This week, we're going to work on a complex pattern. A complex pattern is also called a supporting pattern, and it is meant to complement your hero design and tie the collection together. It's different from the blender patterns we worked on last week because it has more depth, movement, and variation.
Let me walk you through how I approached mine for this mini collection.
When I first sat down to draw this, I thought I'd use my go-to strategy of repurposing elements from the original design. In this case, that meant using the lily pads. But once I started building the pattern, I realized they were the most complex part of the hero, and I didn't want them to be the main focus of this pattern.
I wanted the dragonflies to sit higher in the visual hierarchy and feel more dominant. (They're a trending motif from last year, and we're still seeing dragonflies maintain their popularity. Any chance to incorporate more trends is a win for me!)
I tried using the original lily pads at first (work smarter, not harder!), but there was so much detail in them that they started competing with the dragonflies. So I decided to redraw the lily pads in a simplified way instead of pulling them directly from the hero.
Sometimes you can pull elements straight from a hero illustration to create a complex pattern. Other times, you need to redraw from scratch. This was one of those cases.
I simplified the segmentation the detail in the lily pads without losing the organic line work I used in the hero. I essentially did the inverse of what I’d done before, letting the dragonflies carry the detail while keeping the lily pads more minimal.
The segmentation in the lily pads mirrors the dragonfly wings, which helps everything feel aligned and intentional. I also brought in a few of the sparkles from the hero illustration. If you've got a really keen eye, you'll noticed I added a few sparkles to my blender patterns since last week! ✨ Repeating those small elements helps tie the collection together and strengthens cohesion.
I stayed within the same color palette but changed the background to a very dark blue, almost charcoal. I wanted this piece to feel connected to the hero without feeling too matchy.
