Rebecca Stoner

This week I have Rebecca Stoner as my designer showcase!  Rebecca has a lovely hand drawn style which is both dainty and intricately designed.  Rebecca is also a Yorkshire based designer, like myself, and is from the beautiful city of York.  She set up her business in 2005 after she graduated and has been designing patterns for a number of different products aswell as working on commissions for a wide range of clients.

Last year she had some of her designs licensed by an American fabric company aswell as seeing her products on the high street and even being featured on television!  Sounds like a very exciting year but she has more to tell us, at the beginning of the year she launched an online shop with Society6 where her designs are available on phone cases, cushions and laptop skins and she is also working on a commission with York Hospital for arcitectural glass and laser cut steel wall panels.

I asked Rebecca a couple of questions to find out a bit more about why she wanted to become a designer, what inspires her and how she describes her style.

What made you want to become a designer and what is it you like about patterns?

Before going to University I worked in offices doing accounts and admin work and hated it!  I've always been creative and just knew I had to do something different.  I went travelling and on my return I enrolled on an Art and Design degree.  It was there that I discovered the wonderful world of surface pattern and I decided to specialise in Textile and Surface Pattern Design.  I then went on to complete an MSc in CAD for Textile Designers.  I love patterns and I'm just naturally drawn to anything with pattern on it.  I couldn't believe you could have a career in creating patterns! (Me either!!!)

How would you describe your style and what is your favourite medium to work in?

My degree focused on screen printing as well as digital printing and I think this has influenced my style quite a lot.  I try to incorporate hand printed textures and shapes in my design work as much as possible as I prefer this to just flat colour.  More recently I've also enjoyed hand drawing patterns and developing them further on the computer.  I also feel my travels have heavily influences a lot of my work and the trends and colours that I'm drawn to.

Whats inspires you and where do you find your inspiration?

As well as researching upcoming trends I find inspiration in many different places and environments and I'm always on the lookout for what will inspire my next design.  I love walking with my dog and find that's a good time for me to think new ideas over.  I'm drawn to retro and mid-century design and I'm also influenced by ethnic patterns and colours which probably stems from my travels.  I've just joined Pinterest and find I can lose hours (not great for business!) soaking up the amazing inspirational images that you can find on there. (I know exactly what you mean, as I'm sure a great many other designers do too!)

Below I have showcased some of Rebecca's designs and products but you can find more of work here via these links!
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Society6
Pinterest

Wonderful News!

I have been sitting on this news for two weeks now, although it feels much much longer!  The fabulous Ruth McAllister of Quincy Lampshades put out a designer call a little while ago to send her designs that she would use for a new collection of lampshades.  I don't usually go in for these types of things but the colour palette was beautiful and the brief was pretty interesting to do.  Then two weeks ago I got an email saying my design had been chosen as one of the final 11 designs!

I was out with some friends at the time and it was such a fantastic thing to see sitting in my Inbox, below you can see my design (Windswept) that Ruth chose.  And here you can see the other 7 designs Ruth has picked, the final 3 will be decided via a vote, follow this link to help finish off the beautiful collection.

I can't wait to see them printed and made up!

A close up of the motifs

I'm back!!! With another amazing opportunity!

This week I have another fantastic opportunity for all of you creative’s out there, another of my fabulous surface pattern friends is also running an exciting course!  This time it is all about Typography.  I've never really given typography much thought, but actually when you start to think about it, it is everywhere!  This course will be all about type and how to use different styles effectively. 

The course will run live for 3 weeks starting the 14th of June but all videos, discussions and resources will be available constantly after the finish of the course, this way you can go at your own pace!

Here is a snippet of what you will learn in this 3 week course :

• How to use typography effectively for communication
• How different typefaces can give off different messages
• How famous brands use typography to enhance their brands
• How to create your own typefaces – Digitally and hand drawn!
• A little about the history and anatomy of typography

You will then take these new-found skills and create a typographic illustration of your favourite quote or lyric, perfect to frame and put on your wall!

Faye Brown, the mastermind behind this lovely little course will be giving lecture videos, slideshows and there will be downloadable resources for students to work their way through.  There will also be plenty of opportunities for feedback so you can build on what you have produced!

