Hi everyone!
Yay! It’s time for the next part of the super chill Surface Pattern Design Challenge. I know a few of you have shared your topic for this challenge, and it’s been so fun to hear about your ideas. I’m keeping these posts free for now, so if you’d like to join or read about anyone’s pattern ideas, read the first part here.
And if you’re having fun and want to say thank you, signing up for a month essentially buys me a coffee, so thank you! ☕
Checking in on Part 1
Last month you decided on your topic and started sketching, just to get some ideas flowing. My theme is tropical foliage for wallpaper. When the pattern is done, I’m going to get it printed and use it as wallpaper in the half bathroom in my house to make a bold statement! Here are a few of the sketches I’ve done so far:
Getting ready for Part 2
This month your assignment is to create a mood board! This will allow us to dig into the process a bit more and get inspired. The mood board will help us:
Determine how many elements we need to draw
Pick a color palette
Identify a direction for our pattern
Feel inspired ✨
Towards the bottom of this post, I share exactly what I learned from my mood board for this project.
I like to make mood boards in Photoshop, but you can use any program from Procreate to Google Sheets to actually cutting out images from magazines (that last one sounds kind of fun…)
Making a Mood Board
So what should you include in your mood board? You really can include anything you’d like. I created my mood board as an example for you, but please feel free to create yours however you like. Here’s what I included:
Products featuring tropical plants (wallpaper, pillows, etc… I wanted to include a variety of markets)
Reference imagery of tropical plants
A few words or phrases that describe themes or colors that I noticed
A color palette (I used the color dropper on various photos)
How did this mood board help me? By giving me direction about next steps, such as:
A pattern with upward movement and lots of overlapping plants would work well
Draw lots of large leaves, such as palms, banana leaves, and vary the colors from greens to blues
There could be a pop of color (maybe salmon or yellow) with flowers or even a hidden animal
I have a color palette as a starting point
Sharing your insights
After you make your mood board, come back here and I’d love to hear about some thing you noticed! Maybe about the pattern direction, colors, the icons you’ll draw, or anything else that inspired you.
Also feel free to share your mood board on instagram, and you can also include a link to your post below so we all can see it!
And that’s it for this month. Have fun creating your mood board, and then let all those ideas sink in while you work on some other projects and go about daily life. New ideas might pop into your head, and you can add them to your sketchbook or mood board.
Next month we’ll draw the elements of the pattern, so feel free to begin sketching some icons if you’re excited to get started :)
See you then,
Katie
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Hi Katie! I really like your Substackcorner! 🍀👩👦
I do not read everything, but I learn and really like your drawings!
🌿🍀🍀🍀👩👦🌿👩👦🍀🍀🌿🌿
Just one question? : with my subscription- is it ok to follow the Illoguild lives? Wondering, because I cant find the thread to the old ones - which I think I could some months ago?
From Stockholm where it is snowing!!! again 🌨☃️
Viveca