MATS Week 1 - Bolt Fabric

Ok- so week one is done. We focused on the bolt fabric market- which to be honest I had never considered for myself. I even went into the week thinking "well- i'm more interested in wallpaper- so that's what I'll design my pattern for." Thankfully I got that thought out of my head or else i would have missed out on really learning about this exciting and fun market. The week started out with sketching root veggies and pyrex. Not being terrible excited about the shapes of pyrex casseroles- i focused on root veggies and pyrex patterns. here's some of that preliminary work:

As you can see- the icons on the left were the ones I narrowed in on for the final pattern. I felt like I needed to figure out my color scheme before refining the pattern itself- so I did a few rough color-way studies:

At this point in the week I was approached for a small (5 spots) illo job and we decided to travel to chicago for the weekend. I was feeling pressured to just finish up the main pattern and coordinates so I worked hard on wed/thurs to get to this:

I love how dramatic the colors are- it really stands out. I'm not sure if it would appeal to customers looking for kitchen fabric- but I do enjoy the play between bold shapes/delicate lines. It also would fit into my portfolio- so that feels nice. In looking back now and after listening to Lilla's final lesson I would change up the coordinate patterns and make those more special/hand illustrated (though I do like the geometric against the illustrations).

Anyhoo- I had a few free hours on Saturday to do some work so I took those veggies and turned them into their own separate recipe illustration:

kinda fun eh? 

Overall thoughts on Make Art That Sells so far? I think it's great. There is so much inspiring talent, so much encouragement and support, and a ton of enriching information. I'm so thankful I worked really hard the two weeks before MATS to get into my making art groove, re-look through and edit my website, and hone in on what makes my art mine. Looking forward to next week!