Neutral Wallpaper Design: Enduring Dogwood Botanical Pattern

Whenever I visit Oregon in the late spring, I’m reminded of the beautiful dogwood tree in my childhood back yard. These lovely flowering trees line the walking paths and are sprinkled throughout the neighborhoods. The flower is not only alluring, it’s durable and able to withstand hard downpours of rain. It makes sense that this beautiful flower is also known to represent the ability to survive life’s challenges. 

For some time, I had wanted to work on a wallpaper design inspired by the dogwood tree, and I chose it as my subject matter for a Spoonflower challenge. The challenge was to create a botanical design in a neutral color palette to be used on grasscloth textured wallpaper. Choosing a color palette of soothing creamy tan and pale sage green, I set to work. 

As I’m finding my illustration voice, I experiment with a few illustration styles when I start a new design. I know as an illustrator, it’s best to market myself with one very distinct look, but I find it hard to stick with one style. I have a few styles that I work with. My hope is that one of them will finally take over. With that in mind, I found working with loose and easy brush strokes for this piece felt right. In doing so, I was hoping to create a sense of the way the flowers and leaves move in nature. It was also an enjoyable way to draw since it was more freeing than some of my other work.

For me, I see this design as wallpaper or as upholstery fabric for furniture or curtains since the pattern is large at twelve inches. The calm, neutral colors make it versatile in a space. Find this design and more original illustrated surface and textile patterns on my Spoonflower shop.

Enduring Dogwood Botanical wallpaper and fabric surface pattern design by OcuLoop.

How I Started My First Repeat Pattern Design for Fabric

When I decided to pursue designing patterns for fabric and other commercial surfaces, I didn’t have a specific idea, so I looked to the nature around me. Living in San Diego, it wasn’t hard to be inspired. The colors are intense with bright blue skies and fuchsia bougainvilleas on every street. I also looked no further than the tree my balcony overlooks that is alive with lemon yellow butterflies every spring and summer. For additional inspiration, I thought of lounging in French manicured gardens sipping on fragrant iced tea in the summer.

To get started I opened a new Adobe Illustrator document and began sketching flowers - all kinds of flowers, and I worked on experimenting with various illustration techniques. Using a selection of brushes from my Wacom tablet, I started developing a method. Once I settled on an illustration style, I drew roses and other flowers, leaves and butterflies - keeping each subject on its own artboard. I also should mention, I started out with a color palette in mind - so I began adding color and finalizing some of the drawings I would be working with.

Next I started a new Illustrator document for the tile that would be turned into the final pattern. I set up four nine-by-nine inch artboards to experiment with a few compositions using artwork from the first document. Once I had those ready to test out, I turned each one into a pattern and narrowed them down to the final tile. Around the edges of the tile, on the top and the left side, I placed art that overlapped the edges of the nine inch artboard, changed Illustrator’s preferences to use increments of nine inches, then “copied” and “pasted in place” the overlapping art.

Next, I moved the top artwork that was just pasted one increment (nine inches) to the bottom and moved the left artwork one increment to the right. The result was the exact art on the top and bottom edges as well as on the left and right edges. The tricky part was next to arrange the artwork on the inside so that it wasn’t touching any of the art on the edges because that would mess up the seamlessness of the pattern. Adjusting the art in the tile to look seamless in the pattern took some time until it was difficult to see where the pattern started and ended. Also, once I positioned all of the art on the inside of the composition - making sure it didn’t touch the art on the edges, I deleted the art that was copied and pasted. Spring Butterfly Floral was the end result, and I’ve modified it since the first rendition.

That was my process in the beginning, and I’m still coming up with new methods of working efficiently and also narrowing down my illustration style for a cohesive look for my brand. 

Now the fabric is available for sale on my Spoonflower shop where it’s also available in a variety of home decor products. Head over to my Pixels shop to order the composition as a colorful print either framed or on canvas.

Seamless Pattern Design: Geometric Beetles

Fig beetles are big iridescent green beetles that fly erratically and eat fruit. They’re so big, they can be confused with a humming bird for a split second - partly because they both share a beautiful iridescent green coloring and partly because they will both fly toward a glass of red wine on the patio. Though I wouldn’t want a fig beetle to land on me, they are kind of like big flying gems and they’re totally harmless.

When I saw there was a Spoonflower challenge to create a retro bug design, I thought it would be fun to come up with something. Beetles were easy to work with because of their gem-like quality. That’s why I also picked out an intense jewel color palette of emerald, sapphire and ruby pink.  

When thinking of beetles and tying them into a retro illustration, I was reminded of the seventies when beetles and other insects were encased in glass and worn as jewelry, from big pendants, to earrings and rings. I’ve always found this jewelry to be disturbing, and I would never encase a fig beetle in glass like that, but I thought it would be an interesting avenue to explore in this illustration.

To capture the essence of the beetle jewelry, I worked with geometric seventies-style circular shapes with alternating gem colors and placed the beetles in the centers to be encased for eternity.  The end result was a seamless pattern that made me happy I discovered the world of textile illustration.

