Wallpaper Wednesday: Scallops 2

July 6, 2021

It’s time for new wallpaper! 😄

This month, I chose one of my favourites from a collection of geometric patterns I designed a few weeks ago. I’d just finished a Skillshare tutorial on creating geometric patterns on Procreate and boy, was I hooked! Designing geometric patterns can be addictive - playing with shapes and different permuations, different colour combinations - I was creating one pattern after another for days on end until it got a bit too much… random patterns were popping up in my mind’s eye as I drifted off to sleep, or first thing in the morning, and even in the shower!

Scallops 2. Check out the texture on this!

This particular pattern has a bit of an Art Deco/1950’s hybrid feel to it, in my personal opinion. The motif in this pattern is one commonly found in many Art Deco or Art Deco-inspired patterns, and in my case it was totally unintentional. I was just playing around with circles; cropping, flipping, and arranging them in a tile. The colour palette, however, is what gives it its ‘50s/’60s vibe, and that was intentional - if not fully, then at least at a subconscious level. At the time I started getting into geometric patterns, I’d just finished binge-watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix (late to the party as always).

I was transfixed.

Apart from the brilliant storyline and performance by the cast, I simply loved the aesthetic. The fashion of that era - the silhouettes, the hairstyles, the colour palette… and the patterns. Glorious, beautiful geometric patterns everywhere. The wallpaper, the textiles, the upholstery - everything. It was a feast for the eyes and I absolutely loved it.

Huh. Thinking back, maybe I started creating geometric patterns because of The Queen’s Gambit. It inspired me to search for geometric pattern tutorials instead of kindling a love for chess 🤓.

In any case, I hope you like this month’s freebie wallpaper. I had a lot of fun creating it, and I think it’ll give your devices a nice retro vibe.

-A-

*As always, these are for personal use only.

Scallops 2

Mobile: iPhone // Android

iPad: Pro 11” // Pro 12.9” // Others

Laptop: MacBook Pro 13” // MacBook Pro 13” with calendar // MacBook Pro 15” // MacBook Pro 15” with calendar

Desktop: iMac 27” // iMac 27” with calendar

The #30DayChallenge

January 31, 2020

Helloooooo there! Long time no write! We’re a month into the new year… how has 2020 treated you so far? I know we’ve had quite a bit of sad and scary news in the past few weeks, but I hope that at the same time you’ve had some positive starts - or at the very least, something exciting and wonderful to look forward to at some point in this year.

Like a lot of other people, I approached 2020 with a list of goals for myself. It’s a pretty short list - I’m trying to be realistic - and one of my goals is to have a portfolio of pattern designs by the end of the year. If not a complete portfolio, at least one pattern collection (ie 8-12 patterns designed around a central theme). I would have to choose the ones I feel are my best designs, and to do that, I’d have to design many, many patterns (at least a hundred). Which means this year will be a year for me to practise, practise, practise.

That was when, just a few days before the start of the year, I set myself a challenge: to design one repeat pattern a day, every day, in the month of January, and post it on Instagram. The #30DayChallenge. Yes, January has 31 days, but I thought a nice round number like 30 would look and sound nicer, and I could give myself a day off on the 31st.

Why did I do it?

I wanted to do the challenge to force myself to practise regularly, and I was hoping that the daily deadlines would instil some form of discipline and establish an efficient workflow in my day-to-day routine. I also wanted all 30 patterns to be seamless repeat patterns, as I wanted to train myself to use Illustrator (and other tools) quickly and efficiently.

So how did I fare?

Well firstly, I managed to complete all 30 days (yayyy!). I honestly thought that I would end up skipping a few days, perhaps due to sick days, toddler/family emergencies, and the most likely hurdle: general laziness. Thankfully life was kind and didn’t throw me any curveballs, and I managed to keep my lazy bones in check.

The more important question is, what did I learn from this exercise?

1. Don’t overthink it. Just do.

I realised very early in the challenge that whenever I have even an inkling of an idea, I shouldn’t mull over it for too long. Just run with it. It doesn’t matter that the idea may not yet be fully developed; just start sketching. The pattern will develop along the way. It will take form as I’m sketching out the motifs, and more so after I digitise the sketch and work on it in Illustrator (or Photoshop, or Procreate). Sometimes the sketch won’t turn out the way I imagined it would (I’m looking at you, goat-rabbit-donkey monstrosity in Day 4:“Hippity Hop”), but go along with it anyway. In the context of this exercise, it’s the process that matters.

