What is Surface Design?
Hi there, my friend! Are you ready for Lesson #1 of my brand-new Doodles® workshop? This workshop is totally different from what I’ve offered in the past. It’s specifically for you if you’re ready to Discover YOUR Path to Success in Surface Design.
It’s not too late to join the workshop. You can catch up on the lessons and participate in the LIVE Q&A sessions that we have each day in my private Facebook group, Anne’s Art Club.
Many of you have heard the story of how I re-invented myself in my late fifties when I discovered Surface Design. Prior to that, I had a long successful career in fashion retail. I was a top-performing Vice President at a global retail company. I’d been there for 15 years when I was suddenly laid off.
At the time, my mom said to me “when one door closes, another one opens,” and she was so right! It took a while, but eventually, I gave up trying to find another corporate job and decided to lean into my creativity. I discovered Surface Design and was hooked!
Regardless of where you are on your creative journey, check this out because you may fall in love with Surface Design too!
Surface Design has existed for centuries, even before Japanese Shibori Textile Design in the 8th century. With the advent of computers, the industry has exploded and created incredibly opportunities for people like you and me!
Grab the full transcript here or keep reading for a recap with key takeaways and highlights. The video lesson itself is over on my YouTube channel here. Please subscribe to my channel when you pop over there to watch it.
Surface Design offers huge benefits including:
#1 – Location freedom.
In the video, I show you the sherpa fleece blankets made by one of my Academy® students, Maggie Smith, who showcases her Native American inspired designs. She designed the blankets while she was in Hawaii, and she is now back in the United States. This is possible because all you need is your computer, some paper, pens, and pencils if you want to draw by hand, and a computer program called Adobe Illustrator.
I recorded the first 3 lessons for my workshop from Paris! Another great example of location freedom. As long as you have these simple and very portable tools, you can create beautiful designs to earn income from anywhere in the world. This is the level of location freedom that you get with Surface Design.
#2 – Time freedom.
Another one of my students, Jane Foster, is able to carve out the amount of time she wants to dedicate to her surface design work, even though she teaches sewing classes three times a week in her studio in Northern California. In the video, you’ll see a picture of her wearing two of her own fabrics that she combined into a gorgeous blouse. She learned how to create those repeating patterns in my Academy® program and now she both sells her fabrics to her sewing students, and more broadly.
If you have a full-time job or other similar obligations, you can still explore all the opportunities in Surface Design. Don’t worry about not having enough time. You get to decide how much time you want to put into creating your art, and you can make any amount of time work for you.
#3 – Financial freedom.
Kathleen Rogers is a creative entrepreneur who loves tea and has had a passion for tea her whole life. She came into my Academy® program last year to learn how to create the marketing materials that she uses to sell her monthly tea membership. She is a great example of the fact that Surface Design is not all about patterns. She loves to do what’s called “spot graphics” or “illustration work” that she sometimes combines with her patterns. Her beautiful illustrations of topiaries are great examples of this.
As a Surface Designer, you’re free to center your business around any of your passions, just like Kathleen centers hers around tea. She’s heading to the U.K. soon on a tea research trip for her membership.
Don’t delay. Join my workshop by clicking HERE. If you haven’t already, join my private Facebook group, Anne’s Art Club, where I’m LIVE every day during the workshop to delve deeper into the content and answer your questions.
The workshop and all of the content go away on May 17.
Feel free to share the link to my free workshop, https://members.artwithanne.com/doodles, with your friends who might enjoy exploring Surface Design too. Having an accountability partner is both fun and helpful. You’ll do the work together and get the most out of this free workshop.
Pop over to my YouTube channel to watch the video version of this blog. Click HERE and please subscribe while you’re over there.
xo,
Anne
Remember,
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
If you enjoyed this blog please share it with your friends and family. Click your favorite social platform below. And join my email list for weekly creative inspiration and an invitation to our private Facebook group, Anne’s Art Club.
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.
