31st March - A pattern a day.

After one month of "A pattern a day" I must admit I am looking forward to a day off tomorrow! 

However I am so glad that I had the idea to begin this project as it has really been a great experience for me. A few days ago I came across THIS by Matt Cutt on Twitter, without realising it I had been doing what he recommends!

I have worked really hard and quite a few of the patterns I have created will be developed further and some will make it onto Spoonflower. My last pattern is a patchwork mix of all the patterns that I have done over the past 4 weeks. I do hope you like it, I think it is super pretty!

FLICKR HERE

30th March - Maxi Fish

This completes the trio of my fish patterns. I have changed the scale and the colours again to make a completely new design. Everyday my colour palette has improved. See the seamless pattern on Flickr.

I am tempted to try another version and do a Mix Fish which would include all the scale designs in one pattern... but as you might have noticed my "A pattern a day" is coming to an end. Hooray you might say, but me no, I have enjoyed myself and created loads of new patterns. Tomorrow is my last day... please come back and have a look at my final pattern. :(

29th March - Midi Fish

My Mini Fish design has become a "Midi Fish" design. I have changed the scale of the pattern and added two new colours. Look on Flickr here. I think tomorrow might be fish again folks!

28th March - Mini Fish

This is a very simple design element and a very simple repeat pattern. However I find them very effective as an overall pattern which could be adapted to cover a wide variety of products. As an example I have applied the pattern to a pink beach bag!

More mini fishes on FLICKR... and more fishes tomorrow!

27th March - Scanned flowers 2

Well, much the same work process as yesterday. Scanned in images from sketchbook and coloured them in photoshop, created background using brush strokes, worked out a seamless pattern, and there you have it...  Scanned flowers 2. See repeat here on Flickr.

26th March - Scanned flowers

My current experiment was to scan in a couple of flowers from my sketchbook and try to create a seamless pattern from them. The original pencil drawings were in black and white so I coloured the different flowers in photoshop. Then I added a few brush circles to the background and my design was finished. See the repeat pattern on Flickr here.

25th March - Squares (7 colour palette)

I have been trying out new colour palettes as I have identified this area of my work as a bit "hit and miss" so I need lots of practice. (Not that my colour palettes are'nt good, just that they are not always consistent and the ones I really like are often fruit of a bit of "Good Luck"!) My seamless pattern was created by using a simple square motif and my colour palette has 7 colours. Just by changing the colours I have tried to create 4 different "moods". My favourite of the four has been put on Flickr.

24th March - (More) Feathers 3

Sorry more feathers... but I like them sooooo much! 

See repeat on Flickr.

23rd March - Feathers 2

My feather design made into a lovely "swirly" flower shape. The colour palette remains the same as yesterday because I LOVE these colours so much! Hope you like them too. See the repeat on Flickr.

22nd March - Feathers 1

I have lots of drawings of feathers and I love the way they swirl around the page. I think I might be experimenting with them for a few days as they lend themselves completely to repeat pattern designs. See more on Flickr.

21st March - No post today 2

Today has been one of those days that happen every now and then. Although I had a busy schedule I had also intended to spend time on my computer and doodle another pattern. However that was not to be as we have had a little emergency in the "posh gift shop"... Easter windows just HAVE to be started today! So as I don't feel like working after dinner tonight my "pattern a day" will be up and running again on Thursday (that is, TOMORROW!). :)

20th March - Repeat butterflies!

To be honest I was at a bit of a lost end today as to what I could post for my pattern/repeat. I designed some butterflies a while back but they never got worked into a real repeat pattern. So my easy post today was to work them into a simple repeat. I think they would work very well as a large scale print so that you can appreciate all the detail on the wings. Take a look at the overall effect on Flickr here.

19th March - More flowers?

Today's pattern features "vector flowers" again! Pink and purple flowerheads in a linked half drop pattern. I enjoyed working the pattern through I hope you like it too! Check it out on Flickr.

18th March - Mother's Day pattern

Today is Mother's Day... so this post is dedicated to my Mum. The pattern doubles as a background for a card, but then turns into a repeat on Flickr. 

I hope you have a great day Mum XX

17th March - Random (non) random

Today's experiment was to create a design which at first glance looks like a random dot pattern... but of course it is not! I like my colours too... for a change.
Flickr here.

16th March - Flower railings

It is quite obvious where I got my inspiration for these two designs... if you looked at yeaterday's post that is? It just shows that having a day off taking time to just stroll around with no definite ideas in mind CAN be very useful. I love these patterns they remind me of mosaic tiles.