Day 4: “Hippity Hop”. The dark grey goat-rabbit-donkey is staring straight at me, accusingly.

2. Ideas will morph and evolve.

Some days I had a very clear idea of how I wanted my pattern to look like, and I managed to achieve it (Day 1: “Houses” and Day 30: “Dance”). Other days, I knew exactly what I wanted to sketch, or what I was inspired by, but absolutely no idea where I was going with it. I would play around with the motifs until something clicked (Day 6: “Strings” and Day 15: “Anyam”). Then there were days when try as I might, I just couldn’t translate the vision I had in my mind to the end design (Day 2: “Ombak” and Day 17: “Bougainvillae”). The best and most rewarding instance however, was when one source of inspiration led to several designs. Towards the end of the month, I was inspired by a metal filigree art piece I’d seen hanging on a wall in a hotel. I started doodling filigree patterns, and this resulted in not one, but five consecutive tiled filigree designs, each one “evolving” into the next iteration. (Day 26: “Filigree”, Day 27: “Tiles”, Day 28: “Spring”, Day 29: “Kerawang”, and Day 30: “Dance”). I’d seemingly entered into a filigree/kerawang phase of sorts; one I would happily revisit.

Beginner’s Luck? My very first pattern of the challenge, “Houses” turned out just as I had envisioned it. It took until the very last day of the challenge for this to happen again.

I hit a stumbling block on the second day; this was not the pattern I had in mind. I wasn’t happy with it, but I posted it anyway.

3. Inspiration is everywhere.

Daily deadlines meant that I didn’t have the time to “look for inspiration”. I needed to use whatever I had at the time, and it could come from anywhere. It could be something I’d read (Day 1: “Houses” and Day 13: “Crossword”), or a song I’d been listening to (Day 3: “Better In Colour”). It could come from experiences (Day 2: “Ombak” and Day 4: “Hippity Hop”), or from random things I notice in places I happen to be at (Day 6: “Strings”, Day 16: “SevenEight Lay Them Straight”, and Day 24: “Cozy”). There was a day where I “cheated”, and browsed through my old sketchbooks to look for old sketches that I could use (Day 21: “EllieFunt”).

There were days when I wasn’t inspired by anything specific, but I just felt like making marks on paper, or doodling lines and shapes (Day 7: “Kusut” and Day 10: “Check Check Chequer”).

This scene inspired Day 4: “Hippity Hop”.

Day 7: “Kusut”. This wasn’t inspired by anything in particular; I just felt like doodling circles and lines.

4. Every pattern has a story.

Each time I posted a pattern on my Instagram account, I tried to write something about it; usually what inspired it, or something about the design process. I learnt that having a story - and sharing it - made a design more interesting (to me, at least). It gives meaning to what I create, and to those who view it.

5. Developing a personal style requires more practice.

I knew that I would have to create far more than 30 patterns for a personal style to emerge, but I was still hoping that I could see a modicum of identity peeking through. That hasn’t happened yet, as far as I can see, and that’s fine. It just means I need to design more and more patterns, and I see nothing wrong with that.

So what’s next?

Will I attempt another #30DayChallenge, or something similar? I thoroughly enjoyed the excercise, so I think I will, but perhaps not too soon. For now I need to do some housekeeping (hello, 196 unread emails!), and work on some other areas I’d like to improve. I’ll slowly put the patterns up on products in my Society6 shop, and I’m planning to make some available as free downloadable wallpaper/screensavers. So watch out for that!

If you followed me on my #30DayChallenge, thank you! I hope you enjoyed my patterns. If you have any favourites, do let me know. It’d be nice to see what everyone’s opinions and tastes are like.

If you haven’t seen it yet and your curiosity is piqued, all 30 patterns are on my Instagram page, @almaheradesigns. Or you can click on the link at the top of my site. Do let me know what you think.

Until next time, toodles!

-A-

The Overfloor Pattern Commission

September 25, 2019

A few months ago, a friend and former colleague of mine, R, commissioned a seamless repeat pattern for a custom-print large deskmat - one of those long rectangular ones on which you place your keyboard and mouse. Popular, I believe, with gamers.

It was my first pattern commission.

