Spotlight: Rachael Taylor

Hello,
Winding up this week's focus on layered prints and patterns I thought I would look at Rachael Taylor's wonderful work which features lots of layering of motifs and texture. You can purchase items featuring Rachael's designs from Deny or via her online shop. I LOVE these trays!

Wheel of Wonder available at DENY

Rachael Taylor is a designer well known for her quirky hand drawn style. Her motifs are playfully doodled and her patterns are bursting with colour. Layering seems to feature more and more in her recent work...

Motifs made up of lines (as opposed to the solid shapes I featured last week) work well when stacked up on top of each other for obvious reasons: they create interesting textures, nice areas of negative space and give a pattern a feeling of depth. The pattern above is made up of only one motif but it's a really nicely designed motif. It's delicate, irregular and interesting to look at - it is indeed a 'wheel of wonder'. So despite there only being one motif in the pattern, the considered way it has been handled means it doesn't look repetitive - there's rhythm without monotony. Rachael has recoloured, inverted, rotated, resized and then placed the motif in an interesting and exciting arrangement.

Festive Party tray available from DENY

Here's an example of Rachael layering simple coloured shapes under motifs to break up a solid background. Some of the line drawn motifs slightly overlap but for the most part they are just arranged on one layer with a little space between them. I imagine that layering such pretty and interesting motifs on top of each other would not allow them to shine individually. They're filled with pretty patterns and demand individual attention. Often with such motifs a designer might be inclined to arrange the motifs in a grid repeat or interlocking arrangement with equal space around each one. Instead Rachael has used circles and simple squiggles in different sizes and different shades of purple to add interest to a plain background and this also allows for the motifs to be placed in an informal and fun way. Using these simple flat shapes in the background gives a sense of depth and layering without it getting too busy. It's like they provide a little bit of rest for the eye without just leaving a gaping hole in the pattern, if you see what I mean.  It's also very lovely how these shapes show through the transparent motifs and soften the contrast between the very dark background and the very light coloured line work. I think this pattern shows off Rachael's understanding and experience of how to work with colour particularly well - it just seems such a clever thing to bridge the contrast gap.

Electric Stems tray available from DENY

Finally, here is an example of the two techniques combined to create a pretty placement print. Simple, solid shapes break up the background and there are some lovely doodled textures varying in colour and scale. The floral motif is repeated several times but treated differently each time so it doesn't look repetitive. Instead, the repetition of it makes for a cohesive design. Varying line weight and scale is a great way to use the same textures more than once in the same piece too and they serve to break up the solid pops of colour so that they don't overpower the piece.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at Rachael's work - I certainly have, there's so much to learn from looking at her work. You can find out more about Rachael at her website and as you will already know if your mad about pattern she runs the excellent Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design course too. If you haven't taken the course, I thoroughly recommend it!

Thanks for reading!
Love
Frankie x

Try It: Layered Pattern in Illustrator

The layered look is pretty simple to achieve in Photoshop, simply by drawing onto different layers or by scanning traditional work in and assigning it to different layers, playing with opacity and layer order. For me creating this kind of work feels much more intuitive in Photoshop than it does in Illustrator but my preference generally is to work in Illustrator. I just find it easier to move things around, recolour and stay organised. I end up with so many layers in Ps that I feel overwhelmed and I often end up abandoning work only to start again in Illustrator.

I have a few simple things I like to do when working in Illustrator to give my work more depth - I'm sure there are others and I'd love to hear from you if you wish to share yours!

I use opacity levels when placing shapes on top of each other. You can get some really pretty and subtle palettes working with opacity.

I use line work on top of blocks of colour - varying the weight of lines gives a sense of depth.

I love to use texture - created in Ai or scan in found/painted textures. I like to paint textures with black ink or paint and then live trace them and recolour.

Sometimes I feel my stubborn loyalty to Illustrator is a bit like cutting my nose of to spite my face. A lot of the qualities I strive to retain when taking work from traditional to digital are lost in Illustrator. I use Photoshop when it's absolutely necessary but I just seem to love the challenge of making things happen in Illustrator. I spent many years afraid of it and not understanding it (mostly a fear of the pen tool!) but now it's like a puzzle that I can't stop playing with!

Hope I've inspired you!

Frankie x

3 Things I Learned this week...

Morning!

Hope you had a great week... Here's what I learned...

1. Bureau Direct is awesome.

I am huge fan of J Herbin inks so I was really excited to learn that they produce a rollerball pen that takes ink cartridges. I bought mine from the very fabulous Bureau Direct who also do some great deals on Herbin inks...


2. We have a limited capacity for making decisions...

You can read more about it here. I'm all about planning this year!


3. That I really like this song a lot...

Have a wonderful weekend everyone,
Love
Frankie x

Getting my blog together... FABULOUS AND FREE RESOURCE

Morning...
So every once in a while the universe hears ya and you get a little bit of what you need landing in your lap... or your inbox.

I really like the idea of having a blog. I have blog envy when I look at some folk's blogs - they're consistent in style, tone and posting. Me? I'm a little bit all over the place but I'm enthusiastic.

The big buzzword for me this year is PLANNING since I've heard a lot of people talking about individuals only having a certain amount of Decision Juice. What you use up deciding what to wear and what to eat each morning you don't get back... so you might have run out by lunch time if you're anything like me and suffer DECISION FATIGUE!!!

Therefore, planning is bang on trend. Schedule a time to plan your weekly wardrobe, or whattheheck: be like Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama or Albert Einstein and get your own uniform wardrobe. I don't think I can bear to wear or eat the same thing everyday but I can spend one moment each week planning it. And I can simplify lots of other things in my life by not having to make a series of decisions about them every single day.

