that you don't have the creative inspiration
to do anything, and it's been few days, you're not able to
progress on anything, and you're just scribbling and you felt that
you're wasting time. What if I told you that the
same so called wasting time can be seen as advanced
research also? So in this class,
what we'll be doing is we'll be creating scribbles, same like the way
you used to do when you're kind of procrastinating or so called wasting your time. We'll use this kind of
scribbles and create patterns to be printed
on multiple products. We'll go on system of creating a seamless
pattern step by step. At the end of this class as
a class project section, you'll be creating
at least three to five seamless patterns using the same scribbles which
you felt was unproductive. I'm so excited to share
everything I know about creating seamless
patterns in this class. I'll meet you in the
class section below.
2. The Psychology of Productive Procrastination: It's actually Lesson
one recording. Alright, let's start with something that
might surprise you. There's actually science
behind white drawing when you're board is one
of the best thing you can do for your creativity. And I want you to completely
change how you think about these moments when you are just, like,
not feeling it. So here's what's
happening in your brain when you're bored and
you start doogling. Your prefrontal cortex, which
is this particular area, there's a part which is always
judging and controlling. It starts to relax. Meanwhile, the default mode
network kicks in and there's all the creative networks which connections
happen that starts off. Think about it. When
a think about it, when do you get your best ideas? It's usually in the shower, or when you're walking or
doing something mindless. That's because your
conscious mind stops trying so hard and your
subconscious gets into play. Okay, now, why it's important
for pattern creation? When you're trying to
design something specific, your brain is usually in
the problem solving mode. But when you're
trying to scribble because you're bored
or you're just, like, kind of procrastinating, you're in exploration mode, and the exploration mode is
where the magic happens, especially when it
comes to creating patterns using scribbles. Now, let me show you
something. So this is a pattern when I was trying really hard to make
something beautiful. Okay? And this is the
pattern when it actually started off as a scribble when I was waiting
for a meeting, and then just ended
up like this. Now, based on the
board draw patterns, what do you think seems
more interesting? This one, right? The
scribble based one. It has something organic flow
that you just can't force. And that's because when you're not trying to
control the outcome, you access the parts
of the creativity, which are usually locked away. And here's a
psychological benefit for the most people who miss it. This process completely
eliminates the creative pressure, and you're not trying
to make art or you're just existing with
a pencil in your hand. So there's logically no way to fail because there's no specific goal in
the first place. Studies show that this kind of mindless prime actually
reduces cortisol. That's the stress hormone
and increases dopamine, which is the reward chemical. So you're literally getting a natural high from something you thought
was wasting time. Here's something I've
learned the hard way. Some of my most successful
patterns came from sessions where I thought I was being completely
unproductive. I'll be sitting
there, maybe watching TV or making some random
marks on my iPad. And later, I would look at
these marks and think, wait. This could actually become
something beautiful. And that's the mindset shift which I want you to happen also. So here's the first exercise which you have to have
after this lesson. It's going to be
feeling a bit weird at the starting if you're especially a goal
oriented creating. But I want you to spend at least 10 minutes just making marks. Don't try to draw
something specific. Don't worry about
it looking good. Just let your hand move
and see what happens. You can do this on paper, but I would recommend
doing it on an iPad. The only rule is no rule. If you catch yourself trying to make something recognizable, stop, go back to
the random marks. Remember, you're not wasting
time when you're scribble. You're actually doing
advanced creative research. You subconscious is exploring possibilities that
your conscious mind might never consider.
