35 Days of Patterns: Week 4
Due to the Valentine's day I couldn't resist the desire to make a pattern with small hearts and a new variation of the XOXO pattern.
While working on the abstract brush strokes pattern, I've made several versions and ended up with two more pieces (the same for the dotted patterns). Changing the density of elements and the amount of white space creates a completely different mood.
35 Days of Patterns: Week 3
Even though I've made two patterns with hearts and leaves, I am trying to explore simple shapes and not to draw objects. The first pattern of this week is my favorite one. It was made of textured brush strokes and has a particular energy and confidence. It almost says “I'm abstract, cool and I don't care.”
35 Days of Patterns: Week 2
It's the second week recap of my #35daysofpatterns challenge. The blueberry pattern was too easy to create (and destroy afterwards), so I've made one extra work. The first pattern is not seamless and was 100% hand made with watercolor, dry pastel and golden pen. No computer tricks applied afterwards. The pattern with kisses required a lot of red lipstick :) The rest was drawn by hand using only black ink. The watercolor textures were added with a little help of the technologies.
Which pattern of this week do you like the most? Let me know in a comment below.
Stay tuned for the next week!
35 Days of Patterns: Week 1
Here are the patterns from the first week of #35daysofpatterns challenge. I prefer working with simple black and white shapes, when there is no color distraction. Even though I added some color this week, all the patterns were originally created as monochrome versions. It's good to have a limited color palette: this constraint helps me to focus the attention on the shapes.
New Year's Challenge
January is a good month to start something new and I am looking for some kind of creative challenge this year. The Alphabet project was useful for me, but I found it hard to keep a rhythm and, say, finish one letter in a week. So one of the criteria for the new challenge is to create something quick and easy to post on a daily basis.
The projects like “N days of…” are a great way to improve any creative skill. Some people decide to continue their own challenges even after 100 days! Isn't that exciting? Our boundaries are bigger than we suppose. Or we can expand them by doing small steps.
I always thought that daily side projects were made by people who had too much free time. In reality it's the opposite. Finding time for everyday activity is hard and requires saying NO to other things. I would love to try a dozen of projects such as watercolor and pastel painting, fashion illustration, collage-making, drawing humans, etc. The list is long, but it's impossible to find time for everything.
Let it be a #35daysofpatterns challenge with a daily updates on Instagram and weekly blog post summaries. One pattern a day, any medium, no constrains (that's for the next time).
Alphabet Exploration
I started Alphabet Exploration eight months ago to learn the various ways to construct letterforms. I was looking at existing typefaces on my computer as well as gathering inspiration from letterers, type designers and type foundries. Everything was drawn by hand and without preliminary sketches. Most of the time I worked with distinctive display or script fonts (Bauhaus 93, Lobster, Rockwell and others), since these are easier to draw. My project resulted in a quickly accessible collection of alphabets depicted in various styles. I find useful to look through it from time to time for finding the inspiration.
Holidays approaching
Tomorrow I am going to Moscow and will stay there for two weeks. For some reason I'm not in the right mood for Christmas holidays, and my head is occupied with the never-ending digital stuff to do. That's why I should probably turn off my computer right now and start preparing the luggage. It's a perfect thing that helps me realize an upcoming adventure.
Have a great Christmas time!
