Yesterday I heard in the radio that only 9% of the people keep their New Year resolution by the end of January. That’s so depressing!
Well, I’m determined to keep mine this year! My main resolution is to do things I love and share more here! This year I want to care more about enjoying the process and be happy about every step. That includes drawing more, having more fun with my illustrations, expressing more my feelings and ideas and experiment more with design and photography. Be more artistic and less shy. Let myself out a bit more! Focus more on creativity and worry less about the hard part of the business.
How about you, how are you keeping your resolutions?
Here is just a quick update. In 2023 I’m increasing my range of products, introducing new bag styles, ceramic mugs and new wall décor. Some of these products will be available exclusively here on my website, others will also be on Etsy.
I’m also experimenting a bit with my visual communication, please feel free to send me feedback!
Let me know how are you doing and if you would like to share any goals for the year please leave me a comment!
Hi! Can you believe the year just flew like that? By the end of December I always like to reflect on what I accomplished and what are the goals for the future.
What are you most proud this year?
My illustration studio is a very small company that I started in 2021, introducing illustrated and embroidered products and making the lives of people more beautiful. I hope my creations brought a smile to your face, either by bringing warm memories to your walls, helping you carry your errands in a stylish way or surprising your special ones with the perfect gift.
2022 in review
So many new products were released this year! Here is a small sample of some of my most popular creations:
Picking a favorite is really hard but if I had to choose, I’m very happy with…
The embroidered tote bag
Not only did it have the best reviews and feedback, but I was also very proud to see my designs out in the world. If you haven’t checked them yet, I definitely recommend having a peep and keeping them in mind for your everyday errands.
I also need to mention how happy I’m for having launched two pattern collections. It’s amazing to see how some of you used my patterns this year as fabrics and wallpaper in your homes. I hope they added a bit of fun to your lives!
The Year Ahead
I’m very excited about what is coming for 2023. First up, I’m increasing my range of offered products, introducing coffee mugs and other new illustrated products, they will be available exclusively on my website. Also, new pattern collections are on the way!
Thank you for all your feedback, I appreciate it so much! I’ll continue sharing the behind-the-scenes and latest news.
Thank you so much for being part of my life in 2022. I’m so grateful for your support.
It’s been more than a year since the last time I drew a surface pattern design collection. Reading is one of my passions and drawing a book collection has always been in my plans. I’m also a big fan of the visuals in the movie You’ve Got Mail, since the main characters are owners of bookstores and there are books everywhere. I’m specifically attracted by the decoration with so many bookshelves and cozy objects, I find it simply brilliant. With a bit of inspiration and lots of imagination, here is a bit of my process creating The Book Lovers Collection.
The Book Lovers Collection
This collection is perfect for book enthusiasts, writers, students, all people who loves vintage vibes of old paper books, typewriters, lots of coffee and a cozy environment. Adding a hint of humor, warm elements and colours, it’s a perfect collection for back to school in the fall or to enjoy the whole year.
Deciding what to draw
I decided I wanted to get most of my inspiration from the movie You’ve Got Mail, so I watched it again. There are so many things to get inspired, like the Shop Around the Corner, or NY in the fall, or even the Fox Books store. But the place I would love to seat and read was actually Kathleen Kelly’s brownstone house. You can read my analysis of her living room here.
I wanted to have a mix of characters, objects and miscellaneous designs. Watching the movie, I tried to focus on the people who visited the house, on objects, patterns and colours that decorate the space. I divided those in 3 categories:
Characters: the people who frequent the house
Elements: The furniture and larger objects
Miscellaneous: Small objects that decorate the place
With that in mind I drew each element by hand in my own style, and later digitalized using Adobe Illustrator. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see a likeness to Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks or Greg Kinnear, that was intentional. I placed these characters in new situations and tried to focus in the book lovers theme. I want my drawings to appeal to all book lovers, not only fans of the movie.
Slide the picture below to see my original drawings and the digitalized version
Slide and watch the magic!
Creating a Pattern Collection
For this collection I decided to create 4 hero prints, 6 secondary prints and 6 blenders.
Hero Prints: the ones with more colours, more elements and higher complexity. All the characters are in the hero prints.
Secondary Prints: patterns with medium complexity, moderate use of colours, medium contrast and no characters
Blender Prints: simple patterns with limited colours and no complex elements, low contrast
When choosing colours I always try to imagine if the patterns were transmitting that cozy, cute and fun atmosphere. My goal was to create an attractive universe for book lovers, with patterns that work well in different applications.
Trying a few mock-ups
It’s always great to visualise how the patterns are going to work in products, so I always make a few mock ups to test.
Printing Fabrics and Licensing
I decided to make this collection available for purchase at Spoonflower – that means you can shop fabric by the yard and create your own projects.
In order to sell on their website we need to print prof the designs and make sure all colours are fine. I ordered a sample of each fabric on a cheater’s quilt (an amazing option available on their website, you can make one for yourself!). Here is how mine is going to look like, in case you need some inspiration. (If you would like to shop these fabrics visit my shop ).
Producing Embroidered Products
And of course I wouldn’t miss the opportunity of offering some of these designs in an embroidered version. So hoops and tote bags are available featuring some of the icons from the collection. Visit my Etsy Shop to purchase them.
