freebies // The 2013 Designer Calendar :: November

I can't believe October is already over. It hasn't been a great month for me and my family, but we are doing our best to keep going so we can honour my dad's infinite love for life. I know all he wants is for us to be  happy, keep dreaming, fighting for our goals and live great lives in his name :)

Here is November's fun and quirky calendar (wow... just 2 more months till the end of the year o.O): I just love its movember style. It was designed by Tina Devins the happy Irish designer behind Dreaming on A Star who happily agreed to be part of my 2013 Designer Calendar project when I asked her. Thank you Tina :)

download

About Tina:

Tina Devins is a surface pattern designer & illustrator from Ireland. Dreaming on A Star was created because she lives in her own little dreamworld but dreams big dreams! 

She creates cute characters and quirky doodles, all hand-drawn in a graphic style. She specialises in Stationery, Textiles and the Children’s market. She is inspired by Japanese kawaii, nature and fairytales. 

She’s a licensed designer with KekaCase, who create fabulous covers for smart devices, and her work will be published in an upcoming book on New Surface Pattern Design by Zeixs.

Her quirky detail:

"I'm a proud owner of a golden ticket and own several copies of the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory!"

Her favourite Designer:

"I have two favourite designers but one is a painter! 

I love Joan Miró. I love his graphics, bold colours, his childlike shapes, his sense of wonder, his poetry. His paintings are joyful and thought-provoking. 

I also greatly admire Helen Dardik. I love her stylizing, her icons and her playfulness."

You can download November here or clicking on the download link below the image above, and remember, it can be printed as big as an A3 format (42x29.7cm / 16.5x11.7in). Don't forget to visit Tina's website to keep up to date with her great work. 

teaching // Reign Repeats :: challenge 1 :: winner

Shelly!!! You are the happy winner of a $100 Spoonflower giftcard. Please email me your full name, postal address, phone number, and email :)

FIRST PLACE- pie bird song by Shelly Penko

37 people voted and the blogpost had almost 300 views this past week. (Thank you to everyone who stopped by, voted and/or commented!) I closed the contest yesterday at 9pm (Colombian time) and these were the final results:

results updated at 9pm on October 20th, 2013

PS. I'd also like to congratulate Shelly, Robin and Celia (3 of my Reign Repeats students) for being part of the Pies contest Top 10 designers. I'm really proud of you three. Great designs! 

one more thing…

 don't forget about my current sale and enroll Reign Repeats today! 

SPD RedCarpet // Emma Hawman

Good morning everyone!

Welcome to SPD RedCarpet Mondays, the series dedicated to surface pattern designers and their work. Today's guest is British designer Emma Hawman, the designer behind Emma Frances Designs.

Hi Emma, tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born and bred in the North Yorkshire countryside, growing up on a farm I was surrounded by tons of inspiration. My mother has always been creative and loves crafts so encouraged me from an early age to pursue my love for drawing, painting and making things. I studied Art and Design and Textiles throughout school and it came as no surprise to everyone that I went on to study Textile Design at the University of Leeds. Now I am freelancing and building my own brand up whilst working part time and looking for new work experience opportunities, so very busy!

What is it that you like about patterns? Which one is your favorite pattern style?

I am quite an organised person (well…my bedroom may occasionally look like a hurricane blew through) so I think the preciseness of technical repeating patterns appeals to that side of me. I honestly don’t think I could pick a favourite style, I love all sorts of different types of patterns, I do love a delicate floral pattern though!

How would you describe your style?

I’d describe my style as using hand drawn sketchy motifs mixed with delicate colour palettes. I try to make it harder to see the repeat in my patterns so you have to work to see the tile.

Where do you find inspiration? Do you follow trends?

I find inspiration absolutely everywhere, I constantly have a camera on me all the time and am always taking photos to draw from. I can’t wait to get back home for the summer and snap up all of the flowers in my Grandma’s garden! I try to keep up with trends and am interested to see what future trends may come about but I don’t often apply them to my work, I like to work freely and let my creativity flow in whichever direction it feels like at the time.

What color palettes do you prefer?

I love anything from pastels to bright contemporary palettes, often in my own home I like quite crisp and clean colour palettes with the odd dash of colour that stands out. In my pattern designing it depends on the feel of the design and what I am designing it for.

