MY PATTERN PROCESS

@ 2014 ELIZABETH OLWEN FOR SKILLSHARE. FOR STUDENTS OF ELIZABETH’S SKILLSHARE CLASS ONLY — NOT INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

I BEGIN BY DRAWING ON PAPER… I DRAW INDIVIDUAL MOTIFS, FOCUSING ON DEVELOPING A GROUP OF ELEMENTS THAT GO TOGETHER AS A GROUP, WITH THE INTENTION OF ASSEMBLING MY PATTERN ON MY COMPUTER.

I LIKE TO SORT OF NEUTRALIZE THE COLOUR PALETTE AND MAKE EVERYTHING FAIRLY NEUTRAL FOR THIS PART OF THE PROCESS SO I’M NOT DISTRACTED BY THE PALETTE AND FOCUS ON THE ELEMENTS (THE ‘BONES’ OF THE PATTERN).

WHEN I’M HAPPY WITH THE MOTIFS, THEN I NEED TO MAKE MY DRAWINGS DIGITAL/VECTOR SO I MOVE TO A DIGITAL FORMAT. I LIKE TO TAKE A PHOTO OF MY DRAWINGS, IMPORT INTO MY IPAD APP (INKPAD) AND REDRAW THEM. ALTERNATELY, YOU CAN DRAW THEM DIRECTLY ONTO YOUR COMPUTER WITH A TABLET. OR WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU.

I BEGIN BY PULLING SOME OF MY FAVOURITE/HERO ELEMENTS INTO THE CENTRE OF THE PAGE AND PLACING THEM HARMONIOUSLY. I LET MY EYES & GUT GUIDE ME. IF SHAPES LOOK LIKE THEY MIGHT FIT OR PLAY NICELY TOGETHER, I JUST TRY IT OUT. THIS IS JUST TRIAL AND ERROR AND PLAYFUL EXPERIMENTATION.

THEN I IMPORT ALL OF THE DRAWINGS INTO ILLUSTRATOR. I USUALLY PULL UP ALL THE ELEMENTS I’M CONSIDERING WORKING WITH ONTO A 1000PX X 1000PX PAGE IN ILLUSTRATOR, JUST PLACING THEM IN THE PASTEBOARD AREA.

KEEP FILLING THE SPACE UNTIL MOST OF IT IS FILLED UP WITH ELEMENTS, ROTATING, RESIZING AND RECOLOURING AS YOU GO UNTIL THINGS START TO FEEL RIGHT. FOCUS ON THE CENTRE OF THE ARTBOARD AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE BORDERS QUITE YET.

NEXT UP: THE REPEAT. FIRST, PLACE SOME ELEMENTS ALONG THE TOP BORDER.

NOW IT’S TIME TO TEST IT OUT. CREATE A MASK FOR PATTERN TO HIDE ELEMENTS OUTSIDE OF YOUR ARTBOARD. IT SHOULD BE SIZED AT EXACTLY 1000PX X 1000PX AND SHOULD BE PLACED ON THE 0/0 X/Y COORDINATES. (AS IN, EXACTLY ON TOP OF YOUR

SELECT THOSE ELEMENTS, COPY & PASTE THEM IN PLACE, GROUP THEM. USING YOUR X/Y COORDINATES, MOVE THE GROUP DOWN 10 INCHES. NOTE ANY CONFLICTS/OVERLAPS AND ADJUST.

DUPLICATE IT A FEW TIMES TO THE RIGHT…

DO THE SAME FOR THE LEFT/RIGHT SIDES. REMEMBER, WHATEVER EXISTS ON THE TOP EDGE, MUST EXIST ON THE BOTTOM EDGE, AND WHATEVER EXISTS ON THE LEFT EDGE, MUST EXIST ON THE RIGHT. ‘MASSAGE’ THINGS INTO PLACE, ADJUSTING SCALE, PLACEMENT, ROTATION, ETC TO GET THINGS WORKING HARMONIOUSLY.

AND DUPLICATE A FEW TIMES DOWN…HOW DOES IT LOOK? IF YOU NOTICE ANY WEIRD GAPS OR VISUAL CONFLICTS, OR IF YOU’RE EYE IS GETTING CAUGHT UP ON SOME UNCOMFORTABLE AREAS, DELETE THE DUPLICATED BLOCKS AND READJUST THE MAIN BLOCK TILL YOU ARE HAPPY. REMEMBER TO ONLY ADJUST THE ORIGINAL BLOCK.

ONCE YOU’RE HAPPY WITH THE PATTERN BLOCK, YOU’LL WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU PRESERVE THAT ARTWORK ON ITS OWN LAYER. LABEL THIS LAYER AS ‘ORIGINAL ART’ AND DUPLICATE THE LAYER. NAME THE DUPLICATED LAYER ‘MERGED ART’.

DRAW ANOTHER LARGER BOX (BIGGER THAN ALL ARTWORK ON THE PAGE) IN ANOTHER COLOUR AND SEND IT TO THE BACK.

ON THE MERGED LAYER, SELECT ALL OF YOUR ARTWORK AND OUTLINE ALL VECTOR LINES AND EXPAND ALL APPEARANCES. WE ARE ESSENTIALLY FLATTENING THE ARTWORK. RELEASE THE LAYER MASK.

SELECT BOTH BOXES AND NAVIGATE TO THE PATHFINDER MENU. SELECT ‘MINUS FRONT’.

SELECT THE LAYER MASK AND CHANGE IT TO A RANDOM COLOUR. ANY COLOUR IS FINE, PROVIDED IT’S NOT A COLOUR IN YOUR FINAL COLOUR PALETTE.

SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS. YOU HAVE ESSENTIALLY CREATED A FRAME/MAT FOR THE ARTWORK WHICH HIDES ALL OF THE ARTWORK BEYOND THE BORDERS OF YOUR PATTERN BLOCK.

SELECT ALL THE ARTWORK, AND THEN SELECT ‘MERGE’ FROM THE PATHFINDER WINDOW.

CREATE A NEW LAYER AND CALL IT ‘REPEAT’

DELETE THE FRAME AND YOU’RE LEFT WITH YOUR FINAL PATTERN BLOCK! ALL OF THE ARTWORK BEYOND THE EDGES SHOULD NO LONGER EXIST. AT THIS POINT I WOULD TWEAK MY COLOUR PALETTE AND SETTLE ON A FINAL PALETTE YOU’RE HAPPY WITH.

IN THIS LAYER, CREATE A NEW RECTANGLE SHAPE AND FILL IT WITH THE SWATCH YOU CREATED. TEST OUT YOUR PATTERN BLOCK AND SEE IF IT LOOKS AS PLANNED. IF THERE ARE ANY WHITE LINES APPEARING IN YOUR PATTERN, GO BACK TO YOUR ORIGINAL ARTWORK AND ENSURE THE LAYER MASK IS THE EXACT SAME SIZE AS THE ARTBOARD AND THAT IT IS PLACED AT THE 0/0 X/Y COORDINATE. IF ALL IS WELL WITH THE REPEAT, YOU’RE DONE! FEEL FREE TO CREATE COORDINATING PATTERNS THAT FORM A COLLECTION OF 5-6 PATTERNS. OR GO TAKE YOUR PATTERN FOR A TEST DRIVE — DO SOME MOCK-UPS, PRINT SOME FABRIC WITH SPOONFLOWER OR YOUR OWN CUSTOM IPHONE CASE THROUGH NUVANGO OR SOCIETY6.

DRAG THIS PATTERN BLOCK INTO YOUR SWATCHES PALETTE.