One of my current assignments for my Intermediate Graphic Design II class is to create an image, based off of the Art Nouveau style, that can be tiled as a pattern. This pattern that I create will then be applied to a 3 dimensional object of my choosing.
Art Nouveau artists were inspired by nature. Many notable works featured organic motifs such as animals and plantlife, flowing curvilinear lines, and achieving a sense of unity and cohesiveness by tying elements together using color, negative space, symmetry, and repetition of design elements.
For my design, I was inspired by the graceful and rather fragile form of the hummingbird. I dissected the form into simple rounded shapes that I spaced out for a more implied appearance. The curved vine adjacent to the hummingbird allows for the viewer’s eyes to travel past the edge of the tile and guide them onto the next.
Seeing as I have made some pretty good progress this evening, I decided to share with you guys what I’ve got so far. Mind you, the final result will also include color. This work in progress will be completely black-and-white solely to demonstrate the relationship between positive and negative space in my design. =]
The original sketch: done roughly with pencils, touched up and outlined with FaberCastell pens, and filled in with a Pentel brush pen. As I’m drawing, I’m keeping my dimensions “squared.” I also make sure that certain lines touch the edge, which will lend themselves well when tiling as a pattern!
After scanning it into my computer, I bring the drawing into Illustrator as a template and redraw it with the pen tool. I am also making changes and improvements over the original sketch as I’m going along.
I’ve put the original square design to the test by tiling it side-by-side. Behold! Now I have a pattern!