'Ski Retro' in the Spoonflower top 10!

I'm very excited, my latest design on Spoonflower is one of the top 10 designs this week!!  'Ski Retro' fabric, wall decals, wallpaper, and gift wrap are now available at Spoonflower.com.

Thanks for voting and Happy New Year!

'Ski Retro'fabric, wallpaper, wall decals + gift wrap 
available at Spoonflower.com
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Free Printable Gift Tags for the Holidays!

Merry Christmas! 

I'm so happy to be able to spread some Christmas Cheer this year with a gift...  my printable Christmas 'handmade' gift tags! They are yours to print and use, but are not for commercial use. Please do not redistribute or sell. 

how•to•use
Print on paper or cardstock and cut along the edges. You can punch a hole and add ribbon or twine to make your packaging even more special!

Happy healthy holidays to all!

©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Ski Retro!

The challenge this week… 

'Create a pattern that uses skiing imagery with a retro or vintage flair.' Submitted designs must use this restricted palette! 

 For this challenge I started out by researching on the internet, mostly vintage ski posters and ads on Pinterest and Google. I found that the palette was pretty good and workable except for the mustard and ketchup colors. 

I started to sketch figures in ski poses with detail but found it to look too busy. Many of the vintage posters that I had researched were simple silkscreen prints, so I changed direction and simplified the shapes once I got them scanned and opened in Photoshop. I had sketched the trees for an earlier project and auditioned them with my figures and liked the simplicity, so I kept them. I liked the monochromatic  design but forced myself to use the mustard and ketchup.

I noticed that many of the vintage posters and ads featured cars. I thought adding a car might bring in the vintage feel that I needed and give me a place to use the yellow and red. So I sketched many cars and exaggerated some of their features to give the design retro flair. The cars were added, then the road and finally I thought a lodge was the perfect final element.

'Ski Retro'
fabric, wallpaper, wall decals + gift wrap available soon at Spoonflower.com
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Previews will be shown at the fat quarter fabric size (21" x 18"). Voting starts on Thursday, December 12th, 2013, and continues through Thursday morning December 19th, 2013. Please Vote!!

Snowmen with mittens!

This week the design theme… Mittens for gift wrap! Create a design for gift wrap featuring images of mittens.
I approached this weeks challenge with the idea that I wanted to put mittens on a character, not just use mittens alone. I drew countless illustrations of santa, elves, deer, bears and other woodland animals but kept coming back to the happy snow people that you see below. I had also doodled a lot of snowflake frames and added them to my design. The last bit was the evergreen trees that were drawn in a loose fashion, their simplicity just felt right. I added all of the color and texture in photoshop, but every part of this layout was drawn by hand including the textures!
This pattern was designed for gift wrap but works well as a fabric too. I think I'll make gift tags and print them on the decal fabric!

'Snuggly Snowmen'
wrapping paper, fabric, wall decals + wallpaper
available soon at Spoonflower.com
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Previews will be shown on a gift box mock-up. Voting starts on Thursday, November 21st and continues through November 27th, Please Vote!!

Autumn Love!

Design of the week…  Fall leaves!!

This week's challenge was to create images celebrating the colors and shapes of fall leaves!! I approached this challenge with some black india ink and simple brush drawings of peacocks and leaves as well as paper cut-outs of pods and berries. I assembled the images in photoshop and colored them when I found a layout that I liked. I find the combination of drawing by hand (in black + white) and then coloring in photoshop allows me to present a painterly, organic feel to my images. The coloring in photoshop gives me more control over how the colors will look on the finished printed product. Choosing color for the images came directly from my interpretation of the assignment…fall leaves… golden yellows, organic oranges, rich reds and greying greens. The background started as white (which will also be available soon), but I felt that a stronger statement was needed. I auditioned colors from brown to blue and found that this combination of both worked well!