I hope you enjoyed learning more about my process. I find it amazing and surprising to see how much we are able to create with few pieces of inspiration. As the times passes I’ll have even more items to grow this collection so keep in touch! And please let me know what do you think in the comments!
Drawing patterns is an old dream and I did my first course on the subject in 2018 (with the lovely Elizabeth Olwen on Skillshare).
I got way too busy with other things, time passed and I forgot the little I learned.
This year I said: the time has come!
I enrolled in a course by Ana Sanfelippo at Domestika and it is exactly about what I wanted to learn: tell stories with patterns.
1. Chose the theme
NBC Universal
I was inspired by a short scene in the movie Gosford Park. I love the bedroom furniture and ladies style.
If you want to read my full analysis of this bedroom click here.
2. Define what to draw
My drawings were divided in 3 categories:
Characters: the ladies who socialize in the bedroom Elements: the furniture and window Miscellaneous: small objects of the room and wallpaper details
3. Decide where to use the patterns
Early on I decided I wanted to apply the patterns mostly for decoration. Fabrics, wallpapers and art prints are my main goal.
4. Search for references
I always like to get extra references for my projects, so they feel very unique.
For this project I also got inspired by:
Chinese scrolls and vases
French Toile de Jouy fabric and wallpapers
Images: British Museum and Pattern Observer
5. Draw the elements
This part took forever but it’s so important! I drew all elements by hand in my personal style, then digitalized all elements on Illustrator. It was a very long and exhausting process but now that I’m done I understand how important it is to draw each element very carefully.
Slide to see before and after!
Before and after
6. Pattern creation
For this collection I drew 10 patterns, but in this first moment, I’m publishing just 3:
Micro elements
Vertical Stripes
Brick / Toile inspired
7. Have fun with mockups!
I can’t finish an illustration without testing on a mockup. That’s how I adjust colors, proportion and other small details. When I worked as an architect, I couldn’t live without 3D models and mood boards.
I guess my brain still works the same, I need to see it in the real world!
8. Print fabrics and licensing!
Ok I’m not there yet! I’m still waiting for my fabric samples to arrive, but we will get there and I’ll be here updating you ASAP!
In the mean time check this super cute video I did for my my Instagram, speaking about my pattern process.
Gosford Park Scene: NBC Universal / Video Music: Spring @iksonmusic
If you love it and would like to see more, please check my portfolio page:
Improving a skill requires constant effort. As an illustrator, I’m always trying to find interesting ways to tell stories through drawing. After a long gap without producing art, I finally felt inspired again and started a series of illustrations in late May. I was motivated and happy but in less than two months I felt trapped and had to stop again to reorganize my plans. What happened?
I’ll tell you the truth. I’m addicted in social media.
I need to draw, post on Instagram and see the reaction of people immediately. I even started to post videos everyday sharing not only the completed drawings but also the process and each part of what I was doing. The result? In one month I got stressed and bored. Every time I was not producing fast enough, I would feel guilty and on my videos I would repeat just “I’m stuck, I’m stuck, I’m stuck”. So annoying! Not having time to reflect about my work led me to make a lot of mistakes and bad choices. In the last week of July I chose some very strange colors and did some really weird patterns. Not proud!
Making these mistakes helped me realize I needed more time. I decided to draw 2 months in advance, so in August I started to draw for Canadian Thanksgiving , October 12. That was a great decision. I finally got time to breathe and see a full collection finished before I started posting. It’s been challenging to stay away from social media and don’t see interactions everyday, but I believe this will be very important to start producing good quality artwork.
On Writing, Stephen King. I listened to the audio book, it was really fun!
I recently finished reading On Writing, from Stephen King and it’s a great book! Here is something he said that was important for me (on drawing on my case)
Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you
Stephen King
I think I opened too much of my process and the truth is that most people are not interested, except for my artist friends. That limits too much my potential and reach. Also makes me insecure about my choices and I feel very inconsistent, as I rush things to show in public fast. I also notice I don’t give myself time to review my work.
If you are in the creative career, either writing, painting, music, anything artistic, I really recommend this book. I’ve never read other books from Stephen King because I’m not into suspense stories but I really enjoy learning about his creative process and where he gets inspiration for his projects.
The September Issue is available for renting on YouTube
I also watched the September Issue again. I love this documentary about Vogue and Anna Wintour. I really love Grace Coddington participation, Anna and Grace are both really inspiring women in very different ways. It’s great to see how they prepare the fashion editorials, how the teams plan the stories and what happens in the edition room. I like how they take their job very seriously and how sometimes hard decisions are made to keep the magazine aligned with their ideals. One thing I noticed is that they started the plan for the September issue about 5 months before the launch! I didn’t know they start so early.
A picture from the board at the edition room. I really love how they print the pages and see the whole magazine together before publishing!
All this helped me regain my focus. I finished my fall illustration series and I’m ready to start the Halloween series. I will post on Instagram only in September but if you are reading here you can see my fall illustrations before everybody! Just visit my portfolio page –> here.
That’s it for today! Thank you so much for reading and we keep in touch!
