1. The Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design - Online Course
I have taken modules 1-3 of this course and can confidently say: it has changed my life. I've always loved pattern but I followed the Fine Art route when I went to university and always regretted it a little bit as I loved design - I didn't pick textiles though because I couldn't sew and didn't have a massive interest in fashion, not realising that these things were only aspects of studying textiles - it's about so much more. After doing a couple of bits of freelance graphic design work I decided that I would look for an online course and that's how I stumbled upon ABPSD and immediately realised it was the course for me. I took module 2 first because I couldn't wait to start and then took all 3 modules in succession when the course started again. It was a fantastic journey, both fun and challenging and it gave me the skills and confidence to believe that I really could have a go at doing something I love.
The course starts with basic motif design. Rachael really emphasises the importance of developing your own style and gave clear direction on how to work towards this. This is so important not just for the sake of integrity but also for personal satisfaction. There are some lovely drawing exercises to support this - I particularly liked the doodle wall - I obsessed over mine and it ended up being a great source of inspiration.
The tutorials for Illustrator and Photoshop are easy to follow and I've used pretty much everything I learned in my personal work since.
Business was covered with live briefs and essential business stationery design, technical information regarding print and production, live briefs and interviews with working surface pattern designers.
The course is fast paced but not overwhelming and the use of Flickr for sharing work provides a virtual common room where students can offer support to each other.
One piece of advice I would give is to try to commit to completing the course on time. Although access to the classroom remains open for months after, it's much more rewarding to complete with assignments alongside the other students - it can be quite lonely and difficult if you end up playing catch up. This happened to me in the middle of module 3 when I went on a family visit abroad. I was so distracted by wanting to know what the assignments were and wanting to work!
At the end of the course the only things determining whether you are ready to embark on licensing and selling your patterns will be the quality and quantity of what you have in your portfolio. The course gives you all the necessary tools and advice but you will still need to put in the time to develop your portfolio to a professional standard,which might be particularly challenging if you have no previous experience of design before the course. I'm pleased to see the addition of module 4 which goes a long way towards tackling this issue. Upon completion of the course I knew I wasn't ready to publicly launch myself and needed time to develop my style and grow my portfolio. I was already in the groove of working every day on designs after the course so the transition to working independently was easy. Some people seemed to pick up work immediately after the course and had fab portfolios and lovely websites. Don't be put off if this happens, students are from a variety of backgrounds and some may have worked in the field already or be used to working freelance. I found this range of ability and experience inspiring rather than disheartening. The course gave me all the skills and knowledge I needed, I just needed to then go away and put in the time building my portfolio and developing my style which I've been doing since and feel I've really grown as a designer.
ABSPD was a wonderful start to a marvellous journey of learning that continues to bring pleasure to my life. It's empowering and inspiring and delivers everything it promises and more!
You can find out more here
Thanks for reading,
Frankie x
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