Take a look at the repeat on Flickr.

15th March - No comment!

In contrast to the incoherent rubbish I managed to write yesterday today's patterns are posted without a caption! Just enjoy... :) and Flickr here.

14th March - More stripey trees!

I have been experimenting with the same design as yesterday. After identifying three main grafic elements that I really like, I have then used them to create a repeat. The three elements being, the trees, the flowers, and the circular pattern motif which I have used to define certain areas of the design.

The colour palette is reduced to two colours plus black and white. I had envisaged the final result as negative design on a full background. However, I continue to like bright colours with the addition of black on a white background, it gives the design a very pretty feel to it.

Take a closer look on Flickr.

13th March - Woods full of stripey trees and flowers

 

Ever since designing my "Hiding from the Fishermen design" for a Spoonflower Competition (see post May 2011) I have been wanting to create a "Stripey Wood". Today I have been experimenting with stripey trees, flowers and a bright colour palette. Although it is far from being a finished design I love the way the colours stand out from the white background, the use of black creates a good contrast and it gives a very pretty feeling to the design.

Maybe tomorrow I may push the design a little further, for now take a look at the repeat on Flickr and see how cute it is!

12th March - Squiggly butterfly shapes

More squiggles on my Wacom. This time a simple butterfly shape in negative on a bright orange background.

Flickr here.

11th March - Squiggles on my Wacom

Today I am back with a vengeance. I have a lovely Wacom tablet which I use rarely (for reasons I don't need to explain here). So it is now newly in action and I did a squiggly repeat pattern just to get the hang of things again. To be honest it is great just to "draw" and the image comes out on the screen as it would on paper... brilliant! More experiments coming up shortly.

Repeat on Flickr.

10th March - No pattern today

No this is not a pattern, it is not colourful and it does'nt repeat.

It means I am having a day off from "A pattern a day"... well I am the boss. 

See you tomorrow.

P.S. Just realised that this is my 100th post, I suppose it could have been more memorable?

9th March - Flowery prints for Tigerprint

I have been been designing some repeat prints to coordinate a range for the latest Tigerprint competition "She's all that... and more!". As usual ... I have about 10 minutes to post the design before the competition closes! Sorry not to be more talkative but I want to go to bed!
See repeat on flickr, or look for design at Tigerprint.

8th March - Coordinate N°3 for Crazy Coffee Pots

Well not quite dots but more or less the same thing... I can't do a Crazy Coffee Pots collection without a design dedicated exclusively to "coffee beans" can I? So here they are 4 different colourways for my coffee beans. Look at the repeat on Flickr.

At this point I'm not sure what I will post tomorrow, my coffee pots could go on indefinitely... but it might be best to change and move on... hummmmm.

7th March - Coordinate N°2 for Crazy Coffee pots

Here is another coordinating design which will be part of my Crazy Coffee Pots collection. It is a stripe which is a great element to add to any collection as it is very versatile. I really love the colour palette of these designs so I think I should carry on with the coordinates. At this point tomorrow might be "dots" again... who knows?
Look at Flickr repeat here.

6th March - Coordinate design for Crazy Coffee pots

After mentioning coordinating design collections yesterday I thought I would do a coordinated swatch for one of my existing designs. I choose Crazy Coffee pots which was entered in a Spoonflower Competition a while back (see January post ...). I have designed a ditsy print using the hammered metal element found on one of the coffee pots. The colour palette remains the same as the main print. Before I can decide if it will really work as a coordinate I need to see all the designs in the complete set. So tomorrow it might be stripes again... but this time coordinated with Crazy Coffee pots!

Flickr here.

5th March - Rainbow polka dot pattern

Most coordinate fabric collections include a dot pattern. The most common but also the most famous type being the polka dot pattern. It is very difficult to create a "completely new" dot pattern, so I have tried to make my design different by experimenting with the colour of the dots. I have used the colours of the rainbow and organised them in a strict pattern which will repeat indefinitely. The finished result has a random feel to it even if this is not so.

See the repeat on Flickr.

4th March - Fishing net blues

The most important part of this design is the background. I drew a few experimental lines in my vector program and then "tiled" the square to create a seamless background, taking great care to match the lines to the exact pixel. The overall result reminded me of a fishing net so I added a few fish to complete the design.
Now the pattern is finished it could seem that the fish might be "trapped" in the net... I like to think they are just swimming above it.

Flickr image here.