TDL News 4-6-20

Chelsea’s Challenge: Escapism

Escapism: “the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.” 

This month we want to offer an opportunity to take your mind off of the coronavirus crisis and to engage in a sense of free play and exploration. This challenge aims to investigate the fantastical, the fun, and the deepest reaches of your imagination. We encourage bold experimentation, and giving yourself permission to let any of your usual design barriers down. Is there a new artistic technique you’ve always wanted to try? Give it a shot this month as you develop your collection!

Learn how to get involved here.

Recording Posted: Brushes with Laura Coyle

All I can say is that we are so lucky to have Laura Coyle as part of our community!

Last week she hosted an amazing training on how to use brushes in Illustrator. She also added a list of additional resources and a downloadable tip sheet.

Please explore this training and try to put these lessons to use this week.

Watch the recording here.

New: TDL Community Connect

Our TDL Video Chat room will now be open all day, everyday. Feel free to stop by while you are working on a project or to simply chat with your fellow members!

In the future we might need to have specific meeting times, but I wanted to open this opportunity up to people across various time zones and with different schedules.

Members can grab the link here.

Speedy Design Challenge: Elevated Marble

Have some free time? Dive into this week’s Speedy Design Challenge!

The goal of this design challenge is to train yourself to design in a more efficient manner, much like you might experience if you worked as an in-house designer. It’s also an opportunity to focus on completing a pattern within a certain time frame, allowing you to let go of the pattern being perfect and spending days moving pixels around and around. Just get it done! LOL!

“The client” is looking for repeating patterns for Fall/Winter 20/21 that are inspired by marble textures. They are looking for something unique and an update to classic marble textures.

Get started here.

New Design Tutorial: Developing Ornamental Floral Patterns

In this new design tutorial Chelsea walks you through her process for creating ornate floral patterns. She’ll take you through the entire process-from sketch to final design.

Learn more here.

Recording Posted: Launching a Product Line with Juliet Meeks

In this insightful presentation Juliet shares an overview of her process, starting from the product idea to shipping the final product to the customer. This includes tips for sourcing materials, determining your retail price, photography, marketing, and more.

Juliet is the owner of Juliet Meeks Design, an art and surface design studio she has been working on full-time since 2015. She’s based in her hometown of New Orleans, and creates a stunning array of original paintings and products adorned with her signature style.

Watch her presentation here.

Weekly Art Critiques. Please join the TDL community on THURSDAY at 1 PM Eastern for a live art critique. Our art critiques are fun events where Lab members come together to review artwork and ask questions about pattern design, marketing and sales. A registration link will be emailed the morning of the critique and will also be posted in our Weekly Art Critique forum. Textile Design Lab members can watch past critiques here.