3. Procreate Setup for Pattern Success: Okay, so welcome to
Lesson number two. We're going to set
up the Procreate specifically for
pattern creation. And here's the thing most people just open procreate
and start drawing. But if you want to
create seamless pattern, you need to set up your canvas correctly from the beginning. So first, you tap the press icon on the
top right hand corner to create a new canvas. You might think bigger is
better, but not for patterns. We actually want to
work smart, not big. So I'm going to press
this top plus icon. And we're going to go
with 2048 by 2048. Yes, it's already marked
by 2048 and 2048 pixels. Why is square specifically? Because square patterns are
the easiest to make seamless, and they work for almost
every application. And here's something most
of us don't tell you, which is the DPA
matters for patterns. I always set mine at 300
DPA, as you have seen here. The reason so is because your patterns might end
up printed on products, and 300 DPA ensures that you will look crisp
even when printed. Now let's talk about color mode, which is very, very
important, right? For patterns, you always go with RGB because most of our
applications will be digital, like websites, phone wallpapers,
or digital products. But if you know you're
going to print the product, then you can always
convert to CMYK in the latter stages.
All right. Yes. And then once you're
done, you have to press the top right
and corn or tick mark. Good. All right. Now
we are in the Canvas. The first thing I wanted to
show is the action menu, that is a little retch icon. Okay? Go to Canvas. Yes. Here's the Actions menu. And then go to the little
Rch icon, drawing guide. You got to switch had to
switch on the drawing guide, then go to Edit Drawing Guide. And just to remind
you, this guide is going to be a best friend
for your pattern creation. It helps you to see how
elements will align and repeat. I usually set mine to 64 pixels and gives me enough structure without
being too restrictive. Yes. Now, here's a pop kind of here's a Pro trip now that
will save you so much time. Create a separate layer
for your grid reference. Draw some light guidelines that show that your center of the
canvas at the quarter marks. This helps you understand how
this pattern will repeat. Now, once you are done,
you can check market. Now, let's talk about brushes. For brochures, especially
for scribbling, you want to use a brush which
feels natural and organic. My favorites are 60 pencil from this sketching
set, which is here. If you go for a sketching set, there'll be 60 pencil,
which is already available. And I use the drying brush from the inking set, drying brush. It gives you those
beautiful imperfect lines. And here's something
very important. Usually switch off the
pressure sensitivity for your scribbling sessions. The reason so is, I know that
sounds counter intuitive, but when you are doing
mindless scribbles, you don't want to worry about
how hard you're pressing. You want consistent
flowing lines. Right? That's perfect.
Now for the color. Yes. Um, so ideally, we can set up the color palette. For scribbling, I
recommend starting with just black or
very dark gray. You're not worried
about color right now because you're
focused on form and flow. We'll add color later
in the progress, right? So we'll go with the One
more crucial setting is make sure your
canvas is set to multiply blend mode
when you're scribbling. So when you say,
go to the layers, which is the box icon here, and go to the layer which
you are working on, duplicate it or add a
new layer, go to this N, there's this N and use the
multiply blend mode, right? It's very important because this means if your lines overlap, they'll get darker instead of just covering each other up. This creates more interesting
density variations. Here's your layer
organization system, which is very, very important. Bottom layer is your background. Keep it white or gray,
which we have it here. And the next layer will be a reference guide,
which is here. Okay, ensure that it's actually a drawing assists on so
that we can see the grid. Then you'll have your
scribbling layer. You can even rename it
as scribbling layer. And always keep a
separate layer for testing, which is on the top. Rename it. Perfect. The reason so is because
scribbling layer will be the entire canvas which
you'll be working on. Testing layer is the part
aspects which you want to test and see if it goes well with your overall pattern. That's where you will
use the scribbling. That's where you use
the testing layer. Now it's very important that you don't skip the setup phase. It's foundation that makes
everything else work smoothly. A properly set up canvas is
a difference between the fighting your tools and having them support your
creativity, right? So the action step for this particular lesson
is complete have to complete your
appropriate setup and a created template you can duplicate for future
projects, okay? So how do you duplicate it? Basically, once you
have set up this, you can rename it as
pattern template. Right? Once you've done, this is a pattern
template which you'll be using every time you open, uh, the Procreate
app for kind of doing doing the same scribbles. This way, you never have
to remember these settings again and you just duplicate a template and start scribbling. How do you duplicate
it? Just swipe left and then duplicate. It's
as simple as that.
