Surface Pattern Design

Surface pattern design is artwork that I create specifically to be applied as surface decoration. This could include seamless patterns, illustrations, hand-lettering, and artwork in all sorts of styles, as long as they’re made to enhance the appearance or functionality of a product. For me, this usually means a two-color minimalist pattern design, but the style options for pattern design are endless. Surface pattern designers create artwork for use on stationery, fabric, apparel, book covers, and gift items. In fact, I’d argue that murals are also a form of surface pattern design!

The process:

This is the fun part. Not one artist has the same process, for me, it starts with hand drawn or painted illustrations (sometimes even a photograph). I create these either physically on paper or in Procreate or Adobe Fresco. I will scan in and vectorize/digitize the shapes depending on the goal for the design. From there, I pull everything into Adobe Illustrator on a square canvas and create a repeating pattern. 

I most often draw my inspiration from nature, other creatives around me, and color based emotion theory.