So how does this relate to my blog? Well I'd started back with enthusiasm a few weeks ago with a new schedule of 3 times a week. On Monday I missed my post. I just couldn't think what to write and I have so much design work to do at the moment that I just couldn't spend the time deciding what to write about. Then I saw THIS... I can't quite remember in all the madness of trying to get stuff done if the offer for it just appeared in my inbox or if I clicked through some links in an email about something else but whatever happened it appeared without me searching for it at all.

It took me no time at all to read through it and fill in the plan and oh what a plan! Themed weeks and scheduling stuff will really help to keep me enthused and organised and get the blog that I really want for you, dear reader (I love that phrase!!!).

So, Beth Kempton - cheers, you really are fab.
Love
Frankie x

Essential Resources - Jessica Swift's Goal & Intention Kit

Good Morning!

On Monday I woke up really early after a fabulous weekend of fun,  feeling really ready to get cracking so what better way to start the week than with a great big plan for world domination  design delight!

Working for yourself is REALLY hard, especially when you are new to it. Spending many years at school and then working for the man doesn't really prepare you for being your own boss and I find the balance between being really disciplined and losing control of everything is a cause of constant anxiety. I often push myself really hard but don't always remember to reflect on the good stuff - you know, the stuff you did that made you feel brilliant and might give you the confidence you need? So here's a little rescue remedy in paper form.

If you've read my blog before, you'll know what a huge fan I am of Jessica Swift's work. She really switched me on to wanting to make patterns because not only is her work beautiful but she writes in a really nice, encouraging style that says, "you can do it too". And it's not just a touchy feely gesture from one artist to another - here is some actual, practical help in the form of a kit. I used her Goal and Intention Kit in 2013 and I don't know why I didn't use it this year as I feel I would have been way more productive - but anyway I've already started again for next year so no matter.

The kit is a home printable resource costing only $15 dollars - that's less than a tenner in sterling right now. WARNING: my printer is not working properly and my photography skills are not top class so don't be put off by the muddy colours - I'm out of blue! Here's a screen shot of what it should look like:

Mine is more of a crimson and khaki affair but I still love it!

The first page gives you some instructions and then you can dive right in listing all your successes from 2014. Get a cuppa and make this a really enjoyable thing to do, dig deep and try to remember all your brilliant moments from the past year. There's also the chance to reflect on challenges and lessons learned before you embark on your big dreams for 2015.

And here's a small selection of some of the sheets you get to dream big on!

So if you're looking for a boost or just a really effective way of getting your plans in order, I can't recommend this enough. Thanks Jessica.

Have a great day everyone,

Frankie x

Style File - Some really valuable advice I picked up from MATS

Hello!

I recently completed MATS part A - Lilla Rogers' incredible course - I will be reviewing it soon on here but I just wanted to share some valuable information with you that I've found really, really helpful.

A lot of people on the course seemed, like me, to be very concerned about developing their own, unique style. Lots of people asked Lilla questions about this and here I am going to share what I took from the advice she gave. I can't recommend MATS enough if you are looking to up your game in the surface pattern/illustration world. 

Just keep making work

Seems kind of obvious but it does take a degree of confidence and a whole lot of determination to keep going. Making work means putting pen to paper, brush to canvas, stylus to tablet... Going off into your own world of invention and therefore you need to...

...Keep research time to a minimum

The procrastination trap that is 'research' - hundreds of Pinterest pins, trawling through magazines and websites, hours spent 'comp' shopping. Information overload, bored with the subject before you even start to create... Lilla provided a few photos as inspiration to whet our appetites when giving out an assignment and gently suggested that we could just use those instead of spending more time researching and better use our time to draw, draw, draw and create our own unique motifs. And this research rationing can also help you to...

...Stop comparing your work to everyone else...

This kills my creativity if I'm starting a new project. If I start looking at anyone else's work on the same subject I decide that they can do it way better than me and there's no point me even trying... Ouch! So I've learned that...

...Looking at the current work of your contemporaries is not really research

Whilst it's great to admire what other people are doing, keep in touch with current trends etc, I feel it's better to look at the work of others outside of time spent researching for a project. I peruse Print and Pattern etc outside of my working hours in a conscious effort not to let what I see directly inform my work. I feel this to be a really big step in getting to grips with who you are as a designer and developing your style. Look beyond the world of surface pattern for inspiration and that way you will bring your own unique view of the world to your work. So I came up with a plan to...

...Make a style file! Fun task! 

I prefer to do mine on my computer but you could have a scrapbook or journal if you prefer. I created a folder simply called 'Style File' on my desktop and whenever I see an image I like I add it to my file. I don't add anything to it from current pattern design - from designers websites or shops - in fact I try to steer clear of actual surface pattern design stuff altogether though I may look at fashion or vintage textiles. Instead I try to look to other areas for inspiration that interest me. I try to take myself on a little journey looking at things that are unfamiliar  - nature, architecture, vintage design... I also find Wiki Art is great - looking at art can be really inspiring and this app is great if like me you live far from galleries and museums. Look up your favourite museums online - many have searchable catalogues. Basically create your unique collection of images of objects, textures, fonts, colours that you can turn to whenever you need inspiration. Treat it as a journey of discovery and have fun collecting things that make you sing because as Lilla always says...

Thanks as always for reading. I hope this is helpful and I always love to hear from other surface pattern designers so please do get in touch!

Love Frankie x