Sketching patterns, prints and graphics

I bought a moleskin sketchbook a few weeks back and have been filling it with shape, pattern and print designs I've found and like. It's not something i gravitate towards naturally so its been a real learning process in layout and refinement and all those things you need to develop when you're recording these things.



Most of my references have been fashion magazines, just looking at the textiles and jewellery designs. I've also been drawing the little borders and graphics they use, just to see what they use and how they work on the page. Typography, logos, prints and graphics are an alien form to me, one which i appreciate but have never got my head or hands round. And i want to. Collection, dissection and imitation are the first steps I'm taking to understand these things before i attempt my own originals.

Not surprisingly, with fashion magazines as my main resource, i find myself drawing the outfits and silhouettes i like as well and the more i draw the more i notice trends appearing, like the star print... the leopard print... polkadots.... I've noticed a trend where many prints and graphics are drawn in the negative i.e. white on colour, like a lino print, rather then black on colour which was something I've never noticed before. It seems to give designs that vintage, light, shabby-chic feel. Maybe darker outlines will appear towards winter? I don't know. I'm just speculating.

As mentioned in my September top 5 I've also been drawing from that stencil resource book i recommended looking at the shapes and designs. So many ideas and different styles... all free to use in your own designs. The borders i could use to frame an illustration. The florals can be transferred into glass paintings on wine glasses as gifts. The graphics can inspire hand carved lino prints for personal stamping or crafts. It's just nice having a catalogue of designs that I'm attracted too and I've made some attempt to learn from.

I'm trying to keep my referencing as accredited as possible so i can track things back later to the original, so I've been jotting down where i found it, when, what season, the date if available, links, the outfit a print came from etc. I've also been sticking in swatches of the designs i drew from so i can compare mine to the original. My drawings aren't always so flattering and its always handy to see what actually inspired the sketch.

I've also benefited from using a sketchbook as just that, a sketchbook. I've been making notes and using it like i would have at school and college and its been quite confidence boosting. I always thought i was a rather shabby art student but now i look at what i can do these days I'm starting to think maybe I'm just a late bloomer?