Designing Pattern Collections

I have pulled myself out of my funk after Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search and I'm filled with creative energy. I found the most amazing course on Creativelive.com called Design Surface Patterns From Scratch with Bonnie Christine. Bonnie reveals all her secrets showing step by step how she creates her designs. She uses Adobe Illustrator (Ai) and I have struggled with this program. It can do hundreds of things but I don't need to know everything it does. I only need to know how to use the program to make surface pattern designs. This is the first course I have found that shows you the creative process using Illustrator for Surface Pattern Design from beginning to end. It has great video instruction, lots of info and Bonnie Christine in an inspiring instructor.

Much of her beginning process is what I learned in Make Art That Sells; find inspiration and sketch, sketch sketch. The big eye opener for me was how to transfer my sketches into Illustrator and maintain my hand drawn look. I don't like the perfect shapes you often see in vector drawing so it's very important to me to maintain my style and personality in my drawings. Bonnie uses Image Trace, the Blob Brush, the Pen Tool and the Pencil Tool in various ways to bring her drawings into Ai. I love the Blob Brush so I had a blast using my Wacom Tablet and bringing my sketches into a vector format. My other best friend became the Smooth Tool (which is in the fly out menu of the Pencil Tool). You can use this tool to smooth out your lines if they're a little wonky. It also works well with drawings brought in with Image Trace to help smooth out lines and reduce anchor points.

I went through my sketches for the nautical assignment from Make Art That Sells Bootcamp and started my first collection.

My main print is the sea creature print which I've done in a girl themed colorway and a boy themed colorway. I created a supporting jellyfish print and the abstract dot print is actually a piece of coral I photographed and Image Traced it to change it to vector. Using photography for vector drawing was something I hadn't tried before and it's so cool!

One thing Bonnie doesn't use often is the Pattern Tool new to Illustrator in version CS6. I'm going to try and see if I can conquer it. I used the Pattern Tool to make the above patterns. I think some artists don't like it because it's easy to see where the pattern begins and ends. As long as you keep moving items around you can create a very interesting pattern. I'm also doing a course from Laura Coyle that talks all about using the Pattern Tool called Pattern Power. It's very thorough and it's free when you sign up for her newsletter. You need to have knowledge of Ai though for Laura's course. If you or a real beginner it will be overwhelming.

What I can't wait to dig into is putting the sketches I've made in Adobe Ideas into Ai. Adobe Ideas is a vector app that works with Illustrator. You can upload your files straight into Ai from Ideas as long as you have a Creative Cloud account and wifi. Check out these cute critters I made! The only downside is you have to clean up a lot of stray anchor points when you bring it into Illustrator.

If you are interested in creating patterns from your art I highly recommend Bonnie Christine's course. The beginner and the professional alike will find this course helpful and inspiring. If you are new to Creativelive.com they often send out a coupon (I got one) to purchase past classes. Bonnie's course is around $80 and so worth the money. Other courses I've had my eye cost $100's more and this one has everything you need to get going. Below I will provide links to all the things I've mentioned.

Bonnie's Surface Pattern Course

A 30 day free trial of Adobe Illustrator

Pattern Power Course (must have CS6 or CC)

Bonnie Christine's Website

Lilla Roger's Make Art That Sells

A previous post I wrote about the Adobe Ideas App

 

 

I hope you find all this info helpful. Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

 

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All About My Global Talent Search Submission

I decided to give Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search a go again this year. I was really hoping to make a piece good enough for the top 50. I was also looking forward to the challenge as both my kids would be in school and I would have loads of time to work on the piece. Unfortunately Life, Murphy's Law or whatever you want to call it stepped in and mucked up my grand plans. My son got sick and was home for most of my art making time. I've never been good at creating with others around. I can doodle or sketch but I just can't seem to get my head deeply into the creative zone if I have distractions. My final piece has parts I really like but it wasn't what I wanted. The brief was wall art with terrariums and a word or phrase. I had a hard time getting my style to fit into the theme but then I figured out to make imaginary worlds. I created a lot of icons and did my best to assemble the art in Photoshop.

