We are beyond excited to announce the first technique in March's Design-A-Day SpoonChallenge: Pencil drawings! Today on the blog, Esther Fallon Lau (known by many as nouveau_bohemian in the Spoonflower Marketplace) gives us a closer look at how she incorporates pencil drawings into her design process. Be sure to follow along here for the next 15 days as we feature a new Design-A-Day technique, presented to you by one of our many talented Spoonflower Marketplace designers!
Pencil drawings come to life with a pop of color and a lot of creativity!
Gypsy Spirit (cream + purple) - Gypsy Feathers (pink) - Gypsy Spirit (cream + pink)
Esther: As it’s sometimes said, your weakness can become your greatest strength. When I first discovered the joy of Spoonflower I was forced to hand-draw all my designs in pencil because I had no technical graphic design skills. Now, this hand drawn technique has evolved into the real ‘hero’ of my work. In contrast to digital drawing, the unpolished look of pencil sketches lends a rawer, more organic quality to illustrations. Perhaps it’s the inherent ‘imperfections’ with pencil that allows the viewer a more personal connection with the artist. In an age where handmade and bespoke are having a real resurgence, I have found that ‘hand-drawn’ is a look that customers are really valuing right now.
Love this!! I have tried pencil drawings and really loved them, but always wondered what medium people were using for designs such as the bear print featured here. Mine always looked too rough, so outlining with a sharpie is a great idea. I just need to learn how to digitally color and overlay with texture :). Thanks for sharing!
Hi
Once drawing is done (digitally painted and tagged #SFdesignADay) where is it supposed to be shown and shared ?
if you can just advise the link to upload the drawing.
Have a nice tuesday.
Patricia
Lovely, thanks a lot Esther for sharing your process! I too start with pencil+sharpie/liner drawings. I take them to Illustrator afterwords and the difference is considerable. I will try Photoshop this time.
I am wondering the same thing. Thanks for asking!
Glad you enjoyed today’s prompt, Whitney! Thanks for following along!
Hey Patricia, you can share your design photos on any social media platform you choose, using our #SFDesignADay in the description. We’ll post roundups of our favorites on the blog throughout the month. On March 15th when the contest portion opens up and we announce the theme, just upload your design to Spoonflower and enter the design into the contest directly from the design page. I hope that helps!
Glad you found this helpful, Ksenia!
Ohhh! So we’re not supposed to upload them to Spoonflower and use “#SFDesignADay” as one of our 7 tags? Oops! lol
Glad I popped by here to read the comments 😉
I’m not a sketchers in the slightest, but it’s fun to step out of your comfort zone!
I made a design for the challenge, here :
http://www.spoonflower.com/designs/5152111-precious-glitter-cat-neon-periwinkle-blue-by-paysmage
But, can’t enter it on the challenge, the button “Enter in Design Challenge” doesn’t work (IE and Google Chrome).
Could you please take it in consideration.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I’m a long admirer of your work Esther. Thank you for this insight.
that’s the idea!
hey there! The “contest” portion of the SpoonChallenge is not yet open for submissions. You’ll be able to enter on March 15th at 9 AM EST. Until then, share your designs on social media using the hashtag #SFDesignADay. Still have questions? See our official timeline and FAQs here: http://blog.spoonflower.com/spoonchallenge-design-a-day.html
Lovely! This my preferred method of creating fabric patterns too. It is so interesting to see the step by step process of someone else. Love these insights! Thank you for the inspiration!