When you design, do you do it thinking of a final product? Which market would you like your designs to be on?

Sometimes it jumps out as soon as I draw the motif and sometimes it take a little longer to see which market the pattern would work best in. I absolutely love interiors and the thought of making my homes (and others) more beautiful by filling them with pretty patterns.

Which Design tool can't you leave without?

It has to be my pencil and paper, which is where it all starts. I love my Wacom tablet but much prefer the control I have when I’m drawing on paper. Oh and fineliners! I love the beautifully crisp lines they give.

What has been your greatest achievement so far? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

My first licensing deal has got to be my biggest achievement, it was such a heart racing feeling seeing the email in my inbox! It is such a huge stepping stone in the right direction and I can’t wait for more to come along. In five years I would love to see myself with plenty more licensing deals under my belt, having built my brand up I would like to be selling my own products, hopefully have exhibited at a show and most of all be making a living from doing what I love.

What's your favourite patterned possession? Why?

I have a weakness for pretty patterned summer dresses so have quite a few in my wardrobe (it’s hard to say no to pretty patterns!). Here is my favourite!

Who is your favorite surface pattern designer? Why?

Ah favourite designer! I honestly cannot possibly choose, there are so many talented designers in this industry with so many different styles, I’m awestruck by so many!

Where can we find more of your work and products?

I can be found on my website and blog, and you can contact me via email.

I hope you've enjoyed getting to know Emma a bit better. Don't forget to check the other places you can find her (above!) :D to see more of her beautiful work! 

teaching // Reign Repeats :: challenge 1 :: top 6

Nine days ago I was working on my editorial content when I received the worst news ever: my Dad, the man of my life, was suddenly taken from our side. He was the most wonderful man, husband, dad, surgeon, friend, teacher I've ever met. Many came to say goodbye and to tell us how much impact my dad had had in their lives. We feel so proud of him, and knowing he'll no longer be around to make a difference in this world makes this loss more painful and inexplicable. It is so incredibly hard and I can't seem to know where to start or where to find the strength I need, but I know the best way to honour him is to keep going, achieve my goals and dreams and make him the proudest Angel up there. 

I'm taking a minute at a time to be able to get by… everything is so foggy now and planning isn't something I'm able to do right now. However, I set this challenge a while back and gave you all my word today was the day I was going to post my top 10. So here I am, keeping my word (one of the many things my Dad taught me.) 

I challenged my old and new students to create a design to enter Spoonflower's Pies contest, and asked you to follow the project guide and post the link to the design in Spoonflower in the challenge announcement. Not many did; which made my choice easier (although a would have liked a bit more engagement… maybe next challenge will be more inviting?) I originally wanted to post my favourite top 10, but ended up posting the top 6 that followed the guidelines. All 6 designs are great in their own unique way and deserve to win the award. I'm sure you'll agree with me once you look at them and read what I like about them.

* * *

I love Jane's autumnal colour palette and retro flair. The motifs are beautifully detailed and illustrated and overall the repeat is very appealing. It would make beautiful kitchen accessories.

A- unnamed by Jane Sanders

I love that Jenn's design isn't literal. Yes… it includes pies, but its folksy influence makes it very original and beautiful.

B- pie birds by Jenn Busch

Shelly's design has a lot of beautiful details that make it alluring and interesting. I particularly like the cherry background and the patterns used in the pies. 

C- pie bird song by Shelly Penko

I like that Katie's design is bold and graphic. Very modern and eye-catching.

D- easy as pie by Katie Lenius

Celia's is graphic and bold too, but what I like the most about it is its modern colour palette and use of textures. I also love the fact that it makes a great new geo pattern.

E- slice of pie! by Celia Forrester

Luciana's design is whimsical and bright… just yummy!

F- pies and apples (dark turquoise blue) by Luciana Haddad

Hard to choose just one now, right? Please vote for your favourite design below (only one vote per person allowed) and don't forget to leave a comment if you want to tell the designers something. I'm sure they'll be thrilled to know what you all think. The winner will win a Spoonflower giftcard of $100, and will be announced next Monday here.

VOTING HAS BEEN CLOSED

SPD RedCarpet // Gill Eggleston

Good morning everyone!

