Hey First name / friends!

 

This week is going to be the last week of our wallpaper-inspired #CreateWithCatCoq challenge series. It's been so fun to see your designs! 

 

Did you like having challenges focused on a specific product? Any suggestions for future product challenges you'd like to see? Reply and let me know! 

For this week's prompt, I wanted to pick one final wallpaper motif that's so popular it's almost an evergreen trend - Gingko biloba! This cute, fan-shaped leaf is always popular in surface design since it has a neutral, calming energy. 

My original watercolor illustration and pattern

 

I originally painted these gingko leaves as a standalone illustration, and they've gone on to be licensed on all kinds of products from wallpaper to wall art and more! Just goes to show how versatile a single illustration can be!

 

And here's a fun fact: I actually didn't design the pattern that ended up getting licensed on wallpaper. Sometimes companies license your artwork, and then will have their in-house design team modify it to fit the style that they know their customer will resonate with. That's what happened in this case! I already had a gingko pattern, but it wasn't quite the right fit for wallpaper. 

 

So I provided high-quality, well organized Photoshop files of my standalone gingko illustrations, and my licensee's design team turned it into a pattern that they thought would be a closer fit to their ideal customers' aesthetic.

 

This is how the process goes sometimes, but you can't always count on it. So I'd always say to design your own pattern just in case! Be flexible, keep your files layered and organized, and be up for creative direction from your licensees!

 

Want to learn more about creating high-res artwork for licensing? Here's a blog post I wrote about my process!

Here's the wallpaper it turned into! Click here to shop this wallpaper design!

I hope you all enjoyed this simple pattern prompt! Here are a few of the submissions from last week's challenge. 

 

If you want to be featured in this newsletter and on my Instagram stories, make sure to use the hashtag #CreateWithCatCoq on Instagram and tag @catcoq in the actual photo you post so I can find your work! 

Have a fabulous week!