4. The Art of Mindless Scribbling: Perfect. So this is
the lesson three, the art of mindless scribbling. Alright, this is where
the magic happens, and I need you to
completely let go of any expectations you have about what good
drawing looks like. We're about to create
the raw material for your patterns and the key is not to think
too much about it. Okay, so we'll start off. Open the canvas which we have already kind of set up
in the previous lesson, ensure you go to the
scribbling layer. Use the brush which
we've already decided for inking dry brush or sketching or
sketching 60 pencil. I would go for dry brush. And then show the
color is black or any dark gray, which we
are comfortable with. I'll demonstrate
this process for you and I want you
to follow along. But here's the important part. Don't try to copy
what I'm doing. You kind scribble should be completely
different from mine because they're coming from your own unique subconscious, right? So I'm going to
start just making marks You see, I'm not trying to draw
anything very specific. I'm just trying to create, you know, I'm just kind of letting my hand do the movement. Nothing more, nothing less. No, sometimes it's loops, sometimes it's jagged lines. Sometimes it's starts,
no plan virtual. Just scribbling the way out. Don't try to create
any pattern of such. Just if you see
some empty space, just go about it and
continue the process. And here's something
very interesting, which just happens, right? Your brain starts to see
some patterns, right? You're seeing that
there are multiple similar curves here, okay? But your brain
might start to see patterns and shapes
and randomness, right? You might see a face or
you might see a flower, or you might see something
very, very abstract. That's totally normal. Uh
you can totally observe it. That's totally fine, but
do not chase the pattern. Just acknowledge it
and keep scribbling. See I'm filling in different
areas of my canvas, but I'm not trying
to fill it evenly. Okay. That's very important. There'll be some areas
which are very sparse, some areas which
will be very, like, occupied and dense,
that's totally fine. You will see that
those small imperfets are something which will create amazing patterns at
the end of the lesson. And here's the technique I
call emotional scribbling. Let your current mood
influence your marks. If you're feeling energetic, make bold quick strokes, if you're feeling calm,
make flowing gentle curves. If you're frustrated,
make sharp angular marks, your emotion becomes
part of your patterns. And now, I'll show you something very uncomfortable at first. Intentionally make ugly
marks. We'll do that now. The random lines I'm putting just to create some
athlete patterns within. You see, sometimes I'm just
doing it continuously. Sometimes I'm not even lifting
my stylus or Apple pencil. The main idea is, I'm letting the lines connect
and flow into each other. This creates what I call
as happy accidents, right? So unexpected connections
that could never plan, but that look amazing
in the final pattern. Here's something most
people do wrong. They try to make their scribbles look balanced or composed. Don't do that because let some areas be
completely chaotic. Some areas be completely
structured or lines way. If it's required, you can you can even let
few lines go off the cam canvas and let some shapes be completely
uneven, right? Randomness is what makes a pattern feel
organic in the end. As, remember that variety
is what's going to give your pattern a
texture and an interest. So you don't create patterns which are
very similar and very structured or balanced because you're not
trying to think, which is scribbling using dots, lines, curves, shapes, whichever you feel
comfortable with. Here's something which really helped me when I was
starting to do this. And here's a kind
of a mindset trick also that really helps you. Pretend you're not making art because what happens is you would want to create
something beautiful. So pretend you're just testing your stylus
or cleaning it, or you're even worse
warming up your hand. This removes the pressure to
create something good and lets you access that flow
state we always talked about. And remember, we never used the arrays tool,
which is the arrays tool. We never use this arrays to because that's actually something which is
very important. Even if I make a mark I
don't like, I leave it here. Especially in the
traditional drawing, we might erase mistakes. But in pattern creation, those mistakes often become the most interesting elements. And even you would notice this, and this is actually an
advanced technique which is wearing pressure even though we have turned off the
pressure sensitivity. Because if you press harder sometimes or the
lighter other times, this creates different
line weights. It adds visual hierarchy
to your scribbles. Well now we'll increase the kind of brush size again with
a similar pattern to. I'll reduce it more and create a very dark abstract
patterns in between. I'm getting towards the end
of my scribbling session. I'm looking for the
areas where it feels too empty and just adding
few more marks. But I'm not trying to balance
everything perfectly, adding a little more
visual interest to the overall composition
where it feels needed. Okay, I think I'm going to call Dan, and here's
a crucial part. I'm not going to judge
what I have created. It looks like chaos right
now, and that's perfect. The transformation happens in the next lesson.
