Wednesday Evening, December 13th - Lined pattern

Welp, I managed to get something for the lined pattern, but I'm not happy with the result. Mostly because I spent a lot of time working on this to make it better and my computer/program froze up and I lost at least an hours worth of work. :( I have a feeling it's time to give in and just buy CC rather than continue to use my old CS5 version. Maybe a computer upgrade too. Anyways, here is what I managed to at least take screenshots of (since trying to save the file is usually what caused it to crash...) NOTE: there are definitely problems with this pattern technically that hopefully I'll be able to fix eventually. For now, I'm just going to be brave and show my work as it stands.

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 1 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 2 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 3 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 4 - student project

Trying to make a collection was challenging for me and didn't really end up how I hoped. I think I need to keep drawing and practicing one-off patterns before attempting a collection again. I'm still happy I did the course because it forced me to create some new patterns and practice more advanced tricks.

Wednesday December 13th - Textures Update

Thanks to the awesome members of the Roost Tribe, I was able to figure out my clipping mask issue with my peppermint bark pattern. Here it is in a few different color ways. I've had a couple people who thought this was "pizza" at first - any suggestions on what I can do to make it more clearly peppermint bark? Maybe I should add more of the big chunks of peppermint. Or, make the triangular shapes more square?

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 5 - student project

The brown and pink are my favs I think:

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 6 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 7 - student project

Sunday December 10th - Textures

Well I definitely fell a little behind. I am not happy with my diagonal pattern so I'm still working on that one. In the meantime, I decided to move on to the "textured" pattern and created this layered peppermint bark. My favorite holiday treat!! It's not quite finished yet - there are some "holes" I'd like to fill in better and I'm debating if I should change the background color to something else (ideas welcome!) I love how the texture turned out, but I'm having problems with turning the clipping mask into a regular shape. My file is massive at the moment because of all the clipping masks. :( Very slow and hard to work with! I posted about it in the FB Roost Tribe group...maybe someone can help me out!

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 8 - student project

Tuesday December 5th - Geo Patterns Part Deux

Okay I think this Christmas tree geo turned out much more modern than the previous pattern. It started out with the sketch on the left and evolved from there.

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 9 - student project

Here is the final pattern in a couple different colorways. I'm still not 100% certain that I like the triangles in between....just feels too basic/simple? Maybe I need some texture. Not sure....it just seems lacking still. Would love suggestions!

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 10 - student project

Monday December 4th - Geo Pattern & Colors

Ah colors. How I both love and dread them! Getting just the right colors is always tough for me, but it is fun to play around with them. My "Modern Christmas" theme calls for some non-traditional colors (not the typical Christmas red and green). I don't know if everyone will dig these colors like I do, but I do think it will all come together in the end. Knowing me though, I'll probably still end up switching some out for others!

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 11 - student project

As for my geo pattern, here it is in a couple different color ways:

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 12 - student project

Here is a screenshot of my initial "argyle-inspired" drawing (vectorized):

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 13 - student project

And here is a screengrab of my artboard of all the different pattern "builds" I tried:

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 14 - student project

I have another geo pattern I'm working on involving Christmas trees, but more on that later!

Friday, December 1st: Sketches for Advanced Patterns

I wanted to challenge myself by putting together a collection of patterns this time. However, sometimes I get too in my head and end up making things more difficult than they have to be. So instead of trying to come up with something "brilliant" - I decided to choose a broad topic: Christmas. I've mostly been sketching ornaments, snowflakes, bells, and argyle patterns so far. It's frustrating for me to try to figure out all 5 patterns from the start, so I think I'm going to go the route of taking it one pattern at a time. Below is a mood board and some pretty random sketches with notes and such.

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 15 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 16 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 17 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 18 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 19 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 20 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 21 - student project

This final image is just some vectorized ornaments and colors I began playing with. Obviously not done. :)

***Content for "Intro to Surface Pattern Design" starts here****

Well, I know this course has been around awhile, so I'm not sure if anyone still glances at projects from time to time, but if you do, I'd love some feedback!

I started off by taking pictures around my neighborhood of flowers, leaves, vines, and anything else that caught my eye. The pictures below are some of the main ones I ended up drawing inspiration from. Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 22 - student project

Next, I started sketching some of these flowers. I'm not the best artist, but I did have more fun drawing than I thought I would.

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 26 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 27 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 28 - student project

As for the mood board, I didn't actually end up doing one. I like mood boards, but sometimes I think they hinder my creativity too much. I didn't want to end up copying something from my mood board or feeling like I had to stick with the theme I put together. I think as I design more and more I'll get better at developing mood boards, but for right now, I'm in the exploratory phase and it's more fun for me to start off thinking I might do one thing and see where it takes me.

For this project, I thought I was going to do a cactus pattern of some sort but I ended up liking some of my other drawings more which took me in a different direction. I did, however, want to keep some of the brighter, warmer colors you might associate with flowers on cacti and/or the southwest.

Here is a screenshot of the motifs and my color palette.

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 29 - student project

Putting together the final pattern definitely took the longest. I wanted it to be pretty tightly packed, so I had to add lots of little repeating elements in. I think if I were to go back and change something, I might create more motifs and/or different, smaller elements for more variety. I also choose the colors for every little bit of the pattern before I used the color randomizer.

Here is the final result. I thought it looked a little 70s, but with a more modern feel. I think it would be really cute on an apron!

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 30 - student project

And here are a couple different color ways.

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 31 - student project

Master 5 Complex Pattern Techniques in 2 Weeks - image 32 - student project

I did attempt the second type of pattern Bonnie showed us, but I'm still perfecting it. I'd love any feedback, especially on the colors (too bright? need more neutrals?) and the individual elements/drawings themselves. Too abstract? Need more variety?

This course was amazing. Bonnie is such an inspiration! I had so much fun and I can't wait to keep trying more patterns.

Amy Nalette

Continually learning!

27

76