From Basics to Brilliance: Pattern Progression with Tools from Adobe Illustrator

As you progress through your days of early pattern making, it is easy to look back and see just how simple your first designs truly were. The beginning of learning Adobe Illustrator can be overwhelming. It is a ton of work to just make the pattern in the program, let alone think of how to make it stand out or be unique. But now that you are gaining more confident with the program, you can clearly see that your patterns need to move to the next level. If this is you, this class is the perfect place! Your brain is telling you it is time to get creative and really use the tools in Adobe Illustrator. Oddly enough these tools are basic, but with a few tips and tricks, they can be used to their full advantage. Watch how your patterns become more detailed, elevated and dynamic.

In this class, we are going to take a basic star shape and instead of allowing the program to make the shape for us, use the creative tools in Adobe Illustrator to design a unique, one-of-a-kind, completely-you pattern that is far from beginner. While we will be focusing on one basic shape for this class, imagine how you can use these tools with your own designs and motifs!

5 Ways to Use Adobe Capture in Surface Pattern Design will boost your creativity and improve your workflow! Learn how to capture incredible textures for design work, how to capture real botanicals for unique motifs, how to create color palettes from the world around you, how to create your own raster or vector-based brushes, and finally, how to quickly and easily vectorize your raster art work. Those aren’t even the best part about the app, because with the Adobe Creative Cloud, everything is available in your libraries, across the programs!

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Creating Gifts with Ink Impressions of Florals and Botanicals. Imagine capturing an ink impression of a rose from your garden? Or from a special bouquet from a special occasion? How about flowers from prom? The meaning behind these botanical images can be deeply personal. In this class, let me show you how to capture the beauty and details in nature on objects that will make stunning pieces of décor for your home, or to create gifts with heart for friends and loved ones. You will learn about different surfaces you can apply impressions of botanicals upon. Also learn about how to prepare the surfaces and which mediums are the best for application. I share a ton of tips and tricks, so anyone can try this technique and be successful. The goal for this class is to inspire you, not only to try this technique, but to be creative in how you use your own ink impressions. If you enjoy flowers, gardening, being in nature, or even a stroll through your local garden center, this class is for you. Join in, get your hands a little messy, and let’s have fun creating!

Inking Natural Elements for Design Work with Adobe Illustrator. Join the class and learn about taking objects found in nature and combining them with India Ink to create motifs for design work. Flowers, leaves, twigs, grass, even rocks can be looked at in new and inspiring ways. Once captured on paper, those inky images can be turned into digital format with a scanner or photo and using Adobe Illustrator’s Image Trace tool. Llearn about using this tool, even if you do not have experience using the program. Within a short amount of time, there will be digital images ready to be used on a variety of projects. If you are looking to expand your design ideas, or simply want to use the inspiration from your own yard or garden, this class will help you grab that moment in nature and capture its beauty tangibly.

Creating Texture for Adobe Illustrator Using Procreate Brushes. I have found that one of the problems with creating digital artwork is a lack of texture. Solid lines and solid images lose the quality of real brush strokes and other textures that bring warmth and life to a design. So how do you create texture digitally? How would you do that with Procreate? Procreate is the program I use to create a ton of my artwork? Procreate is a raster or pixel-based program. But when I create patterns and other art work, I use Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based program.

Turns out there is a tool in Adobe Illustrator called Image Trace that can turn raster images into vector images. While you can use it for paper drawn or painted images, it actually works with digital art work as well!

If you are looking to bring more life, depth, and texture to your digital artwork, grab your iPad, and let’s get started!