Now it's your turn. I want you to spend at least 15 minutes on
your scribble session, set a timer so you don't
have to think about it, put on some music or
a podcast, something, which kind of it actually kind of keeps
your subconscious mind occupied while your
hands do the work. And here's the rule,
the only rule, no erasing, no cleaning, no planning, no trying to
make something specific. If you catch yourself
trying or thinking, I should draw a flower here kind of this needs
to be more balanced. Just notice that thought and
go back to the random bugs. Remember, the goal isn't to
create something beautiful. The goal is to create
a raw material that will transform into
something beautiful. Think of it like
mining for gems. You're not looking for the
finished jewelry right away. You're just digging up
for the rough stones, which eventually will be
transformed into a jewelry. So the action step
for this lesson, as I mentioned again, complete your 15 minutes scribbling
session and save it. Don't zoom and zoom out, examine details, don't judge
it, save it and move on. And we're going to
turn this chaos into magic in the next lesson.
5. From Chaos to Pattern: The Transformation Process: Okay, so welcome to Lesson four, which is creating chaos. Welcome to lesson four
to creating patterns from the chaos which
we have done in the previous lesson, right? We'll go to the pattern which
we have already created. So this is the overall
pattern, right? Let it be the way it is. You need not worry about any single don't change
anything, okay? How to create a
seamless patterns. I'll just show you now step by step. You
can follow along. Okay. So using a
pencil or marker, you can use any press actually preferably go for
calligraphy and monoline and mark the four
corners at the very end. Right? So if you
see zoom in and C, the corner will be
marked already, right? So basically, if you
set the entire layer, the entire layer
will be sect from actually all the corners
is the idea, right? Now, duplicate this layer. Actually the one layer
which has been selected, we'll move it half
towards your left. The move element is done, it's preferred on
the snapping and magnetics and then
start moving it. You will see the new point of
time where it'll snap off. Yes, it's snapped here and
leaving it straight away. You do the same with
the other layer. But now this time, take
it towards your right. Ensure the horizontal
movement is perfect. You don't change the verticality
of the process. Perfect. Now we'll do the same
for the verticals. Combine these both layers. Again, duplicated,
select one layer, and take it to the topmost corn. To find the point
where it snaps. And go to the remaining layer and again, take it downwards. Yes. Perfect. We have to fill
out the part which is in between the plus part. If you fill out that the exactly appropriately
with the scribbles, then you'll get a
seamless patterns. Now combine all the
layers and remove the mark here and try to recreate what we have
done with the scribbles. Go for the same pen which
we have created you used. Start with the small
marks that is very important because you won't
confuse things like that. I can increase the brush size. To make it more seamless, what you can do is one idea, you bring in aspect from the top four and then try to
integrate it like this. So what'll happen is
it doesn't seem like there's a plus space in between, which you're trying
to fill it up. Um, slightly increase the size, add in some shapes
if you want to. You're seeing that we are
still having that natural, uh, thing which we
always had, right? Natural kind of
scribbling style, adding few more
elements, that's it. If you see there are
certain aspects where it's not kind of clubbed
in or died in well, then you can fill them
up with dots because dots give you an impression
of kind of togetherness, especially in a
pattern creation. Right? This looks good. At the end of this thing, ensure that all the four corners, again, are filled
up organically. Not necessarily you're
creating something then. And this will ensure that
the pattern is seamless. How to test this pattern. What you do is you
duplicate this layer first. Now you can delete the original pattern which we
had the original scribble. Okay? Now, select both these seamless patterns
which we have creating, move them and scale them too. Percent and look where it snaps. And then select one layer and
move it towards your right. Again, look for the
spot where it snaps. Can you see how it
has become seamless? Again, again, you can duplicate one layer of it and rename
it as original again. I combine these both
layers which we have done, duplicate it, and bring it down. You see that there is no visual
lines which you can see. Even you can test it out
multiple times like this. Again, combine
both these things, duplicate it, select both and scale it down
requires a percent. Look for snap and then select one layer, take
it towards your right. Combine both, duplicate it, and bring it towards downside. Can you see when
you're seeing this, I want you to remove
the grid layer, so that the grid
is still visible. You can remove the
grid by going to this icons and remove
the drawing guide. Now we can see overall if in case the seamless
pattern is right, or there is some
problem in it, right? This is the overall seamless
pattern which were created.
