NannerWreath

More experiments with 'pattern along path'. That's about it.

Holly

Experimenting with calligraphic lines and intentional off-setting. It's hard create something haphazard without making it look lazy and thrown together. I've wanted to try this style for some time now, but I could never get it to look right. Not a total success, but I think I figured out how to make it look believable - make your line-work first, then create shapes underneath.

NannerSkate

My regular job has me tracing around objects pretty much all day with the Bezier Pen tool in Photoshop. Since the paths are being used for raster objects, it isn't really important to create nice shapes with prime point placement, correct anchor point usage, or shape building methods. Just the same, I and everyone else on the team is a ninja with the pen tool - creating clip paths and masking products with cold efficiency.

Hence, today's sticker is based on a real image of an ice skate. I think I would have preferred to use the more traditional method (research, draw, scan, vector, color) over this quick and dirty approach. But as I'm trying to get back into regular updates, it seemed more important to get the work done. I was curious as to how this approach would look - and now I know.

Not Done Yet...

I didn't want to just post another lame experiment. This is a simple design using the pattern tool and seam workaround. I also managed to get some use out of the align and distribute pattern (no more unintentionally off-center objects for me).

Tomorrow will be an idea generation day. Time to hit the stimuli queue (books and other media I'm absorbing for future creative breakthroughs) and see what I can find. I've learned to create some competent vector shapes - now it's time to take it further.

This project isn't done until I've made 365 stickers.

Solved

Duplicate the repeating pattern with the awful seam problem, offset slightly, and the seams disappear. There. Now I can go on.

More Experiments

No great answers about my anti-aliasing issues. This makes pattern-making a major pain. I won't let that get me down though...

You know what does work? The pattern along path feature. I made a quick digital sketch of the classic noodle bowl patten, and here it is. I imagine there are some quirks to this feature, but it feels like a small victory for me.

My Christmas presents are currently resting on my scanner, making it pretty tough to get things done in general. I hope to get back to actual work soon. All this research is going a long way to helping me accomplish that.

Kind of ugly

After getting burned by the pattern making tools in Inkscape (remember the houndstooth umbrella), I decided to consult the manual. Turns out, patterns always create seams. Something about anti-aliasing.

It's really disappointing to say the least. I created the above image as an experiment in repeating lines (gotta have this stuff down to do tartan right). It's got ugly seams all over the place. More experiments down the road I guess.