As if I didn’t have enough on my plate this time of year, I signed up for Winter School 2019 with Make It In Design which is a four week online course which started mid January. I’m in the Intermediate level. There are Beginner and Advanced levels also.
This great short course gives us surface pattern designers the opportunity to try new ideas, step out of our comfort zone, which in turns leads to just better designing. And, it’s an awesome way to connect with international designers. I really enjoy the course, although I’ve struggled to maintain this time as I do have way too many obligations that are taking priority. First of the year is always busy.
The first Trend Brief was to design a surface pattern inspired by the cosmos and celestial using the following prompts:
- Look up! Do some star gazing and see if you can spot any constellations or patterns that will inspire motifs.
- Draw from Zodiac, solar system, geology and spirituality for inspiration.
- Experiment with scale, composition, textures and layering
- Work up your design on the computer. No technical repeat is required, a simple suggestive pattern idea is acceptable.
- Use the color palette provided (tints of any of the colors are fine) or come up with your own palette.
- Research online for visual inspiration (but do not copy!) Remember to inject ‘you’ into your design. How can you approach the theme in a different way and offer a fresh spin on the look?
The hard part is coming up with something different than just stars and planets. I had a difficult time coming up with an idea but finally drew my inspiration from Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night painting. I wanted to add sunshine, or sunbeams so I sketched up a many drawings, tossed a lot of them in the trash, ending up with two suns with various rays and beams.
Scanning them into the computer then manipulating and coloring them in Illustrator to apply the colors from the provided palette, was the easy part.
To add texture I covered a layer of painted stars in the background. Was quite fun creating the design. Actually, the fun part came when I started to play with recoloring the final design pattern. There are so many options, but I ended up going with my first color option.
Below left, is my final submission for judging. I also added a few examples of mockups utilizing the pattern design. Fun project.
Now off to Trend Brief Two which is about animals. I must come up with a pattern design using animals. Oh my, lions, tigers, and bears? Dachshunds? Flamingos? Zebras? I’m very far behind in starting this Brief with only a week to go for submitting my design for Trend Brief Two. I may or may not make it in time to be submitted for judging, but I will complete the Brief.
marylouwade.com 