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!