A Peek at My First Collection!

 

Immersion may be officially over, but I am still continuing to work through the lessons. I am on the last module this week and the course content continues to be so inspiring as well as motivating. I’m excited to be able to check off more boxes on my to-do list so that I can move onto what’s next!

I have been making some amazing progress on my first collection called “Down the Bunny Trail”. It consists of 10 prints in 2 different colour ways. I am hoping I will have it finalized soon and plan to share it later in June, but for today I will share one of the prints with you for a bit of a sneak preview. This print is called “Bunny Play”! 🐰

I am so thankful to the Immersion community and my study group who have given me such helpful feedback on my collection. They have challenged me (in a good way) and helped me see things from a different perspective. This being my first collection, the feedback has been invaluable; it has allowed me to take this collection in a direction I wouldn’t have been able to on my own. Never underestimate the value of a fresh set of eyes!

Below are a couple of mock ups of this print (called “Bunny Play”) on a fabric swatch and an adorable baby swaddle. I’m already imagining ALL THE THINGS it could be used for… that is definitely one of the most fun parts of surface pattern design and I’m so thankful to Aimee (@theindoorsyproject) for the beautiful mockups to play with! I can’t wait to share more with you soon! 🥰

On a fabric swatch.
(Mock Up by @indoorsyproject)

On a baby swaddle. How cute is this baby, though? 🥰
(Mock Up by @indoorsyproject)

 

First Day of Spring! | A Little Immersion Update

 

Happy first day of spring! I hope the snow is gone wherever you are from. Here, winter likes to stick around a bit longer, so it doesn’t feel like spring yet, but the hope of spring has definitely arrived! ☺️

I am now a few weeks into Immersion! I have been enjoying it so much and I wanted to share with you how it’s been going! A little disclaimer… I went into this course with a background in Adobe Illustrator, but I went in with the preconceived idea that it was a frustrating program (for me). Illustrator was only used for very accurate lines and shapes and the odd design assignment… but not much else. It was never a place where I felt I could freely express myself. My instincts always took me to Photoshop for my more elaborate illustrative work.

After working through the first couple modules, however, my eyes have been opened to what Illustrator is capable of. I have barely been able to sleep because of how excited I have been, thinking about how my illustrations can be translated into this program (and all the possibilities that come with it)! I have been reminded of the power of vectors and how they allow you to work with your artwork in countless ways for any application you can think of.

I am a big fan of using colour in my work, so I enjoyed taking my time with the lessons on creating colour palettes. I even created one using pictures of my sweet little kitties as source images. I just love the different colours I pulled out (the amazing neutrals from Matcha, the sweet pink from Paska’s nose and the gorgeous greens from his eyes). I also feel more confident in putting together a strong colour palette, increasing my understanding of balance and contrast, and this is something I will be able to apply across my entire practice.

Also… the recolour artwork tool is SO much fun! I could spend hours playing with that one… 😅 My sweet little Matcha has been keeping me company while I work through each lesson, which I’m thankful for! 🥰

One of the book recommendations is “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon. I was able to snag it from my local library and it has been such an encouraging read. I feel more prompted to try and document my days in the studio, paying special attention to my process work. Picking up pencil and paper again felt so refreshing, and sketches also make for very interesting process photos. It has also been fun to start thinking about my first collection and what kinds of motifs I will need. For now, I’m just sketching some leaves and berries! 🌿🍓

The final lesson in Module 2 prompted us to create an art print using all the knowledge we’ve gleaned and combining motifs we’ve created along the way. The first image in this post, as well as the one below, are the result of that exercise. I still cannot get over the fact that these were made in Illustrator. The idea that I can still get that painted, hand-drawn look in such a concise and unforgiving program still blows my mind a little bit! I am so excited to keep exploring further to see how my illustration style will adapt with these new tools I’m adding to my toolbox. ☺️

 

So, I did a thing... | Immersion 2022

 

I am at a place in my career where I am trying to figure out what the next thing looks like… These past few months have been exciting (opening my Etsy shop, designing and producing new products for it, focusing on developing a consistent style, sharing more art with the world), but when it comes to more practical uses for my art, I get a little lost. The business side of things has always left me feeling overwhelmed. Hey, I’m only human, right?

I stumbled across Bonnie Christine one day, after going down a “bunny trail” on Instagram (sorry, I couldn’t resist 🐰). She was offering a free workshop about surface pattern design. Surface pattern design?! I remembered learning about that back in school for a few brief weeks, and I remembered LOVING it. How come I had forgotten about it? I decided to sign up for Bonnie’s workshop to learn a bit more and refresh my memory further.

Bonnie only got me excited… excited about possibilities! Here I had been feeling so lost… Now I had all these ideas for patterns floating around in my head, and I was imagining them on all sorts of things. Bonnie had left me feeling so inspired, and I knew after taking her workshop that this was something that I wanted to do.

So this leads me to today… Today I signed up for Immersion 2022 (Bonnie’s 8 week intensive all about getting started in the surface design industry). The course is laid out in a way that covers so much information in such a short period of time. It has three weeks of content focused on working in and designing patterns in Illustrator (I’m so looking forward to a refresher in Illustrator… I have gotten rusty!), one week focused on how to create artwork in collections (rather than one-off pieces which I seem to be stuck in doing), and two weeks focused more on the business side of things (which, let’s face it, I need some guidance in)! Bonnie even allows for a couple weeks between modules just for implementing what you are learning. This is so thoughtful and indicative of how much Bonnie understands the creative process. I know I will need that extra time to absorb all that information and create artwork for my first collection.

It’s official! I’m in! 😄

This course seems to have fallen in my lap at just the right time, and with the support of my amazing husband and family behind me, I can’t wait to get started! I’m looking forward to learning all that I can about surface pattern design and growing more as an artist as well as building confidence in my ability as a creative entrepreneur. I feel at peace knowing that this is the next step in my creative journey. I look forward to keeping you updated along the way! ☺️

Starting something new is also a great excuse to tidy up your studio! 😅