'Autumn Love' (peacock)
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

'Autumn Love' (white)
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Designs presented as a fat quarter (21"x18"). Voting starts on Thursday November 14th and continues until the 21st! Please vote!! 'Autumn Love' (peacock) 

2014 Calendar Tea Towel Design!

It's that time of year again…
This week… a 2014 tea towel calendar design featuring pen and ink illustrations. I started with inspiration and research online, then rough sketches in my sketchbook. I wanted to try something different this year with my calendar so I decided to incorporate some of my own type and loose illustrations using a tea theme with a very bright color palette.
After deciding on the theme, 'Have Tea With Me', I designed the template for the calendar, picked fonts, and set up the calendar dates in Quark Express. Then the fun part… the artwork. I painted with india ink using a #8 round brush and drew teapots, teacups, textures and type. I tried to keep it loose and ended up scanning about 30 pages of images. Working this way is great because nothing is permanent, the illustrations and text were pulled from the scans and manipulated in photoshop. The text layout was brought into photoshop and layered onto the final illustration... the end result is what you see below.  I think these would be great in a gift basket for the holidays this year!

'Have Tea With Me'
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Designed to be printed on a Linen-Cotton Canvas fat quarter (27" x 18"). Deadline for entry was Tuesday, October 29th, 2013. Please vote…voting continues through Thursday morning November 7th 2013!!

'Hoot the Owl' in top 10!!

Thanks for voting!!
So exciting!!! Top 10 at Spoonflower.com this week for my 1-yard 'cut & sew' pattern… Hoot the Owl!

'Hoot the Owl' 1-yard Cut & Sew fabric design available at Spoonflower.com
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Ghosts!

'Ghosts A-Float' ©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

This week's design was all about ghosts!
I've got to be honest, I'm not into the scary ghost stuff…

ghost doodles

This week's design started with doodling with my trusty India ink pen and I found myself adding costumes to the little ghost kids. The candy and pumpkin treat pails were added to complete the trick-or-treating vibe! (Caramel apples too, just because they are awesome!) After scanning my drawings I completed the pattern, introduced type as a design element and added color in photoshop. The colors are traditional Halloween colors...
Happy Halloween!!

Designed as a fat quarter fabric size (21" x 18"). Voting starts today October 24th and continues until October 31st, 2013!

My 'Today's Chalkboard Special!' Won!!

Yay!! First time winner! Thanks for voting everyone!!

Picture from Spoonflower.com Blog!

'Today's Chalkboard Special!'
Available today in wallpaper, wall decals, wrapping paper and fabric!
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Halloween... 'Hoot the Owl' 1-Yard Cut & Sew Costume Pattern!

The design of the week... a 1-yard Cut & Sew costume pattern for halloween! The Costumes were to be engineered for kids or adults.
My first thought on this was to design something simple and easy to sew in as few pieces as possible.
I went to a halloween shop to research what was out there and liked the idea of a hooded cape that could easily fit over a child's coat if it was chilly. The cape could be made into many things... riding hood, superhero, etc.
Then came the online research and inspiration. Owl's have been very trendy over the past few years and I thought this would lend itself to the cape idea. I started by making my template for the pattern on Photoshop and then added hand drawn feathers with designs and doodles. Next I puzzle pieced the feathers into place on my template. I started out using traditional owl colors and then remembered my own girls when they were little, they wouldn't wear it unless it was pink or purple. I changed my palette to the one you see below!

'Hoot the Owl' 1-yard Cut & Sew fabric design available at Spoonflower.com
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Preview size at a single yard (42" x 36"). Deadline for entry was October 15th, 2013. Voting starts on Thursday, October 17th, 2013 and continues until October 23, 2013! Please Vote!

Lilla Rogers Part B is finally here!!

Lilla Rogers E-Course

Last week I logged into the online classroom for  Lilla Rogers e-course 'Make Art That Sells' for week 1 of Part B!! Part A was very helpful to me. Lilla breaks down the design process in such a way that it is not overwhelming. I'm trying to bring my skills up to a different level and am always looking for ways to improve my process as an illustrator & designer.
Paper was the market for week 1.
Got the mini exercise and read through the material. Watched the video and was so excited to get started on the mini... candy and ornaments!
I started to draw... and cut.

marker on copy paper

type cut out of kraft paper

Each day of the week as I and the other students taking the e-course logged into the classroom we were presented with different aspects of the Paper Market through videos, inspirational products, interviews with a buyer, designers and of course Lilla Rogers herself! Mid-week we were given our assignment, and by the end of the week these were my finished designs...
The Snowman card is the one that I added to the Flicker group.

