Paper Based Pattern Work.

before all of my CAD, computer work, i used paper based methods to produce different surface pattern outcomes. They were really simple and easy to make, i managed to get them done quite quickly compared to others, yet i took a lot of time and had a lot of patience to produce them all in time for the deadline. 

This image is actually of my Final Pattern Repeat Piece.

Pattern repeating for my was very easy. with some tracing paper and an image to take something from you can create random but funky looking designs out of simple materials. The patterns that you`ll see in this post are all taken from my observational drawings and other images that have been taken from observation. 

The simplest way to produce a pattern repeat piece (paper based); is too use tracing paper and do a basic outline of an area you want to repeat or an area that seems busy and interesting. Once you`ve traced that area on top of some tracing paper; either use a light box or a window to lean on, simply follow the outline with a pencil or fineliner. Then repeat the ever so simple process into a pattern repeat that you prefer; if you`re not sure on what kind of repeats to do, then just use Google and have a look at some different types and process. 

For this repeat that i`m using for my Final Piece i took the pattern from my observational drawing (same with all of them). I only used the basic outline of the piece of image i used, i couldn`t find any interesting detail in the image anyway. The image itself is made up of fineliner and bleach. The orange colour that you can see on top of the small scratchy looking marks, is diluted bleach that i`ve applied with a paintbrush; it`s a very thin layer, that`s what adds the subtle orange colour. The blue dots is some slightly stronger bleach that i`ve simply dropped on to the image, i originally dropped it by accident; but i thought the blue colour was a good contrast in colour with the Orange. 

 These two images are quite simple to put together; even though the colours look strange in contrast with the final piece i made, it`s still done in a simple way.

The main background colours for these two pieces are just made out of drawing inks. For this first one i watered down the colours so they became very pastelly  and the second one just had some black drawing ink added to it to make the colours a bit darker when compared to the first one.

the lighter colours and patterns that you can see on top of both of the images has been added using diluted bleach again. By watering bleach down quite a bit you can add simple but effective looking effects to any image. With these Pattern Pieces i simply added some small mark making details to expand the pattern on them as the design itself was simple and needed a bit more added to it.

For the outline of the first image i used a fineliner just to make the edges seem a bit more redefined and bolder so the colours wouldn`t blend in to the rest of the image. For the second one i used the fineliner to add mark making on top of the bleach used to darken the image some more and then i used the fineliner to redefine the edges of the flowers.

The first image is actually of a mirror repeated pattern; these pattern are really easy to do but become repetitive and can get rather boring to draw out when using a large scale piece of paper. As for the second image, it`s actually a drop pattern, you can usually tell that a pattern is a drop pattern as there will be a diagonal line that runs through the piece; the diagonal line should be of the same pattern. The patterns for both of these pieces were taken from my original observational drawings.

These three repeat pattern pieces are all made up of fineliner; even though one is very bold and the other two aren`t as bold... They are still made up out of fineliner through mark making and fine marks that cover the sheets with something new. 

 For pattern repeat work; it`s good to experiment with different materials and different methods in using those materials. You could still use the one same pattern over and over again but use different materials and different methods in applying those methods.

With fineliners and coloured fineliner you can experiment with blocks of colour, different mark making and mixing the colours through mark making. This can add a varied amount of pattern designs too, making the examples you`ve done a lot more interesting to look at... In my opinion, i don`t see the point in just doing one example of one material; i would rather do multiple methods through one material to show a good knowledge of that one material.

I prefer just working with fineliners and bleach; but i tried out paint, plain mark making, drawing ink and layering on top of drawing ink with other materials like the bleach ad fineliners. Combining materials can make interesting patterns and textures on top of your work.

Since i started the paper based pattern work i`ve become quite fond of the designs; the only down side i would say that there is, is the amount of time it takes to draw out designs, especially when they are A2 sized pieces. 

~Thanks For Reading!