Learn to Design a Half Drop and Rectangle Full Drop Repeat

Class Description

Hello everyone welcome to my latest class. If this your first class with me, welcome! I am Jen Veguilla-Lezan and I’ll be the one guiding you through this creative course. I’m a freelance graphic designer, illustrator and educator based out of the midwest and I run Bella + Sophia Creative studio.

This month, I wanted to build off of last month’s class and keep exploring our creative skills in Surface Pattern Design. Last class we worked on learning how to build 4 different repeat styles in Affinity Designer V1 for the desktop. This class, we are going to learn some similar concepts, but how to do them in the Affinity Designer V1 app on the iPad. I wanted to share this process on the iPad as the interface is quite a bit different than the desktop interface. I know how important it is for those of you who work on the go to be able to utilize the iPad in your work process and it always helps to keep things streamlined if you can work in the same software, but in different environments like desktop vs. iPad.

If this is your first foray into my classes relating to surface pattern design or your first time building patterns on the iPad, I highly suggest you check out my previous surface pattern design intensive course. In that course I show you the basics of surface pattern design and building repeats on the iPad. In today’s class, though — we will take that process a little further and explore how to create 2 of the most common surface pattern repeats - the Full Drop repeat but with a twist as we will be creating it in a rectangle format rather than square, and a Half Drop repeat.

Expanding on the types of patterns you can create helps to add visual interest to your patterns. Choosing the right pattern repeat for your design will depend on what sort of look and feel you are after. But, the wonderful thing is you can keep experimenting with your repeat layouts until you get the result that you are after.

What the class is about

In this class, I will walk you through my process on how to make 2 of the most common surface pattern designs in Affinity Designer V1 on your iPad. This course will help you understand the process using the interface on the iPad app. The 2 repeats we will review are: the full drop in rectangle format and the half drop repeat. We will work on designing these patterns and creating a seamless repeat using illustrated motifs. We will also touch on some helpful tips to help establish creating strong repeats.

This course is designed to give you all the technical skills you need to start designing the full drop in rectangle format and the half drop repeat using the Affinity designer V1 iPad app. Keep in mind though, it doesn’t go into as much detail as the surface pattern design intensive course I mentioned earlier. This class will get you comfortable building a repeat pattern template, as well as help you learn more about the tools and studios in the iPad app as well as familiarize you with some of the layer effects, geometry functions and transform options that will aid in building a repeating pattern in Affinity Designer right on your iPad

We won’t be going through the entire process of surface pattern design from concept drawing to final pattern, though. Instead we will be focusing on understanding the mechanics behind and constructing each of these pattern repeats. If you want to learn the very basics of surface pattern design using your iPad, Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo, feel free to check out my Surface Pattern Design intensive course for beginners: Learn How to Create Surface Pattern Designs on the iPad with Affinity Photo + Affinity Designer

Make sure to check out the class resources for your project template and a helpful resource guide on surface pattern design.

Tools needed

All you need to take this class is an iPad, an apple pencil or stylus the Affinity Designer iPad app installed.

An overview of the class project

For your class project, we will be creating 2 different pattern repeat styles: A full drop repeat with a twist as we will be creating it in rectangle format and a half drop repeat. They will both be designed in the Affinity Designer app right on your iPad. Once you complete them, You can submit these to the course project gallery to share with your fellow classmates and myself.

Deliverables

When you are ready, upload the following to the project gallery

1. 2 Final Patterns (full drop and half drop) showcased in the Final Project template - You can share it as a JPEG file and upload it to one project within the class gallery. I am excited to see the beautiful seamless repeats that you all will create.

Who the class is geared toward

This class is geared towards anyone interested in learning how to create surface pattern designs using Affinity Designer on their iPad. Whether you are a seasoned pro in surface pattern design or someone just learning how to use the Affinity designer app, I try to ensure you will feel comfortable in the app and the course. I also know that having a portable workstation can be really important to those who freelance or work remotely and I have found that there is literally a seamless transition between working on the Affinity apps on the iPad and the desktop. Which is why I wanted to make sure to walk you through the process of creating these repeat styles on your iPad. I also know that surface pattern design can feel a little overwhelming when it comes to using software and technology, but for this class -I wanted to show how you how to create some of the most popular styles of repeats in an easy to follow manner that can help grow your surface pattern design portfolio. I truly hope that you find it helpful.

I am looking forward to creating with you today! Let’s get Started.