Arts & Crafts Movement Inspired Patterns

So for the last couple of weeks I've been working on learning about Arts & Crafts style motifs and patterns.  We've been practicing drawing them, inking them and then using them in patterns.  I thought I'd share a few of the motifs and one of my patterns with you as I go. If you've ever heard of the wallpaper designer William Morris then you have some idea of what I'm talking about. 

This first photo is one of my final repeat patterns.  It still needs a little work, but I really like it.  It is what is called a half-drop repeat. Keep in mind that all of these patterns started with a simple pencil sketch by hand. 

These next few photos are an overview of the process before scanning everything into Adobe Illustrator to get to the final repeat.  Practicing drawing each motif in several variations is helpful before you begin putting them together with other elements. 

Once you've done that you're ready to start laying out your pattern.  For this half-drop I used the old fashioned hand method with sticky notes to rough out the initial pattern. 

Once you have the repeating pattern roughed out you scan in one of the sticky notes and print it out much larger to begin drawing each component of the pattern. 

Once all that is done it is scanned into Adobe Illustrator, vectorized, colorized and assembled in the program.  The result, hopefully is a vectorized pattern that can be both scaled and recolored to your heart's content.  

Here are a couple of other drawings of some other motif styles. 

Tudor Style Roses/Wild Roses

Honeysuckle

I often get asked about my art supplies and tools so here is a short list. 

1) Pencil, usually and HB up to a 2H.  A harder pencil lead makes it easier to erase after you ink the design.

2) An eraser, I usually use a white rubber eraser.

3) To ink the designs, it depends on what size I need but I usually use a Pentel Fude Touch Sign Pen or a Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen (Hard or Soft).  Final details are usually added with Pigma Microns in sizes 01, 03 or 05. 

4) Any sketch pad with smooth paper (not watercolor paper) or even good quality printer paper will work.  Smooth paper helps you to have cleaner lines when you scan. 

5) A good scanner and a computer with Adobe Illustrator. 

That's it, you're good to go.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this post about surface pattern design from the Arts & Crafts movement. 

Jan