You do not need to have Illustrator or Photoshop for this course, but there are aspects of it where you will be given tutorials of how to produce type in these programs.  Don’t fret though; you can get a 30 day trial of both of these software from the Adobe website here.  Just make sure you download them just before the course!

Now for the good part, If you sign up via this link and this is your first Skillshare course then you can get the course for only $10 (£7ish) but if you have already done a Skillshare course then you can still get 25% off by entering the code PPFRIEND when you sign up! So you get it for only $15 (£10ish).

This course goes hand in hand with Majo BV’s repeating patterns Skillshare course, so if you are interested in learning how to make repeating patterns then you can find out more here. 

There is even a 30% discount code when you sign up for either one of these courses for the other course! You can find this code in the Classroom – Announcements section of either course.  So sign up for one and get 30% off the other!

Off on an adventure!

Just a teeny tiny post to let you know I am off on an adventure this week and won't be blogging, sad I know!  I'm off to the Lake District to climb mountains and go kayaking, wish me luck, it is my first time in a kayak...

I'll be back next week with more inspiration, some of my new sketches, possibly a photo of me falling into the lake out of my kayak, a super new short course that is happening in June and much more.  For now I leave you with some pretty Forget-Me-Nots I snapped last weekend, so don't forget me!

Want to learn another skill? How about designing patterns!

Today I am going to be telling you about a wonderful opportunity you could take part in.  My good friend Majo Bautista V, a fellow designer, and a very talented one at that, is running a fantastic course via Skillshare.  Now Majo never does anything half heartedly so I know for a fact this course will be jampacked with information, tips and tricks and will have you creating beautiful patterns before you know it.  Oh and it is only $30 (£20) but if you sign up via this link you get $10 off!, so for a mere $20 (£13.25).

I always believe you should pick up as many different skills as you can in life, so if you fancy learning an new little skill then why not try this.  I present to you, Reign Repeats – Create perfect repeat patterns in Adobe Illustrator.

Now before you shoot this opportunity down by saying you don’t have Adobe Illustrator, fear not!  Adobe do free trials of their software over on their website here, these trials are for 30 days so make sure you get it just before the course if you decide to do it.  Just find Adobe Illustrator in the list and click 'Try' to download the software.

Anyway where was I, new skills!  With this course you could make your own patterns for anything from fabrics to make crafts or curtains, to getting your own tea towels, your own stationary or even your own wallpaper printed.  The end uses for patterns are literally endless! 

Pattern designing is perfect for those who think they can’t draw at all aswell as those who are fantastic at drawing.  You do not need to be an artist to be good at this, everyone finds their own style when they start pattern designing and I can speak from my own experience that when you complete a pattern you truly love it is such a wonderful feeling.

Here is a little sneak peek of what is included and what you will learn in this course:

• Basic Illustrator tools which will bring your ideas to life
• How to create technical repeating patterns
• How to use the new Pattern Tool in Illustrator CS6
• How to take your hand drawn sketches and vectorise them
• How to apply colour and easily recolour your designs
• The numerous types of repeating patterns and how to make them
• How to solve common problems that may arise when using Illustrator
• How to prepare your files to sell your designs via Spoonflower
• Inspirational interviews from great designers

Majo has really gone above and beyond with this course, she will even be showcasing some of the best designs via her blog and Facebook page at the end of the course.  This will be a fantastic opportunity to get your designs out there and have them seen by the general public and other designers.  There will then be a vote for the top 3 designs who will receive some fantastic prizes that have been donated by Spoonflower!

So what are you waiting for!  Sign up here to find out how to make gorgeous patterns :)

New picture envelope swap

My lovely illustrated envelope has made it to America to the lovely Alik Arzoumanian.  I love sending pretty envelopes and it is always nice to see the post office ladies faces when they see the colourful designs they need to ship off to different countries.  I'd love to swap more patterened snail mail, if anyone is interested please email me! Emma.Hawman@hotmail.co.uk =)

I used a white crayon to draw the outlines of the butterflies then used watercolours over the top so the white stood out bright against the blue background.  The details were drawn in with fineliners and coloured markers.  I loved the motifs so much I've drawn them out fully ready to put them into a pattern or placement print for greetings cards and other products.

Beautifully illustrated cards by The Art Rooms!

I found a couple of these cards by The Art Rooms in my local shop and when I had a look at the website there were lots more! I absolutely love the illustrations and colour palettes used to had to share with you.