I’ve got a confession to make – ok I’m sure it might already be a bit obvious but I am obsessed with shells! One of my absolute favourite things ever is beach combing to look for shells, which often become inspiration for a shell repeat pattern design.

I grew up at the beach and one of my strongest childhood memories is walking the beach every morning and afternoon looking for shells. I would make posters of the shells I collected for school, and now as an adult I get really excited by shell books, shell illustrations, and finding new and interesting shells.

Why shells make interesting repeat pattern designs

What I love most about them is the variety in shapes, patterns and colours. They are a perfect example of the complexity and beauty of nature, that so many different shells exist to each fill a specific niche in the marine environment.

When I visit the beach now, I always am looking for shells (and rubbish). I can’t go to the beach without picking up any rubbish I see, another behaviour installed from childhood. But my reward is often finding a beautiful shell that I will either photograph or take home with me to illustrate.

Shell illustration process

My go-to sketchbook activity is shell illustration, and I could happily spend hours sketching out and painting shells.

In my sketchbook I usually start with a coloured pencil outline, then I add colour and form with watercolour paints, and then detail with coloured pencils and pens.

When illustrating shells for pattern designs, I have really enjoyed using acrylic paints to get a more ‘arty’ look, rather than realistic nature illustration.

I also love drawing them with ink pens and focusing on their recognisable shapes.

Creating a shell repeat pattern design

As described in my previous post, when creating a new pattern design I often start with a moodboard and initial sketches and motif ideas.

I then work on creating the art for the pattern, often making more than I end up using as it can be really difficult to get the same feeling in the artwork when you revisit it at a later date.

The style I create my shells in depends on the look I am going for with the pattern design, my most recent shell design was acrylic paintings of my most favourite shells that I have on display in my home.

Once the artwork is completed, everything is scanned and taken into Photoshop, where I can spend many hours cleaning up and arranging motifs, tweaking colours, working on a background, and making sure the pattern is just right.

My final step is always to check what the shell repeat pattern design looks like on actual products, and I do this using mock-ups – usually with a product and scale that I think would suit the design.

If you would like to shop my shell pattern designs, you can purchase them on a range of fabric bases through fabric stores both in Australia and overseas.