The “Brief”

The “brief” was simple; he wanted me to design a pattern based on the “Overfloor” - the name given to one of the buildings of the school he went to. It is perhaps the most recognisable feature of his school, with its pseudo Graeco-Roman pillars and the wide expanse of green fronting it (the building overlooks the school’s rugby field). I guess I should explain here that the school is well known not only for its academic achievements, but also (perhaps more so?) for the fervent loyalty and pride displayed by its alumni. Being married to an alumnus myself, I was quite familiar with their fealty, and I’ve seen many an alumni tie, kain sampin, and lanyard out in the wild to understand that an Overfloor deskmat was bound to join the family one day. That I would have anything to do with it was something I had not expected.

Sure, I said. I’ll see what I can do.

This was going to be a new challenge for me. I hadn’t attempted designing a pattern based on buildings prior to this, and I couldn't (still can’t!) draw a straight line to save my life. Why do you think all my doodles are circles?!? Yes, there are rulers and set squares and fancy geometry sets, but I obstinately chose to sketch and draw freehand, and celebrate all the wonkiness and non-perpendicular angles that came with it.

Ink & watercolour sketch. It looks as if the roof is ablaze. I promise you it’s unintentional.

I attempted a few styles: a straightforward pencil and ink sketch, loose charcoal sketches, sketches with and without watercolour, and geometrically-perfect vector-based stylised shapes. I digitised the sketches and worked on them in Procreate and Photoshop for when I wanted to retain the gritty, grainy quality of the charcoal lines or the painterly look of watercolour, or in Illustrator for when I felt the drawings would translate well to vectors.

Charcoal & watercolour sketch. Wonky pillar alert.

The Colour Palette

Choosing the colour palette was the easiest part of the entire process. It only made sense to use the school colours, and R had included a specific background colour in his brief. He’d even given me the hex code - which made it that much easier for me. The colour palette, in short, had been predetermined from the get go.

I played around with several patterns and different iterations of each, and ended up with a selection I was comfortable with. I showed them to R, and thankfully he liked what I’d done. It being my first pattern commission and all, I’d been worried that I’d strayed too far from the mark.

R chose a pattern from the selection I’d given him, and sent it to the printers. It would take a couple of weeks or so, the printers told him. I hope it turns out ok, I silently prayed to myself. I then pushed it to the back of my mind and went on with life.

The Pattern In The Wild

After an episode with the wretched Influenza B (the toddler), and the frustrating annual affliction that is the haze (the country), R messaged me with some good news. The deskmats had arrived, and they looked good!

Aaaaaahhh to see my pattern out in the wild….

It feels nice.

It really does.

Watercolour Doodles: Orange Polka

July 3, 2019

I’ve been struggling to find ideas or inspiration for new patterns or paintings lately, so I decided to look through my sketchbook to find old watercolour doodles to breathe new life into. I found a few that looked half decent, so I scanned them and cleaned them up in Procreate. I then created seamless repeat patterns in Photoshop.

I’ve been meaning to learn how to use Photoshop for a while now; there are times when I want to use watercolour to paint motifs for a pattern, and Photoshop retains that lovely painterly look you get from watercolour. It’s possible to use Illustrator as well, but there are certain limitations and for it to work I would need to paint with Illustrator in mind.

In any case, this has been a good exercise for me. Using Procreate instead of Photoshop to clean up the digitised paintings/doodles is great because I’m not stuck to my desk and I can do it anytime and anywhere; while waiting for my son in swim class, while taking a quick coffee break in the morning, or while listening to an audiobook.

Once I’ve cleaned it up (nothing fancy; I just remove the background and clean up the edges. Maybe adjust the hue and saturation a bit), I open it up in Photoshop and create a repeat. It’s actually not as complicated as I thought it would be. I still find Illustrator easier, but it’s nice being able to use both.

As I was going through my doodles, I noticed that there were quite a few pages filled with circles and polka dots; it seems that my default doodle is circles. Does that mean anything? No idea.

This pattern I’ve named “Orange Polka” (how original!), was done using watercolours, Finetec metallic pigments, and colour pencils. The metallic sheen of the Finetec pigments didn’t translate well digitally; but that only means there’s more for me to learn in Photoshop! :-)

Orange Polka Pattern_1800px.jpg — Orange Polka

Orange Polka Original.jpg — THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK/DOODLE

Hello, May! (and free downloadables)

May 1, 2019

It’s crazy how time flies… it’s already May!

I was going through my sketchbook the other day and I thought I’d turn one of my doodles into a pattern - which I did - and then I thought, why not use it as wallpaper for my desktop and/or phone?

And why not share it with you?

Why not, indeed?

Just click the buttons below to download the files, and have a lovely month of May! :-)