Hey, First name / friends!

I loved seeing all of your floral patterns for last week’s #CreateWithCatCoq challenge! I am always blown away by seeing your unique artistic voices and interpretations of the prompts each week. Here are just a few of the stunning submissions from last week’s challenge!

Groovy swirls and psychedelic marbling are trendy motifs that are on the rise. Your challenge this week is to create a far-out illustration of your own.

 

Abstract art is having a moment right now, so create your swirls as a standalone illustration like the design on the right, or try your hand at turning it into a pattern like I did with the design on the left!

I like to draw my swirl illustrations by hand. It’s a super meditative practice and a great way to relax at the end of the day! But you can also experiment with tools like the liquify tool in Procreate or Photoshop to blend and blur your illustration in an unexpected and organic way.

Don’t forget to share your work on Instagram with the hashtag #CreateWithCatCoq! Be sure to tag me @catcoq as well so it’s easier for me to find your work and share it in my Instagram Stories and this newsletter!

I’m so glad to hear that my Product Collections Deck has been helpful for so many of you! If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s my newest collection of kitchen and tabletop items that I put together based on feedback from my agents about what art directors are looking for right now. 

 

These are the collections that my agents are actively pitching, and I’m sharing them with you so you can get inspiration for your own collections!

Exciting news! I've teamed up with my friends at Creatsy to provide three of the mockups I use in the Product Collections Deck to you for free! (I emailed them last week with a link to my Product Collections Deck and asked if they could put together a freebie bundle specifically for my audience and they agreed! 🎉 Never hurts to ask, right?)

When putting together collections to pitch, it’s important to show your work in the best possible light. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use mockups!

 

What is a mockup? It’s a digital file that allows you to take your artwork and make it look like it’s actually on a product! 

 

Showcasing your art like this gives art directors a clearer vision of what your art would look like on their products and gives them more of a reason to say “Yes!” to working with you.

 

I use Creatsy for the majority of my mockups. They have thousands of ready-made mockup files that are some of the best available on the market today. 

 

And I’m thrilled to share that they have generously offered three free mockup files exclusively for my audience! 

 

Bonus: These mockups are ones that I purchased and used for my Product Collections Deck that is being pitched right now. I want to say a huge THANK YOU to my friends at Creatsy for offering these incredible mockups. 

 

We'd love to see how you use them! Be sure to tag me @catcoq and @creatsyofficial on Instagram so we can cheer you on!

Have a fabulous week!