"Cheers" Holiday Card Design
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

'Santa and Scotty' Card was my other design!

"HoHoHo" Holiday Card Design
©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

Pie is 'The Chalkboard Special!'

This week Spoonflower asked all to come up with a design with delicious 'Pie' in mind. I sketched many pies with my trusty Faber-Castell SF black marker and on my iPad. After coming up with a pattern that I liked and started to color in the drawings in photoshop I stopped.

Sketches...

The composition was looking a bit generic, so I scrapped the idea and decided to incorporate type into the design. The addition of the type changed the whole look and reminded me of a restaurant chalkboard design.

...and more sketches!

I didn't know how to make a 'chalk look' so I looked for tutorials on the internet and found a post on the blog  How To Nest For Less-- 'How to Make Your Own Chalkboard Printables', and another on Sweet C's Designs-- Make a Chalkboard Effect in Photoshop, and Textuts post-- Chalk Text Effect! Between all of these an messing around with effects in Photoshop I found an effect that I thought worked pretty well on the computer screen. I am just hoping that it works as well on the printed fabric!

Today's Chalkboard Special! ©2013 Patty Rybolt Designs

The finished designs were at a fat quarter size (21"x18"). Voting starts on Thursday, October 10th 2013 and goes through Wednesday October 16th, 2013! Please Vote!! :)

Lilla Rogers MATS e-course Part A

Click Here to learn more about Lilla's School!

I am always trying to keep moving forward as an artist and designer and knew that I needed to push myself... try a new approach to the design process. I took a break from my fabric design obsession in May and June to take the Lilla Rogers 'Make Art That Sells' E-Course. (Part A).

I loved it!

I learned about Lilla and her Art Agent skills at the SURTEX Show in New York in 2012. I attended the show to find out more about the Art Licensing Business, and how to copyright my illustrations and designs. I wanted to know if I needed an agent if I wanted to work as an illustrator or do designers typically represent themselves? I attended seminars at Surtex to help me with those questions by Tara Reed, and others and learned that it is a personal choice. I could submit my own designs to manufacturers and retailers through their artist submissions page on their websites, or submit a portfolio to an agent who could submit my art to clients and help me to secure contracts for licensing.

Week 1 'Bolt Fabric'

The Show was fabulous and I walked the floor to get an idea of what type of illustrations and design are selling to manufacturers and retailers today. I was blown away by the booths and designers that displayed at the show. The art agents had some of the largest booths representing their artists to the buyers at the show. Lilla's Booth stood out to me as having really fun and colorful artists and I stopped by to get a business card. When I got back to Florida I signed up to get emails from her website.

This Spring Lilla announced that her Make Art That Sells (MATS) course would be available online. I decided that this was just the right class to upgrade my skills to the professional level needed to secure art jobs today. The course lasted 5 weeks and focused on 5 different segments of the surface design industry.

My week 2 'home decor' assignment!

Each day of each week I logged in to Lilla's online classroom where she had videos, interviews with industry leaders, examples of successful products in the market and one assignment to be submitted each week. The course was intense and fabulous!

Part B of the course starts Monday October 7th, 2013. I can't wait to dive into the second half of the MATS Course!! I am going to try to blog my progress this time on the assignments so stay tuned!

Week 3 'children's book' assignment!

My week 4  'wall art' assignment!

Week 5 'gift' assignment!  

Available as a 'cut and sew' pencil case at Spoonflower.com

Lilla's Book!

Click on the icon to learn more!

Modern Love for Milk + Honey Shoes!

This week Spoonflower paired with an online shoe company called Milk + Honey, and asked their designers to come up with a small scale geometric print to be used in their shoe collection. 

At Milk + Honey you can completely construct your own shoes. The website is really fun and allows you to  choose a pump, sandal or flat, fabric or leather, ankle strap design, etc. ...the possibilities are endless. Check it out!

Design samples were 8x8". Voting started on Thursday Sept. 19th and continues to Thurs. am (EST), Sept. 26th 2013.  Don't forget to vote!

