Wednesday 29 October 2014

Digital Painting & Pattern: Bird of Paradise

Todays's post is just to show you  a new digital painting as it turned out-and the pattern it evolved into afterwards.

If you've read this blog for a while, you'll know that I like to do designs specifically for friends and family members (as many people do).

Anyway, there's this one person who sometimes misses out, having a birthday in January, just after all Christmas thoughts have obliterated digital painting from my mind.
So, I thought I'd get a head start, and make her one now, featuring a bird of paradise flower (which she loves).  
It began life with the background above.






Until something more mysterious felt better...
(still not sure which will make it onto her card, and don't have to decide yet). The Computer Man has one preference, I have the other. If you definitely prefer either the purple or pinky background, please do let me know in the comments.

Then, the "Birds of Paradise Pattern...

I'd already noticed that the inherent spikiness and angular geometry of these flows is quite different to anything I normally draw. What I hadn't realised is what good "natural chevrons" they make in a pattern.

Have you ever experimented with putting a painting or picture into a pattern, only to find that the motif takes on entirely different characteristics? If so, please let us know what happened. Or, if you're learned about such things and know why they happen, please let me know also.

In the meantime, I'll keep experimenting...