6. Visual Enhancement: Now in this lesson,
we'll go about doing the color theory and the advanced techniques
which we can use, let's say for three D effects or bringing in light and shadow or highlights into our pattern. We'll go to the
pattern which we have created this entire thing
is scaled up version, I wanted to go to the
original version. The small one again duplicated, ensure you always have
the original saved up. You can rename the one which you are working on as
a working layer. Perfect. Now. Now we'll scale it to
the overall screen. This is our final pattern which can be seamlessly
scaled up, right? So in this case, now,
what are we going to do? That is something which we
have to look into, right? So the first thing is, first, we'll go for other alterations
which we can do or kind of visual enhancement to bring in a three d effect or bring in
a depth into the artwork. And then we'll go into
coloring aspects, right? So for depth, what would you do? Right? When you see any
portrait of matter, the depth is shown by
the opacity, right? Let's say let's
say in a portrait, if something is very far, it's shown as less opaque. If it's very close to you, it's exactly far more hard in terms of the
color theory, right? I'll follow the same thing. What we will do is
we'll do the create it. We'll reduce the opacity
of the bottom layer. Okay? And then we'll erase certain things
from the top layer. Go to the eraser, go
for the monoline brush, and then you can see
the moment I erase it. Can you see a
difference? That this has become far more lighter. We'll do we'll continue
the same thing. I'll remove certain aspects. It can be completely random,
that's totally fine. You need not follow
any certain things. You need not follow that
structure of line because the overall idea is that
it should be organic, right? We'll remove this. We'll remove this triangle. It's completely
intuitive process. It's totally up to you. I want to remove this also. You see, there's a small change in which we are doing things. There's a small
slight difference we're seeing in the
overall pattern. So we're removing
things which are very harsh or very dark. So that we are creating a sense of depth to
our overall artwork. Yes. So to see a difference
on what we have done. This is our original
I'm sorry. 1 second. Yeah. So this is our
original artwork. This is our version of artwork and we are transformed
into this. We have just erased
a few things. If you reduce the opacity
of the bottom layer more, you will see far more
clear difference, right? So we're keeping it
to 15 in this case. We'll reduce it more to let's say in line ten and we'll
have one more layer, which will have opacity of, let's say, uh 30, right? And in this case, we have
to erase things which are, uh, so we'll erase a few
more things from this. Right? Perfect. So this is our artwork which we have created right
now, the seamless pattern. What the kind of difference is, we have three different
opacity layers. One is at 100, one is at
30, and one is at ten. So we have multiple kind of range in terms of
what is being seen.
