How to make a repeat pattern by Julia Rothman

Illustration is all around us. We often picture it on book covers and among the text in magazines, but its influence reaches much farther than that. Products, from something as small as your coffee mug to as big as furniture (or larger), are another type of application for the illustrated image. And what pairs well with a product? Repeat patterns! Though they look complicated, creating them is easier than you think; especially when you take Julia Rothman’s Illustrating Patterns: Creating Hand-Drawn Wallpaper class on Skillshare.

How to make a repeat pattern by Julia Rothman

Right now, you can enroll in this class (and thousands more) for less than a dollar. Skillshare is offering three months of their premium subscription for just $0.99. When you subscribe, you’ll have access to Julia’s course, along with over 18,000 other classes—from illustration and beyond. Over the past year, I’ve taken a couple of helpful sketchbook classes that have allowed me to hone my skills.

Julia’s class begins with a quick introduction of who she is—someone that loves and makes patterns. Patterns are her business—she’s created wallpaper, stationery, and home decor items decorated her drawings. If anyone is going to teach you this technique, it’s her.

How to make a repeat pattern by Julia Rothman

The class is short and sweet at 25 minutes, and it covers two approaches to creating repeat patterns of your own.

Julia’s assignment is simple but a challenge: draw a repeat pattern based on objects in your home. She lays out what this entails before getting into the nitty-gritty of her technique; first, she’ll find 20 objects, draw them on paper, and then cut the paper a certain way. After that, she’ll xerox the paper “a million times” and then line it up to make a set of wallpaper.

How to make a repeat pattern by Julia Rothman

What excited me about this class is that it’s completely analog. I use as little digital tools as possible for my work and the thought of having to navigate illustrator and make a repeat pattern was daunting. But, as Julia points out, the approach she uses is a foundation for working on a motif on the computer.  For the purposes of her class, however, you just need paper, a pen, an X-Acto knife, and tape. Oh, and access to a copy machine. Here’s my repeat pattern:

How to make a repeat pattern by Julia Rothman

Each of the 8 videos in Julia’s class explores another facet in learning how to make a repeat pattern.

The joy of taking a Skillshare class is that you get insight into how someone thinks. As Julia draws, she explains her reasoning for why she places something or renders it in a certain way. Because we don’t often hear professionals narrate in this way, these moments of Julia’s class prove just as valuable as learning the repeat pattern technique itself.

I’m not going to spoil Julia’s class—it’s something you’ll have to learn yourself! Now’s the best time to join Skillshare because their premium subscription is $0.99 for three months. So, if your New Year’s resolution is to spark your creative juices, you’re bound to find something you love here. Just click here to redeem.

This post is sponsored by Skillshare but words and opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Brown Paper Bag!
How to make a repeat pattern with Julia Rothman

How to make a repeat pattern with Julia Rothman

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