After seeing the colorful fabric swatch I ordered, I looked at comps of the pattern on throw pillows and blankets. I imagine it brightening up a dark room or adding more color to an already colorful maximalist room. Find my retro beetle fabric design and other original illustrated patterns in my Spoonflower shop.

Image: Retro style beetle pattern design.

Image: Beetle pattern design printed on fabric swatch.

Pattern Surface Design: Seashells on the Beach

Finding and collecting shells on Florida’s beaches is one of my favorite things to do when I visit that side of the country. There are so many treasures to find in the sand, from conch shells, to sand dollars. After walking the beach, I usually find myself lounging on a beachside patio taking in the view while sipping on a refreshing beverage and feeling the ocean breeze on my face while it rustles through the tall beachgrass. These are the feelings I tried to subtly capture in my Seashells on the Beach design.

While illustrating this design, I tried to simplify the complicated shapes of different types of shells and beach treasures to create a minimalist and modern aesthetic. The shapes ended up being more organic than symmetrical and freeform than controlled. Imagining what I would want to see on fabrics if I were decorating a coastal lounge or breakfast nook, I went with a contrasting color palette of pretty pink, bright coral, and soft blue and tan.

The original design was entered into a seashell Spoonflower challenge as a bold size design - making it ideal for curtains and furniture coverings. To complement it, I created a smaller, more detailed print for table linens and other home decor items, and liked it so much, I had cocktail napkins made for gifting. 

In general, I’ve always liked contemporary coastal beach decor so it was fun working with the shell illustrations, and I’ve come up with different compositions and color palettes to work with since. In the future, we’ll see what other seashell compositions come to me. Find this combination of seashell coastal fabrics as well as all kinds of other originally illustrated patterns in my Spoonflower shop.

Image: beach inspired shell pattern design by OcuLoop.

Pattern Surface Design: Y2K Happy Vibes Pop Print

Revisiting the early 2000s for my pattern design, Y2K Happy Vibes, was a thrilling exploration into a glittery bubblegum past. I was immediately reminded of babydoll t-shirts with big graphics, lots of pink lipgloss and the dawn of emojis. 

Prompted by the Spoonflower challenge to create a Y2K pop fashion pattern design for fabric, I came up with a series of decals that reminded me of the era. Starting with an expanding heart decal, it set the tone for the rest: a butterfly, a dragonfly and a daisy with an emoji-like happy face at the center. The symmetry and consistency of each decal was important in creating a cohesive design with the different decals. To finish off the design, I added abstract decals between the recognizable ones and then worked on narrowing down my color palette.

One of my favorite aspects of designing patterns is finding the perfect color combinations. In choosing the color palette, I combined contrasting colors of luscious pink and coral with icy blue and petal pink to capture some of the magic of the era. I tried out a few other palettes using mint green and lavender, but settled on this one as my favorite combination. 

When the fabric swatch of my Y2K Happy Vibes design arrived in the mail, I immediately felt happy looking at it and was glad the colors turned out exactly as I expected. The design repeats every nine inches making it a versatile size for fabrics whether for home decor or fashion. I see this as a print on a summer dress for Coachella or in a teen’s room on bedding, throw pillows or a wall hanging. Find this and my other originally illustrated pattern designs on my Spoonflower shop.

Pattern Surface Design: Retro Owl Floral for Pillows and Fabric

Since this is my first blog post, I wanted to write about my most recent illustration for fabric, my Retro Owl Floral. I would never have come up with this imagery if it wasn’t for the weekly Spoonflower challenge with its prompt to create a pillow design using imagery found on a throw pillow in a 1970s home. My first thoughts were ugly, drab, brown and green graphics, but when looking for ideas by reviewing photos I took at a vintage store, I found some marvelous graphic shapes with minimalist lines, and the dated colors I’ve seen in brighter updated hues in recent decor trends.

In creating my seventies throw pillow design, it reminded me of strolling through vintage shops and outdoor flea markets and the feeling of finding that perfect nostalgic item to add to an interesting room. At first, I worked with an abstract geometric design, but found myself deep diving into a clean symmetrical owl illustration. I had also experimented with symmetrical daisies which I ended up adding to the owl illustration to complete the composition. The design relied on the consistent use of basic shapes and clean outlines that were big elements in much of the trendy seventies fabrics. 

In choosing a color palette, I referred to a recent article I read on trending paints for home decor that showcased an updated seventies theme. The rusty browns were more orange and cheery and the greens had more cucumber than guacamole. Using my Pantone swatch book, I found the perfect swatches to create a retro mood with a fresh new outlook.

Overall, the quirky owl and daisies helped create an aspect of fun while working with aspects of nature which I always love. At eighteen inches, the big and bold tile design makes it ideal for throw pillows or fabrics for rooms or even fashion that want a sense of nostalgia and fun. It’s been pretty well received too with many Spoonflower members adding it as a favorite to their design libraries. Find this design and more on my Spoonflower shop.