Sometimes it feels like it takes forever to upload surface patterns to print on demand sites like society6!

For me and many other surface pattern designers like you, it’s probably our least favourite part of the whole process. We’re always looking for any way we can find to speed it up and get back to the fun parts of being an artist- actually making art!

Whilst I can’t do anything about your router’s upload speeds, I can teach you all the ways I have figured out to make the upload process as quick as possible!

How to save time with your society6 workflow.
Spend less time uploading files.
Make just the assets you need
Use photoshop actions to speed up the creating and saving process
Batching creating files and templates
File organisation
Optimise your assets
Learn the best order to upload each asset in order to maximise your time.
Clever ways to upload multiple assets at the same time

This class is a must for any artist or surface pattern designer who uploads their work to Society6. I’ll be using this platform to teach my process, but you can easily adapt these principals to any other print on demand sites as I have done when I upload to Redbubble and Threadless to name a few.

The other equally important value that this class will bring to your work is that by optimising your designs in this way, you will find that your work will always looks great on a full range of products. Your designs will really shine and stand out!

This class is aimed at people who are at a beginner to intermediate level. I am going to assume that if you already have patterns to upload to Society6 that you are familiar with the basics of creating patterns and I won't be covering that in this class. I will be using Photoshop to make the templates so you will need a basic knowledge of the most common tools and functions. (You don't need to have created your pattern in Photoshop though; I'll be showing you how to import a pattern from Illustrator too!) I will be walking you through everything step by step though so you will be able to follow along even if you haven't used Photoshop before.

It is geared towards Society6 users, but the principals also apply to other print on demand platforms.

To take the class you will need a finished surface pattern design to upload. It can be a pattern you have designed in any software (Photoshop, Procreate, or Illustrator) as long as you have a saved copy of the repeating tile. You will also need a computer and the latest version of Photoshop. I won’t be going into specifics for other software, although the principals could certainly be applied to other programs such as Affinity or Illustrator if you are more familiar with those. I use an iMac and so the specifics of the file management workflows may be specific to this system, but again you should be able to apply the principals to other operating systems.

In the resources section you can find a PDF with step by step instructions for each of the workflows that I will be going through so you can print them off and have them next to you as you are working through each one. After a while these processes will become second nature and you’ll be able to do them by muscle memory alone and enjoy a good Netflix binge to pass the time away while you do your uploads!!

As creatives, we love to spend our time creating, not uploading uploading our work! Don’t let this be a bigger time suck than it needs to be!

Excited to get started? Let’s go!

Kirbie Earley

Artist, Surface Designer

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