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

Spotlight: Jessica Nielsen

To round up this week's posts featuring graphic floral art, I thought I would focus on the work of Jessica Nielsen a surface pattern designed based in Rotterdam. Jessica's designs are bold and bright and inspired 'by subject and shapes from nature'.

This shell pattern looks like it was so much to fun to create...

I also like her limited use of colour. It helps to create a really striking design, allowing the shapes to take centre stage... Notice how although the motifs are very simple in their shapes and construction, there is still variety - it's not just a case of copy and pasting the same motif over and over again. The same idea has been executed several times and this gives a better sense of rhythm to the pattern. 

This quirky floral was commissioned by the Dutch store HEMA. Again notice that the motifs are the same yet different. Considered, well executed design. 

You can see even more of Jessica's work on Pinterest and on her website or why not visit her Etsy shop here where you can purchase stationery items featuring her designs. 

I hope this week's features on bold graphic styles has inspired you to make your own designs in this style and please join me on Monday for more pattern inspiration!
Love
Frankie x

Try it: Cut Out Florals

Following on from my post on Monday about Matisse inspired cut out style, I thought I might show a little bit of work in progress this week and share a few ideas.

I'm working on a floral pattern using this cut out technique. I made my motifs using scissors and origami paper. You could paint your own paper or use material or textured papers particularly if you work traditionally. As I am working digitally I didn't worry too much about the colour of the paper as I just want the shapes.

Unlike the current papercut trend for fine and intricate details, I'm going for simpler shapes with a playful feel. I tried using a scalpel but found that made me want to get too fiddly.  So working with scissors and large pieces of paper made the process more fun and expressive.

I then assembled flowers in a sketchbook. For more variety you could just scan all the elements in separately and then assemble a variety of flowers in Photoshop or Illustrator.

I scanned the flowers in and used the pen tool to trace them but there are lots of other ways to make them digital. For example you could trace the motifs using Live Trace or retain a more handmade feel by creating the repeat in Photoshop.

So I'm currently playing with palettes and layouts...

I really like this drawing technique. It's a fun and easy process and great for if you are not very confident in your drawing skills or are just looking to loosen up and be more creative in your approach to drawing. I also think it really lends itself well to vector art with its simple lines so works a treat in Illustrator.

I hope you've found this post useful/inspiring! On Friday I will be featuring the work of Jessica Nielsen whose bold graphic style caught my eye whilst researching this week's posts.

Love
Frankie x
 

Motif Monday #1 Nosegays and Bouquets

Nosegay
Image from tiny white daisies

Hello, I've decided that Monday is all about motifs. Every Monday I'm going to look at a different one, do a little research around it and show examples of pattern using that motif in order to create a kind of motif library.

Today's chosen motif is Nosegays. The reason I've chosen this motif is that I am currently working on a pattern collection inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo. I saw this film recently and was really inspired by it. There's wonderful use of colour and lots of flower motifs featured in it. Some scenes, and the opening credits, had a mid-century modern appeal to them too so I hope to incorporate this into my collection too. One of the recurring motifs in the film is this nosegay below, which I think is a great starting point for developing a motif.

Nosegay from the film.
Image from here

A quick google image search of nosegay shows that there's a knitting stitch/pattern, quilting technique and a doily pattern based on it, all of which would make great starting points for designing a motif. For example, a line drawing of a nosegay doily might make an interesting and intricate motif.

Here's an example of nosegay quilting. The aesthetic of quilting could be used in designing a digital pattern resulting in something more geometric and abstract. I've seen a similar technique used by Josephine Kimberling where she created digital patterns that look like cross stitch and crochet as part of her Hope Chest collection.

Image from Kora Quilt Index

Josephine Kimberling's Geometric Crochet design
image from www.fabricworm.com

I'm struggling to find very many examples of repeat patterns that have nosegays as the motif, I guess because it's quite an old fashioned motif... Maybe it's time for a revival? I would love to hear from you if you've designed one and maybe we can add it to this post. I've also started a pinterest board filled with examples of nosegays and bouquets and will be doing so for each Motif Monday. 

Thanks for reading as always. Your feedback and encouragement has helped to shape this blog into something I believe has the potential to become a valuable resource to new surface pattern designers. More about this tomorrow,
Keep reading!
Frankie x