Printable Craft Papers

I opened an etsy shop to sell my patterns as printable craft papers. It’s a surprisingly time consuming process but I figure once each listing is up there it’s done and can be used repeatedly in the future. Here’s an example.

Printable craft papers full set preview - Quirky Mundo
Printable Craft Papers – Full Set Preview
Concentric Polka printable papers first 4 colours - Quirky Mundo
Concentric Polka Printable Papers – First Four Colours
Concentric Polka printable papers second 4 colours - Quirky Mundo
Concentric Polka Printable Papers – Second Four Colours
Concentric Polka printable papers third 4 colours - Quirky Mundo
Concentric Polka Printable Papers – Third Four colours

Hand-Drawn to Vector

I’ve been going through some more of my older hand-drawn patterns and making vector versions of them. It is pretty time consuming but I really like the results.

Hand drawn to vector versions of a lime and blue floral pattern
Hand-Drawn and Vector Versions of a Lime and Blue Floral Pattern

I love the pattern making tools in the latest version of adobe Illustrator, they are an efficient way to create complicated and accurate pattern repeats. I’m having a hell of a time getting the pattern tiles not to explode when the file is saved in a legacy version though. Stock agencies like Shutterstock want the file saved as an Illustrator 10 eps so it’s a problem I need to solve. I have some ideas on how to do that which will keep me busy.

I think this one will be good as a fabric pattern too so it will eventually end up on my Spoonflower collection too.

Oodles of Doodles

One of the fun things about going down the stock image route is that I can get out all my old illustration experiments. I’ve always had problems settling on one creative style so there are a few of them. Here’s a pattern I made from a loose doodle style made with watercolour and fine liners. I like the light-hearted brightness of this one.

Doodle pattern using watercolour and fine liner
Doodle Pattern Using Watercolour and Fine Liner

Tasty Textures

As part of my stock selling mission I’ve decided to include textures in my portfolio. I have a long habit of scanning anything I think might make an interesting texture and then tinkering with it in Photoshop. This week I have mostly been making two-toned lino textures.

These are for sale on Shutterstock and the red one has already had some downloads which is an exciting start. More textures to come soon…

Coloured lino print background textures
Coloured Lino Print Background Textures

Inverted

Here’s an inverted version of the lino textured concentric circle pattern.

Lino rings turquoise inverted
Lino rings turquoise inverted

It’s my definition of inverted because the white on blue version came first but it could be argued that this is the positive version really.

I love the scanned lino print texture. I printed multiple versions of an uncut A4 lino sheet to get an authentic and convincing effect.

Fabric Design – Lino Rings

I’ve had a blogging hiatus but definitely not a creative one. The last few months I’ve been mainly focusing on pattern designs. I’ve opened a shop on Spoonflower with my first ten uploaded designs at https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/quirkymundo

Lino textured concentric circle pattern design in blue and white
Lino Textured Concentric Circle Pattern Design in Blue and White

It’s what happens when you cross a vector pattern with a scanned lino print texture and a nice blue colour.

Lino circles pattern design elements
Lino circles pattern design elements

Separating Styles?

One thing I’ve struggled with in recent years is the fact that I like working in different media and styles. I draw, paint, doodle, scan, retouch and vector away to my heart’s content but that doesn’t create a consistent style. Is this a problem I wonder?

I sometimes go fully old-school with acrylic paint on canvas.

Doughnut still life painting - acrylic on canvas
Doughnut Still Life Painting – Acrylic on Canvas
Doughnut still life - mixed media gouache and pastel
Doughnut Still Life – Mixed Media Gouache and Pastel

It was always been drummed into me is that it’s OK to have a versatility of styles as a graphic designer but not such a good idea as an illustrator. I’m considering stepping back from the process of finding a ‘signature’ style and allowing the natural variety back into my work. A lovely friend has suggest that becoming a stock illustrator / designer may be a way to accommodate this idea. The more I think about it, the more I like it.

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Lots of circles

I remember way back when I was doing a BTEC in Graphic design I did a project that needed a design for a Windsor and Newton Gouache box. I painstakingly painted a complicated circles pattern using said gouache. 27 years later and I’m back to drawing circles.

circles1blog

I was so happy with the result of that project that it was the turning point that convinced me to be a graphic designer. In hindsight I think it was actually the circle pattern I was happy with, more than the graphic design elements that surrounded it.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.