What I would tell myself starting out as a textile designer 8 years ago and first patterns ever.

In this video, I talk about and show my first ever vector repeat patterns created 8 years ago and what I learned since I created them. Now I want to share them with you as an advice for beginner designers.

If you are just starting out as an independent textile designer, then this video is for you. I am sharing my very first vector repeat patterns I created 8 years ago and what I learned since I created them as an advice for beginner designers.

I am talking about:

1) How my first vector repeat patterns looked like and what they taught me.

2) My first successful selling vector repeat patterns looking back.

3) Important insights that I learned over the years selling microstock vector artwork on various websites that can help you as a beginner, tips for beginner designers. They are:

1. You can’t guess what style or topic is going to work!
Try different ones and see what happens.

2. Adobe Illustrator is always tricky in the beginning!
For everyone! You can do it.

3. Look back at what is working and create more of it!

Here is my first ever vector pattern design on fabric. It makes me so happy that I created it all those years ago. Who knows what would my life look like if I didn’t 🙂

FUNNY THING IS since I published this video a few hours ago a viewer on Youtube already commented that she used my peacock pattern (in the video) in wedding invitations 5 years ago and now she is learning how to design patterns herself 😀 What a small world!

★ BONUS WORKBOOK: GROW YOUR PATTERN PORTFOLIO 15x FASTER: Want to learn my system for growing your repeat pattern portfolio 15x faster? Request my bonus workbook.

★ If you want to learn how I create vector repeat pattern designs, then here is my tutorial for you.

I wanted to take you down memory lane and show you my very first repeat pattern designs that I created back in 2010.

As I was looking back at these designs, I found two of my first ever repeat pattern designs that actually became popular and started selling, generating income for me. It’s always a helpful and useful exercise to look back at my work and share my thoughts and insights with you guys.

When I was just starting out with repeat pattern design, I was struggling with the creation process in Adobe Illustrator. At that time, Illustrator didn’t have a pattern tool and I had to seek help from my husband who was experienced in web design. He showed me how to create a repeat pattern in Illustrator and I was hooked ever since. Fast forward 10,000 patterns later, I am still enjoying creating new designs.

At that time, I didn’t understand the flow of the repeat and I thought I would repeat the same element over and over again. However, I soon learned that patterns can have multiple uses and elements can be varied.

Sometimes, patterns have distinct and bold elements that stand out to make them more usable as an eye-catching piece, while other times they need to blend in with the background.

I am still proud of my first pattern and every time I see it sell on Spoonflower or any of my other websites, it brings a smile to my face. Over the last eight years, I have improved my system for creating repeat patterns and it has made everything so much faster. I went from creating one pattern a week to creating one pattern in just 30 minutes.

In conclusion, my journey with repeat pattern design has been a rewarding one and I hope my experience can inspire you to pursue your creative passion. Stay tuned for more insights and designs from my journey.

Hope this video was helpful for you to get you started as a beginner textile designer and inspire you to go after your creative dreams as the journey is SO worth it! Thanks for watching!

Grow, love, and create!

Oksancia