I'm so happy to be back with my SPD RedCarpet, the series dedicated to surface pattern designers and their work. Today's guest is British designer (living in France) Gill Eggleston, the designer behind Pattern Addict.

Hi Gill, tell us a bit about yourself.

I am British and from a large town in the North West just outside Manchester. I studied a BSc in Textile Design and Design Management at U.M.I.S.T, graduating from there in 1993. I was fortunate enough to start work with Dorma CVHF immediately, initially as a drawing board designer (back in the days when we used to get dirty, using ink, paint, pastels etc plus repaint/rework and rehash of designs by hand). 

I had about 10 months of 'just being creative' then was offered an opportunity to take on further responsibility which lead to subsequent promotions within the studio there over a 5.5 year period. 

The following 10 years involved working in and around the textile industry in a variety of product development and sourcing roles dealing within a myriad of product groups.

In 2008, I left the UK to live in France with my partner. We lived on the Riviera for a few years (which was very nice) then due to work commitments moved up to the Paris region at the end of 2012 from where I have been focusing on breaking into the world of freelance surface pattern and textile design (still early days). 

Pattern Addict' Design Garden came about after I decided to take the plunge into the deep waters of SPD and joined module 3 of the ABSPD course in September last year . As I hadn't worked outside of industry before I felt I may be missing a few key bits of information relating to working in a freelance capacity. It was a worthwhile investment in many respects - mostly because a large group of talent has formed on the back of it which is great to be part of. 

As for the name, well as a pattern addict...the name just seemed so appropriate (plus I like gardening)! :)

What is it that you like about patterns? Which one is your favorite pattern style?

For me patterns bring humour, smiles, colour and even a bit of envy into my world (the latter being envious that I wasn't the designer in a particular instance). The world would be a dull place indeed without pattern. 

I do enjoy the crisp simplicity of Scandinavian designs, they are a complete contrast to my own work really and not a style I have ever designed but maybe that is why I admire it.

How would you describe your style?

Quite bold, colourful, a little quirky. I like to try and create a sense of movement in my designs where possible and retain the nuances of my own hand.

Where do you find inspiration? Do you follow trends?

I look all over for ideas - out and about around the fashion stores, art books, nature, also with the web these days there are lots of resources for finding inspiration - I often take my own photos as start points for textures/florals etc but also like looking at the old school designers as to how they put designs together. As for trends, I tend to be more focused on colour trends as essentially people shop by colour the pattern (not always the case).

What color palettes do you prefer?

I like working towards the brighter end of the colour range so any palette that has fabulous contrasting colours and a few colour oddities in there gets me all flustered as I like to see how I can make them work (or not).

When you design, do you do it thinking of a final product? Which market would you like your designs to be on?

I nearly always think 'textiles' -force of habit- soft furnishings mostly -also I photo map designs onto blanks to see if they look any good for scale/motif etc- I suppose I would have to say textiles/textile products.

Which Design tool can't you leave without?

My hands and black marker pens/pens in general… old school stuff plus scanner or camera.

What has been your greatest achievement so far? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Greatest achievement… mmm I think for me it has to be managing to stay up to date in the industry - I came from a non-CAD background and only recently started using it (from beginning of 2010 really properly) so feel pretty pleased with my progress as it was a major sticking point for me. Within the next 5 years I would like to have put together a small range of my own work - be it surface pattern or illustration and be selling it successfully.

What's your favourite patterned possession? Why?

I bought some Chinese silks scarves while I was in Shanghai, one in particular caught my eye and drew me into the little shop - firstly for colour and also it has butterflies on it which I love! I haven't worn it yet but I will...

Who is your favorite surface pattern designer? Why?

I think for visual aesthetic Eugene Alain Seguy - just love his work. I just have to look at the colours and shapes he created to feel inspired!

Where can we find more of your work and products?

On my website (I have a guest book on my website - I would love if anyone who visits left a bit of feedback), my blog, twitter and facebook page. 

I hope you've enjoyed getting to know Gill a bit better. Don't forget to check the other places you can find her (above!) :D to see more of her beautiful work! 

PS. Before I let you go, I would like to thank Gill for creating and curating The Little White Book (a place to find new surface pattern designers) which has just launched its second edition. 

I'm happy to announce, that also this time I'm part of it ;) Here's my profile… I hope you like it.