I liked my fairy a lot.

 

I of course had to have a fox so I tried creating a world with the fairy and the fox in a hand drawn terrarium.

 

It still quite wasn't what I wanted so I tried something else.

 

The above was a work in progress and I kept playing around with it but it still wasn't coming together. I didn't like how my sketch was looking in Photoshop. Then I tried collage and my favorite symbol; balloons.

 

This was better but still not what I wanted. I finally settled on the version below. It's okay but it can still use improvement.

When I saw the talented artists that made the top 50 I realized my painting was needing more. I'd like to believe if I had the time I had originally wanted I would've made something I was more passionate about. Maybe yes, maybe no. I admit I was pretty upset after the top 50 came out. I knew I wasn't going to be in the top 50 with the piece I submitted but when I saw the art that made it (plus a lot of the other pieces) I realized my art isn't where I want it to be. I feel I am struggling far more than I should be at this point. I just really need to buckle down and create, create and create.

Funny thing though, literally the day I was feeling super low about my art and my career, I got these fortunes in my fortune cookies.

 

The universe does speak to you and will give you a boost when you need it. So, I'm trying very hard to paint or draw daily and I am determined to learn Illustrator and Photoshop. Next year I will kick GTS's a--!

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

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The Final "Make Art That Sells" Bootcamp Assignment

For our last assignment Lilla Rogers did things a little differently. We had to make a personal piece of art that we would either give as a gift or keep for ourselves and we weren't allowed to share any sketches or our final piece in the Facebook group. You could hear the screams and collective gasps from fellow Bootcampers around the globe. The Facebook groups in MATS are very active and supportive. Getting feedback can help give an artist perspective, inspiration or that ego boost we need (unless no one comments on your work which has happened). Many campers were upset with this but I actually liked this idea. I'm sometimes influenced by what my artsy friends are posting. "Ooh, that's a good idea" or "I was going to do it that way, now I can't" or "Wow, everyone's work is way better than mine!" All these thoughts freeze me up and I have difficulty creating. I was relieved I couldn't see other's posts since I was at a loss of what to do. The subject matter was to create art of your favorite drink. I don't draw or paint drinks. Ahhhhh!

I drink coffee and I did drawings of cups and tried some lettering but no ideas were coming except mixed media art you might see hanging at Starbucks. That's not the kind of art I make. I tried an abstract piece of coffee beans and that was a bust. Then I thought about what I like to draw: characters. So I played a bit with different critters drinking coffee or hot chocolate (my other favorite drink).

 

I took out my favorite paints and inks and created art for me with foxes and hot chocolate (yum!).

 

I am so happy with how this turned out. It's a fun piece of art. I did some collage and played with my inks and made fun characters. Surprisingly it only took me a couple of hours to do this piece. It hasn't flowed that easily for a while and it never really flowed that easily for a MATS assignment. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the classes and will likely do Bootcamp next year but it was so helpful to not see what other people were doing. I haven't decided if I want to put this as a print in my shop or save it for a holiday card or maybe make a series of critters with food for holiday kids plates. It's one of the best things I've done and I think it could be great for licensing.

Next week I'll share my piece for Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search. The galleries of the entries including the top 50 will post the 26th of August and I'm going to wait to share my art until then.

For artists interested in licensing and creating marketable art, Assignment Bootcamp is a great course. You get a real good idea of what a real life assignment from a manufacturer is like. Click here to get more info on next year's Bootcamp.

If you like an intense class to learn everything there is to learn about making art for licensing, just click here to learn about Make Art That Sells.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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Make Art That Sells Bootcamp: Nautical Assignment

The last two assignments of MATS Bootcamp really helped me realize what art brings me joy. This blog post is about the nautical/ship in a bottle assignment. I went crazy drawing icons for this assignment. I think these are the most I've done for any of the MATS assignments. I drew ships, bottles and loads of sea creatures. The final piece had to be a square piece of wall art.

