Three Secrets to Success in Surface Design
Welcome to this week's blog. Today I want to share my three secrets to success in Surface Design. For those who are new here, I always like to start with a quick description of what Surface Design is because I had never heard of it until about five years ago when I had to reinvent myself after being laid off from my fancy corporate job.
Surface Design is essentially any piece of artwork, illustration, hand lettering, or even a quote that you put on a product to make it more beautiful.
Do you have pillows on your living room couch that may have a quote or a beautiful pattern on them? Or maybe those pillows have a spot graphic, which means just an illustration in the center? These are all surface designs. Do you have any wallpaper in your house? Your wallpaper is a Surface Design. Perhaps you like to journal in a notebook, and perhaps that notebook has either an illustration or a repeating pattern on the front and back cover? That's a Surface Design. You probably have some carpeting in your house with patterns, and those are Surface Designs. There are tea towels, wrapping paper, stationery products. You get the picture – they are everywhere!
Now you understand that this industry is huge! And that means there are incredible, limitless opportunities for you to get your artwork out into the world. Allow me to share with you what I’ve learned over time.
Secret #1 - Embrace the Technology.
What that means specifically for you is, it is going to be important to learn Adobe Illustrator. And I teach Adobe Illustrator, both in my free program, From Doodles to Dollars®, and in my 10-week Pattern Design Academy® program.
I had never even opened Adobe Illustrator before I got started five years ago, and I was in my late fifties. If I can do it, you can do it! Illustrator is the tool to turn your artwork into vectors or digital artwork, allowing your customers to seamlessly resize your artwork to fit perfectly on the products they sell. I teach you step-by-step how to successfully navigate the technology.
Secret #2 – Keep Things Simple.
I highly recommend that in the beginning stages of learning you keep things simple; you can always get fancy later. It is important to understand the overall process, from beginning to end, right? There are some very specific steps to follow, and they are not that complicated. I have coined this phrase the Three Golden Rules. If you do not skip them, and you do them in the correct order, you will have a successful repeating pattern every time.
You will need to give yourself grace and realize that these are steps that you need to memorize.
If you start with a simple piece of artwork, you will be focused on the steps you are memorizing to achieve success. I highly recommend simplicity first because you can always use fancier artwork later. I will give you the skills you need to turn your artwork into repeating patterns, using your illustrations, hand lettering, or a beautiful quote with illustrations around it. Once you understand the process, the sky is the limit. The technology will move into the background and it will feel just like another paintbrush, pencil, or pen.
Secret #3 - Enjoy the Journey.
When you're learning something new, you need perseverance. You can't give up. You must make sure you get to the finish line successfully, and anything that is worth doing takes some effort. Be sure to give yourself grace because learning any new technology like Adobe Illustrator can feel a bit like a foreign language. If you have ever learned a foreign language, I’ll bet at the very beginning you felt completely out of your element, right? It may have also felt like your head was going to explode, having a really hard time absorbing the information you were learning.
The human brain is an amazing muscle, and if you are patient and let ideas percolate and sit for a while, suddenly, they become familiar, and the vocabulary starts to make sense. The finish line will suddenly seem within reach, but you must be patient.
You are unique and the time you spend on your journey will look different than anyone else’s. Enjoying this journey is important, and the simple artwork you create in the beginning may end up being your favorite, most cherished artwork over time.
In summary, my friends, embrace the new technology, keep things simple, and enjoy your special journey because you will come to see it is SO worth it!
P.S. Get a free 7-day trial of Adobe Illustrator . Select Illustrator 2021 CC for the version I recommend. It comes with the iPad version so you get both!
Bye for now. And I'll see you next week.
Remember,
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
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MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
