The Process

First Jessica, then Jan, then Jenean, now (darn, my name doesn't start with J) ME! I'm going to join my cohorts in a friendly game of pass-the-baton.

It's always nice to see how projects develop from concept through to finished print. Jan also points to her friend Stephanie, who worked out a series of illustrations, so this doesn't have to be just about pattern design.

I think the most fascinating thing that unfolds is that we all have our own way of progressing- indeed, even the start is varied. I hope I can inspire someone else to take the torch and do a similar post.

I poked through my files and found a print I had started, but hadn't fleshed out yet. So, here's my progress from this evening, which probably took me about 3/4 hr to complete.

My inspiration came from this illustration (which I cannot for the life of me, remember where it came from! but it's titled "hc perlberg.png" - Hans Carl Perleberg- thanks to Marna for the links!... so if you know the source, lay it on me.). Pretty, right? I just loved the stylized lines of the deer, which was a motif I've been wanting to work out for some time.

So, here's my deer (below), drawn in Illustrator. I sometimes sketch things out with pencil, but not this time. I started with a head- then I built a body. Actually I built a few bodies- which I didn't document, but this is the one I settled on. I liked that it was looking like a bowling pin. It's important to note here, that I rarely work in the colors I will rest on- they are arbitrarily picked as placeholders. The coloring always comes last for me.

After that, I laid it out in a very simple cascading-like repeat just to get a feel for how it could be used. I rather liked what I saw, but it was so bland and needed some pizzaz.

I put some ovals behind the deer (below)- and then I alternated colors, just to see some movement. Still not enough. How about some foliage?

I started with an illustrator brush just to get the feeling for it- I was actually thinking of laurel leaves to make it appear more like a crest.

While I pondered the actual laurel leaves, I came up with this little tree with a nice big dot on top (I do love dots....) (below). Tada! Lightening strikes and I know exactly what I want to see.

I stack the tree over the ovals, do a little tinkering to the repeat by snugging up the motifs into this basic halfdrop formation. More than dots, I like lines, so this verticality was suiting me just fine.

The finishing touch was coloring it up. I did two colorways. They both appeal for different reasons. Color is never set in stone, but these do look nice. Being that the deer will almost certainly be brown, the blues are a pretty balance- plus they look wintery, which is suitable for this season (fall). I can also see it in soft green and maybe even a coraly pink (one of my faves!)- Update- I couldn't resist playing some more and added the 2 colorways I was thinking of.

And that's it! Who's next?? Point to your post in the comments.

Jezze (another J) and Patricia and Betz joined in, Also found this Tula Pink post, which really shows off what Illustrator can do given some serious artistic vision and skills. Also, Bugs and Fishes shows us how she makes her intricate felt brooches.