Surface Pattern Design From Start To Finish - The Short Version

How I Got Started

When I was getting started in my creative digital journey it was with Photoshop probably 15 years ago, I started in photography. It was something that I loved and still love to tinker around with. I was excited to get started in learning Photoshop and how to edit my photos. That evolved to other things and then somehow I ended up learning how to make digital paper that I sold on Etsy. I loved being able to make something that others could use over and over again. I even bought digital papers from others and used them. 

I then found an online company called CreativeLive and watched many videos about photography. They are a great company to follow and learn from. One of those courses I decided to check out was how to Design Surface Patterns From Scratch by Bonnie Christine. She took you from drawing flowers and other elements to creating patterns on Illustrator. She even taught you Illustrator enough to create those patterns. I got so excited about learning and even bought her course so I could come back to them. 

I learned a lot and I am still learning how to work around Illustrator, but I have been doing so much more lately. So here is basically what the process is for me to create a surface pattern design. This is not an extensive post on all of the parts of my process but the most important ones. If you would like to learn more I would highly recommend the course by Bonnie Christine. She is great! Knowing how to use Illustrator is a big plus. It is something that will make creating a whole lot easier! I will give other ideas on what programs to use to create surface patterns at the end of this post.

How to Create a Surface Pattern Design

1. Draw something. Anything. It doesn't even need to be spectacular. That was something that held me back. I didn't feel like I could draw that great. I felt like I needed to be this amazing artist before I could design a great pattern. That is so not the case. Just draw a lot. I have found that among all the elements I draw that I will find only a few that I want to work with. Make sure when you draw that you use a good black pen and white paper. It will make it so much easier to scan in or take a picture and have that contrast. 

Next you will scan those pages in or take a picture. I took a picture and used my filters to make that picture have the whitest white and the blackest black.

2. Open Illustrator and import those pictures. You are going to be isolating each element though the image trace feature and getting rid of the white background. That turns those drawings into vector images and you can move each element around individually and work with them. Then you can fill those drawings with a solid color and then eventually the color of your choice. You can do that by using the Shape Builder tool to fill in the shape. 

3. Next choose your colors. I used a photo of flowers on a teal background to get my colors. I love the colors from this picture that I found on the internet. Teal is one of my favorite colors so the background caught my eye first. Take those colors and make color swatches with them. That way you can use them when coloring your elements.

4. Start with colors and figuring out which elements you want to use. I chose these elements and then figured out which colors I wanted for them. Then I arranged them in a way that I liked. Now to make a pattern with these. I decided I wanted to make a simple pattern and these were the only elements I would use. 

5. Create a square to make the pattern and color it. Arrange the elements on the square so that it makes a pattern. There is a few steps to make the pattern perfect which involves arranging the elements on one side of the square that is touching the outside and copy them over to the other side. Highlighting all the elements-right click-Transforrm-Move. You would need to know the size of your square before you start. Here is a video from YouTube that I found of Bonnie Christine showing how to create a repeating pattern. Very helpful and she explains it way better than I could.

6. Create your own pattern! Here is what I made with the elements and the background! I hope this is helpful! I know that it is not an extensive tutorial but informational on how you can get started. 

Don't let your fears get in your way even if you don't think you can draw, or don't know how to use Illustrator. There are so many ways you can create a pattern. It is not the only way. This is just one of them. Something that Bonnie Christine shares that she learned from another person is this "There is room for you." There are so many people out there that will love what you create. Create and share for you and them. 

So, here is my finished pattern. It is a flat pattern and doesn't have any texture but you can always add texture if you want it. It's amazing how something so cute can come from random scribbles or drawings!

Other Resources 

Ok, I said I would give some other ideas of alternate programs to create patterns. I have used Photoshop to make patterns but I know that it is money to use these Adobe programs. There are free programs out there. Inkscape being one of them.

I also use Canva. It's free but you can also pay for the pro version where you have more options. It is great for a lot of other things though so if you haven't heard of it check it out! I actually do a lot of invites on there. 

On the Ipad I use a program called Procreate and you can do so much on there. Creating patterns on there is possible but tricky too. Find some YouTube videos to show you how to do it! For any of these programs really! Procreate is only available on Ipad and does cost but I think it's worth it. I do a lot of drawing on there. 

Well, that's it for me! I hope this inspires you to get out a drawing pad and just doodle. Go outside and draw what you see or just scribble. Sometimes the scribbles are what makes the most fun patterns!

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or comments! 

Have a happy day!

Tierra