Shoe mock-up for Milk + Honey!

Modern Love (Milk + Honey)

Asterisk Quilt* Blocks!! ...From My 'Country Fresh' Modern Quilt Collection!

It was my turn to pick a block for our 'block party' group and I loved the idea of an 'asterisk' quilt block using my fabrics mixed with coordinating solids and any solid grey. The blocks are to be a finished size of 16.5" x 18.5".  

We meet again on September 21st and I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

These are the progression of my blocks...

Block #1

...choosing fabrics

I cut my block on a diagonal.

Added a second strip to make an X.

After adding my third strip, auditioning strip #4.

Cut this area away to reduce bulk and multiple seems.

Trimmed up the asterisk block and added fabric
 on 3 sides to complete the 16.5 x 18.5" block!

And here is how Block #2 progressed... 

Block 2 started with a square of solid fabric.

Auditioned Asterisk in my pattern of choice.

Added my strips and then cut out the bulky
center piece to make room for strip #4.

Added piece #4 and trimmed my rough edges.

Surrounded my Asterisk piece with solid grey and trimmed the block.
Added the top piece to the block and trimmed.
Machine appliqué an additional Asterisk on a
square of solid tangerine fabric and pieced it in a strip
on one of the edges, and added the final
strip to the right of the block.
Finally trimmed the block to the finished size of 16.5 x 18.5".

On Saturday I get to see what the rest of the 'Block Party' group members came up with for their Asterisk Blocks!! I can't wait!! I'll share pictures of their blocks next week! These fabrics from my new collection were designed in these colors specifically for my Modern Quilt Guild in Jupiter Florida! All of the fabrics are a part of my 'Country Fresh' Modern Quilt Collection. (Available Here)

Kuler Spaces... New Adobe App. for color!

My color palette !  I took a picture using my iPad of my sketch.

Mahi mahi watercolor sketch.

I had a lot of fun walking around my house taking pictures with this App and coming up with various color palettes. This Mahi mahi watercolor sketch from my sketchbook was my favorite for this challenge. I generally gravitate to these colors, but I decided to go for it anyway!

Spoonflower had asked their designers to be inspired by their environment. Create a color palette for your design using Kuler, Adobe's color palette creation tool using the free iPhone app or web browser version. You use your phone or iPad's live capture or upload an image to create a color palette from one of your favorite spaces. The winner of this contest will receive a year-long subscription to Creative Cloud. 

Design previews will be shown at the fat quarter fabric size (21" x 18"). Deadline for entry was Tuesday, September 10th, 2013, voting opens September 12th! Please Vote!

This is my pattern design that was inspired by Adobe's color palette creation tool Kuler!

'Kuler Mahi 2.0' fabric design for Kuler Spaces Spoonflower Contest!

There's a class for that! My Evolution as an artist...

My girls Olivia & Hanna!

Our family spent most of this Summer looking at colleges with our girls. As we prepare for them to 'fly the coop' over the next two years the thought of us being empty nesters terrifies me. I am wondering for the first time in many years about what I should do now. All those years when life was so busy with the girls in their sports, school plays and play dates that I wished that I had more time for me. For my art. Well I guess that time will be coming ...and it's time to go back to work!

I graduated from The Art Institute of Boston with a Graphic Design Degree and worked in that field for 8 years before taking an extended hiatus from my professional career to be home with my beautiful daughters. A choice I was lucky to have, and I will never regret. I have loved every minute!

Over the past 16 years I have continued to grow as an artist and my interests have taken many twists and turns. I didn't meet a medium that I didn't like. In an effort to learn more about each one, I took classes. Lots of classes...

Mosaic using glass and river stone.

 

    

Ceramic 'elephant ear' platter.

 

Watercolor 'mushroom' study.

   

Alabaster sculpture. 

Classes in 
mosaics, 
pottery, 
printmaking, 
stone sculpture, 
mixed media, photography, cake decorating, crocheting and countless fine art classes in watercolor, acrylic and oil. 

       

Lino cut and print.

 

Mixed Media photo transfer of my girls.