7. Palette Development: So welcome to this last
lesson on pattern collection. So we have made our
seamless pattern or first, we have made our
scribble pattern, then made it into a
seamless pattern. Now we're going to
make a collection of that particular thing, right? So we'll add in different
colors and we'll actually save it as a set so that we
can use it in the future, or even we can put
it on the, uh, different merchandises which we might have for our brands. So first, we'll go to the
pattern which we have made. You would see as you mentioned
in the previous lesson, there are three different
opacity levels. This is the hundred
one, which is 30, and the lightest one is ten, so that we have layering
upon our own pattern. This is a seamless
pattern, okay? We can even combine it. And rename it as
final pattern. Okay. Perfect. So now our
final pattern is ready. Yes. So now, we will add in different color
aspects to the pattern, right? So how do we do it? First, duplicate it,
bring it to the top, and now go to adjustments, hue and saturation
and change it. But since we have done it
in the black and white, you might not be able to do it. So how you should do
it? You have to first select all the things
which are in black colour. Now how do you do
it? First, go to the selections and go to the automatic you zoom in
and tap the black. This whole thing has been
selected a similar fashion, you do the same thing for
multiple black aspects, kind of parts which have
very major black color. You don't have to set the one which are different
opacity layers. For that automatically,
it'll change. You just have to
seret the ones which are completely 100%
opacity black. You would see that it's not a very time consuming process. It will just take a few
seconds and get it done. Or else if in case we choose
to leave you aspects black, then you can do that also. It's not necessary that
every single aspect or every single shape or form which are with 100%
opacity and black, you have to select
them not necessary. It's totally up to you. Right? Now, we paint it
with, let's say, blue colour or lavender colour, or purple, in this case, purple. We can go for calligraphy
and mono line. We can go to the highest,
and then we can just draw. All right. That's actually
one way of doing it. Other ways in a similar fashion, you can select
every single aspect or the major aspects
you can select them. And you can colour fill. Got it. Now you've got a purple tint. And now you can
select other aspects, that's things which
are different colour. Now, since patterns
have changed the color, we will do multiple
alterations of it. So first copy it, then remove kind of like hide the first one and
then go to adjustments, hue and saturation or
change the colors. See? We'll go for green now. So we have lavender and
green rein duplicated. We'll go for red right? Yes. It's more of a
bright red, right? So in this fashion, you'll create multiple
patterns of your own. Okay? Now, if you're putting
it into a portfolio, now, how do you
kind of present it? I'll give you an
option for that. What you can do to
duplicate all these things, all the patterns which you have created and which
you want to create a portfolio styled,
uh thing, okay? Right? So these three
things you want it in a portfolio style. Okay. This is fun. I'm sorry. So we have three of those
patterns now with us. So first, we will free form it. We'll remove these two settings and then we'll make it a small. Okay, I'm sorry, keep it uniform and make it
small like this. Or you can select all
the three so that, uh they all become
uniformly small size. Right? Now, select
any one pattern, take it to the side, rotate it. Or you can just keep it
in same arrangement. Yeah. So if you
arrange it like this. Then you can make a portfolio of your own patterns like this. Yes, you can even, uh, let's say we combine
it, duplicate it. Right? Now we can even We can do this, uh we kind of play
around so that, you know, you have
multiple options. Again, for each layer, you can change the
hue and saturation. I can go for the third one,
again, do the same thing. Right? So just by
changing the colors, you can have multiple options. And since the
pattern is same, um, and the whole continuity aspect continues across the
different patterns, no matter if you
change the scale or if you change
the color scheme, then you can create
multiple patterns and combine them into a
particular portfolio like this.
8. Class Project: Finally, as part of
the class project, so what I want you to
know how we have done a scribble pattern in
the first a phase of the class and then did a seamless pattern and created multiple color
variations of it. In a similar fashion,
I want you to do at least three to five
patterns like this. Not five color variations, but five different
patterns altogether. You can focus on any theme. I understand we have
talked about scribble without any particular
theme or thought process. But again, you can try out. The main intention is
to go fully free flow. There's no set
rules to do things, go fully and have a
small constraint, let's say I do scribble, but only uh let's
say straight lines. So you will see a different kind of theme or pattern there. A similar fashion, I
do scribble with only, let's say, um, hash,
symbols, right? In a similar fashion,
you can try out multiple things in this
fashion and at least create three to five patterns and at least one or two
color variations of each pattern and post it on the class kind of
project section below. I hope you enjoyed this
class and learned. Actually, I learned a
thing or two from this. Uh, I'm actually happy to share everything I know
about pattern creation, and I'll see you in the
next Skillshare class, which will be on isometric,
um, Hasudocoboks.
Srihari Muralidhar
