How I Create My Surface Pattern Designs
My choice of design program I use to create my surface pattern designs is Inkscape, a free open source editing program that is easy to use.
I have learnt a lot from this program by myself, working my way around all the editing tools available to use and have significantly improved my design skills digitally which has helped me to understand and work in other design programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. Like other design programs, Inkscape can save images in high resolution as vector files. I work in two different sizes when creating my pattern designs (16 x 16 inches) and (8 x 8 inches), these are good sizes for placing designs on fabrics.
5 common pattern types I work on are (1) Full Block Repeat, (2) Mirror Image Repeat, (3) Half Drop Repeat, (4) Diamond Repeat, (5) Rotation Repeat.
The last part is choosing colour. I love trying out all the colours in the design program and if I am working with a particular theme such as a season like autumn, then creating a colour palette comes in handy and useful as a guide especially if working on a collection. To make a colour palette I simply draw 5 small square boxes within my sketchbook and colour in using watercolours.
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