Say hello to my new pattern design – Pizazz!
This pattern design came about when I was putting together an application for the Uppercase Surface Pattern Design Guide (side note – I didn’t get selected but there were sooo many applications, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy and check out the designs!).
I really really REALLY loved Parrot Fish Party who I created last year, and knew I wanted to explore this ‘fun fish’ idea some more. So I had a browse through one of my marine reference books, and decided I was going to draw some beautiful anthias (Pseudanthias spp.) and a longnose filefish (Oxymonacanthus longirostris).
I sketched the outline and main features of the fish in pencil, then traced onto watercolour paper. I used watercolour pencils to then draw the fish and add all the vibrant colours and patterns!
Now I had my beautiful fish, I knew I needed a background with some oomph! Most of my artwork is done on A4 sheets of paper that I then file in a ring binder, so it is easy to flick through and match pieces together.
I found a couple of star collages that I did last year, and found they matched so well with the anthias! I made these collages using normal printer paper that I had painted with some fun acrylic paints. I sat one night with my scissors and glue stick and ended up creating the stars. The base is a piece of card I got from Reverse Garbage for about 10 cents I think! At the time I had no intention for these collages, I just enjoyed making them as a fun and relaxing activity!
Finally I needed just a few more abstract shapes for the background – I decided to go digital for this! I have not really used an iPad for creating art but for this design I knew I could make the abstract shapes I wanted quite easily. I drew the individual shapes in Adobe Fresco on the iPad and then imported them into Photoshop on my computer.
So all these elements – hand-drawn fish, star collages, digital abstract shapes – were put together in Photoshop where I waved my magic wand and voila – the pattern was made!
The name Pizazz was suggested by one of my Facebook members and I thought it suited this design so well – so this is Pizazz!
This design has now been added to my print library, and is available for licensing!
I would love to know what you think it would look good on?