#pattern project

[sunshinesight]

Things I’m working on.

[ratsinatomb]

After 5 long days I finally finished this god forsaken project 😌

[sunshinesight]

Pattern project - rainbow butterflies pattern.

Based on the illustration I did a few years ago:

https://society6.com/product/rainbow-of-butterflies-aflutter_print

[sunshinesight]

Progress on the betta patterns.

The backgrounds needed to be slightly darker, slightly bluer, oh, yeah, and I forgot to use the filter I intended to use. The fish also needed to be more uniform in size. So, the lighter versions on the left are the old ones, and the bluer ones on the right are the current edits. I still need some time to mull them over, but I think they’re close to being patterns.

[sunshinesight]

Pattern project: butterfly kaleidoscopes.

Yes, this is how I spent my afternoon…

[sunshinesight]

Inking the fishes.

[sunshinesight]

Pattern design: trial & error & editing

Oh, patterns. In my lifetime I’ve actually designed several. Yes: several. But they occur few and far between. For instance, if you’re viewing this tumblr account on a computer - the background of my page is obviously a pattern of squares. And yes, it repeats. Designing something obviously less linear that doesn’t rely on a solid background - that’s a bit more of a challenge.

I’ve frequently mused that it might have been helpful if I’d taken any graphic design course in college… but I saw their homework and it was a lot of text kerning (as if Photoshop wasn’t a thing in 1998 and we were ever going to go back to manual typesetting). For those unfamiliar: I have an art degree, my concentration was scientific illustration. That might explain why I draw birds and bugs and flowers and naturey things.

Anyway, trial and error with patterns is one of my current side projects. I have a reflective moment at the end of every year where I write down some ideas about stuff I might want to do the next year in the back of my sketchbook… sometimes I make an attempt at that stuff. So, this is it. Spatial relationships, symmetry, placement, juxtaposition, scale, eyeballing it - all that fun stuff.

The luna moths are probably going to be my first official pattern. Presently there’s an issue of scale (with a small side of juxtaposition and angles). I need to think about it for a little while before I commit.