'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!! :)