Happy Spring to you! We hope it is filled with sunshine, flowers, productive rainy days, and maybe a relaxing vacation. We are thrilled to release our upcoming events happening in the Textile Design Lab over the next few months and hope you can join us for the fun. We are offering lots of tutorials from Guest Experts that will awaken fresh creative outlets, expand your art practice, and strengthen your portfolio.
April: Sketchbooks
In anticipation of our April 24th event with Helen Wells (see below), we are celebrating the magic of sketchbooks all month! Starting on April 10th, we will highlight archived sketchbook tutorials, sketching prompts, and sketch-related design discussions within the community. Practicing consistency is an integral part of the transition from a hobbyist to a professional designer, and our Textile Design Lab team is here to support you on this journey!
April 24th: The Magic Of Sketchbooks With Helen Wells
Helen Wells is an award-winning painter, educator, author, and licensed artist. She is passionate about sketchbooks as a creative tool for expression and discovery. Her greatest hope is to inspire and encourage others to find their creative voice using a sketchbook. You can check out some of Helen’s sketchbooks right here. Helen will guide our community through two practical sketchbook exercises she frequently uses during her live presentation on April 24th at 1 pm EST. She will show us inspiring examples of using sketchbooks to organize her thoughts and stay productive.
May: How do you repeat?
This month we are celebrating and exploring all the different ways to create repeats! We will do this through our Ultimate Guide to Repeats Group Study, which includes access to WGSN for the first 290 registrants. We will also highlight the vast amount of repeat tutorials in our library and a guest expert presentation with Julianne Haness of JMarie Creates! A commitment to continuous learning is an important part of the Textile Design Lab, and we look forward to exploring this topic throughout May.
May event: Making Repeating Patterns in Procreate with Julianne Haness
Julianne Haness of JMarie Creates is a southern California surface designer who loves to create artwork and repeating patterns using the popular iPad app, Procreate. She creates feminine seamless repeat patterns inspired by vintage designs, the beach, bright colors and florals. Julianne will demonstrate how she creates her art on Procreate and uses the app to make seamless patterns that she sells on Spoonflower or other companies’ products.
June: Watercolor Wonders
Encouraging our community members to embrace their authenticity to stand out in the marketplace is an important aspect of the Textile Design Lab. Working with watercolors is a wonderful way to explore your artistic style because they can be used in many different ways. Starting on June 5th, we will highlight archived watercolor tutorials, watercolor-related design discussions within the community, and an exciting event with Maria Montiel (see below).
June event: Watercolor Wonders with Maria Montiel
Do you want to know some insider secrets to work with watercolors?! Well, dust off those brushes and paints because Maria Montiel will present on working with watercolors, and we hope you will paint with her to learn some new techniques and stretch your creative skills. Any style of watercolors will do, there is no need to buy anything fancy, but quality paper that can absorb some moisture will be helpful for this event. There will be a follow up presentation from Maria demonstrating how she works with her watercolor paintings in Photoshop and turns them into sellable art and patterns.