I ended up creating two pieces. The narwhal was the one I submitted.

I also made this cute octopus.

Both of these pieces are available in my Etsy shop. I plan on making more paintings or patterns from all my drawings. Creating characters is what I love to do most and this assignment reminded me of that.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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Things Are Changing

The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived. My children are both in school!

It's very exciting for them, especially Caitlyn. She loved preschool and being with friends but only got to go two days a week. Now she is going to have five full days learning and playing with friends.

I thought I would mostly feel over the moon about it all as I finally have time (lots & lots of time) to myself. I'm feeling a little sad though too. I was emptying my car of toys for the park's sandbox that I don't need stored in there anymore. I won't be spending my days trying to find things to entertain the kids. I started to remember when they were toddlers and we'd go out exploring and playing.

 

 

My routine is going to be totally different now and they are going to do the majority of their exploring through school. It's wonderful but I know I'm going to miss them. We are lucky here in North Carolina as they offer year round school. My kids will be in school 45 days then off for an average of three weeks. We will be able to have fun and explore each season instead of having to cram in "doing" lots of stuff over the summer.

I know I need time for me. It's been very challenging to do the things I want to do when I have two kids underfoot at home. I admit I didn't always want to go out every day and find things for them to do. I'm going to value our time together more with getting the break. I have also loved seeing Evan grow from attending school. He's reading books to me now! It will be amazing seeing the same growth with Caitlyn.

Here's to changes and growing up. Even though it's a little hard, it's a wonderful gift!

 

 

I love these guys!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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What I've Been Thinking About Lately

I know. I know. It's been over a month since I last blogged. I have been lost in thought about my art, my blog and the state of my career. August 4th everything changes. Both of my children will be in school from about 8:30am to 4:00pm Monday thru Friday. It will be time to buckle down and really get serious. It's exciting and scary at the same time. I've mostly been thinking about my art and my style. I really want it well defined. I don't want to look at my art and just see the techniques I learned from an online class I've taken. I want to look at it and see "me". It's very difficult to bring that into the computer for licensing. You don't need to have computer skills to be licensed but if you have them, you will have more opportunities. I follow a lot of different licensed illustrators and one of my favorites is Helen Dardik. Her work is colorful, whimsical and lush. Most importantly her traditional and computer art are very similar.

Here is a piece Helen Dardik did in Illustrator.

And here is one of Helen's watercolors.

Even though she used a computer for one piece and traditional materials for the other, you know it's Helen Dardik's art. This is where I want my art to be. I want people to look at it and know it's Lynda M. Metcalf's art whether I used my computer or my paintbrush.

I still have a lot of work ahead of me. I think I'm close to having "my style" but I'm not quite there. I also need to treat the computer as another art supply. It's amazing what can be accomplished with Illustrator and Photoshop but it's a lot to learn. Soon I'll have more time. I better come up with a plan to use my time wisely so I can accomplish all I want to!

Here are links to Helen Dardik's work if you want to get lost for a little while.

Illustration

Watercolors

Patterns

 

Thanks so much for stopping by. And don't forget to click the links above to check out Helen's work.

 

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Art Techniques...Experimenting with Eyes

I enjoy playing around in Adobe Ideas on my iPad because you can work in layers. Layers can be turned on and off so I can play with how a character looks. For the bunny I created below I decided to play with his eyes. Changing something as simple as eyes can greatly influence how your character looks. You can do this drawing exercise on your tablet too if you have a layer based art program. Or you can also use a pencil and eraser and take pictures of your character with the different eyes you create, then choose the version you like best.

Big oval dot eyes

Little dot eyes placed high

Little dot eyes placed low

 

Peppa Pig cartoon eyes

People like eyes

Add eyelids

 

Eyes looking off to the side

 

Add a tilt of his head (this one is my favorite)

Same bunny but the eyes were changed or repositioned to create different looks and personality. This is a fun exercise to do when you are blocked and don't know what to draw. Just play around and change up the eyes, ears, nose or whatever you want with your character.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

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