My friend Lois and I reinvented old pieces of furniture into beau-ti-ous almost-new gems. We re-upholstered furniture, made pillows, cushions and painted signs for our little company Figgy & Fern! But first... we took a class in upholstery!

Our Figgy & Fern booth at the Palm Beach Gardens Farmers Market!!

One of our reinvented chairs! 

Some of our pillow designs using my free-motion skills.

Then there were the online classes. I have an obsession with encaustic art and have loved exploring videos on YouTube by many encaustic artists who have taught me their tricks of the trade. 

 'Orchid 21' by Patty Rybolt (encaustic)

'the dress' by Patty Rybolt (encaustic) 

'waterlily II' by Patty Rybolt (encaustic)

 

'jupiter beach'  by Patty Rybolt (encaustic tryptic)

 

  

'holiday front door' Art quilt 

'turtle' Baby quilt

  

Felting ...learned on-line

My first quilt!

'spa day'  art quilt using
my orchid photos and beading.

 

Red eyed tree frog detail from art quilt.

'Heron II' art quilt

 

'Hanna' Bird Ornament

Then there was sewing... I had opted for typing in 9th grade and missed out on the sewing class in school. My Mother-in-law Pat bought me my first sewing machine when Terry and I bought our first home. She showed me how to do the basics, just enough to make simple curtains for the house. Years later I picked up a copy of Quilting Arts Magazine and Pokey Bolton hooked me. I had no idea that sewing could be yet another medium for my art. I took a basic quilting class at my local quilting store 'Quilters Choice' in Jupiter Florida, and got my first Bernina.  I joined an art quilting group and printed on fabric using my photographs on ink-jet fabric sheets. Then experimented with free-motion stitching, which allowed me to draw with my sewing machine. So much fun! 

'Heron' art quilt

'Olivia' Bird Ornament

I fell in love with the graphic nature of quilting, and wanted to somehow merge my graphic design background with fabric. I wanted to design my own fabrics for my own projects. I started experimenting with dying fabric, then turned my laundry room into a darkroom to make silk screens for my designs. (All learned on the internet. YouTube and online classes are an incredible resource! I watched the Ryonet videos for silkscreening). 

The need to take it to the next step lead me to Spoonflower.  This company allowed me to print my own designs in small or large quantities. If I wanted, I could sell my fabrics on 11 different fabrics or wallpaper, wall decals and gift wrap! The website offers weekly design contests that I have participated in often, and even placed in the top 10 six times this past year. It is a resource for learning how to make a repeatable pattern and use many mediums to merge graphic design, watercolor, collage, illustration, quilt and pattern design with fabric! Love Spoonflower!  

'Mr. 9to5' zombie plush pattern by PRD 

'Mr. 9to5' all sewn up!

My Spoonflower mini successes had lead me to stretch myself once again. I wanted to learn more about selling my art and fabric designs. My skills need some sharpening once again, so like I have always done in the past, I decided to take a class. All of the classes that I've taken over the years have been about my personal growth as an artist. Now my art has to appeal to clients. Online research lead me to a trade show in New York City where artists can meet up with Industry to sell their art.  So, last year I went to Surtex in New York City to take classes on how to 'copyright art', and 'art licensing' with Tara Reed. I walked the floor to get a feel for what kind of art is being licensed by companies today. There were large manufacturers and retail companies there to buy art to go on their products for their upcoming year. (For things like bedding, paper products and fabric). 

The 'Show'

While walking the floor I saw many licensing agent booths and took note of the artists that they represent. Lilla Rogers was one of the agents at the show. I got one of her business cards and signed up to get e-mail info from her agency.  In April of this year Lilla Rogers Agency announced an on line class she was having called 'Make Art That Sells'! 

e-School

I had already bought her book and loved it, so I looked into taking the class.This class was much pricier than any class that I had ever taken, but I saw it as money well spent. An investment in my future as a commercial artist! 

Lilla Rogers Book!

I participated in Part A in May & June of this year, 5 weeks of intense design, illustration and invaluable industry information for anyone in the art field. The class was worth every penny! Part B of the class begins in October, and I can't wait for 5 more weeks of training. I'll detail some of the projects that I produced from Part A in my next post, and will keep you up to date on Part B as it happens!