Hello Everyone! And welcome to F.I.N.D.S. where we share Fantastic Interior Design Stuff! I am so glad you were able to stop by the blog and check out our post. Today we are participating in the Design Surface Patterns from Scratch Blog Hop. We are so excited to be a part of this blog hop and to be included in such a talented group of people who are participating. This of course was all made possible by Bonnie Christine and you can read all about it and get links to all the other posts on her blog Going Home to Roost by clicking here. Be sure to check out yesterday’s post by Meg Tannahill and check in with all of us for tomorrow’s continuation of the blog hop at Sarah Hayes blog Sweetgum Studios.
All of this started a little over a month ago when I saw that Bonnie Christine from Going Home to Roost would be teaching a class on CreativeLive about surface pattern design. I am an interior designer by trade and have a degree in interior design. I began with kitchen and bath design and residential work, and then moved on to a hospitality design firm, designing for hotels and restaurants all over the U.S. Now I am lucky enough to have my own business, Studio Em Interiors. Design is what I do, it is what I love, but what I have always loved the most is playing with fabrics and patterns. I have had the opportunity many times to design custom patterns that were project specific for many spaces I have worked on. This ranged from fabrics to rugs and carpeting. I design fabrics for my own personal projects and for gifts for friends. I have a few patterns for sale in my Spoonflower shop, but I plan to add many, many more very soon. Which brings me back to Bonnie’s class.
I recently decided I wanted to take my pattern designing and illustrating to the next level and really start doing something with everything I have created and share it all with the world. I was motivated to do so before taking the class, but after the first day I was more motivated than ever. All I wanted to do was sketch, sketch, and sketch. Bonnie is a wonderful teacher. She was full of life, inspiring, and so informative. The best part of the class was how willing she is to share with us how she gets inspired and her creative process. It is always fascinating to see how other creatives work. I take a lot of continuing education classes. A lot of those classes will last an hour or two, sometimes 3, but usually they are not from 9am-4pm for 3 days. Usually I am ready to leave those classes about 20 minutes into them so I knew going into it was going to be a commitment to sit through three days, but let me tell you, at the end of those three days I wish there was 3 more. It was the most wonderful, most informative class I have ever sat through. Bonnie shared her knowledge and encouraged everyone to go for it.
Let me share with you a couple of the tips that were my favorites. I have always used Photoshop for my patterning and always been able to do it, but it is always a struggle. Having Illustrator explained in a clear way was eye opening. I am so much more efficient in my work now and have no idea why I was not using Illustrator before! It has simplified so many things and really enables me to sketch directly onto my computer with my Wacom tablet. The tool I currently love the most is the blob brush. This is a great feature that allows me to trace over my scanned sketches or photographs to illustrate them and turn them into vector images. Another great feature that I was completely unaware of as I had previously been using Photoshop was the live trace function. Bonnie showed us how to take our sketches (it is best if you ink them, the darker they are the better this works) and scan them in to use for live trace. After scanning the image you will want to adjust the image to get the most black and white contrast. Drag your sketch into illustrator and use the live trace tool to turn it into a vector image. This is a huge time saver. I love using the live trace in combination with the blob tool to create most of my illustrations.
The class is such a thorough explanation of the step by step process from concept, to colors, to illustrations, to pattern repeats that by the end you will have a 6 pattern mini collection. I ended up creating 8 patterns for mine. I drew my inspiration from the city of Boston. My brother moved there about 5 years ago now and it has been a new travel destination to visit him. I have been lucky enough to visit at different times of year each time.
The first visit I made was for a week over the 4th of July a few years back. The city is amazing, the architecture is amazing, and the public gardens that dot the city infuse it with color and life. This is what inspired my pattern collection for this class and today I am going to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it. Here is Concrete & Chlorophyll.
My second trip to Boston was over Christmas in the winter and I have many pictures collected that I snapped during that trip for another pattern collection that I will be working on soon. There is much more to come. I will soon have the patterns from Concrete & Chlorophyll available in my Spoonflower shop as well as on some other items to be announced later. In addition to that there is a lot in the works; I have been going crazy with illustrations since taking Bonnie’s class. It was truly inspiring and motivating. If you are at all interested in the world of surface pattern design do not hesitate at all to take the class. Even though you may have missed it live it is available for purchase here for $79 and it is worth every penny and then some.
Be sure to go take a look at all of what Bonnie Christine has to offer as well. She can be found here:
Blog: https://www.goinghometoroost.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goinghometoroost
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gohometoroost
Instagram: https://instagram.com/goinghometoroost
And we do not want to leave you empty handed today. Bonnie has been generous enough to offer all of my readers a free month to her Roost Tribe. Be sure to check it out and sign up for your free month by clicking here.
Lastly, I would like to offer you free desktop and mobile wallpaper calendars for your personal use. October is one of my favorite months. I am obsessed with pumpkin everything and will be spending the rest of this month sharing with you all everything that makes October fantastic.
So please check back often this month and connect with us on our social media.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StudioEmInteriors
Twitter: https://twitter.com/studioemdesigns
Instagram: https://instagram.com/studio_em_interiors
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/studioemdesigns/
We would love for you all to say hi here! Leave your comments, tell us if you like the patterns and we would love to know what your favorite part of fall is as well! Thanks for stopping by!
megtannahill says
I like your inspiration! Nice collection and pretty colors!
studioeminteriors says
Thanks so much Meg!
Vivayne says
Very creative 😀 love the blue tones!
studioeminteriors says
Thank you Vivayne! You would love all the blue flowers in the Public Gardens in Boston then. It is gorgeous.
Vivayne says
😀
Sheila Marie Delgado says
Love your presentation, and seeing how your patterns came about 🙂 may favorites are pavement, beaten path, and facade. Terrific work 🙂
studioeminteriors says
Thank you so much Sheila! I am glad you like them. Those patterns are some of my favorites as well!