A designer’s world

I am a designer/illustrator, and I am frequently asked where I get inspiration from. I answer that it’s all around if you just look. My life is full of patterns, colours and shapes, which I use in my work. These are transformed into dress prints to be shown on my new website julietrobsondesign.co.uk

How many people walk past an ancient tree or a delicate flower without really looking, or watch the way the colours of the sea change.

Textures

Stop and look at the textures of the bark and the way the leaves are shaped. Look at the colours of flowers and how they relate to the environment. I travel abroad, usually to Greece as much as I can.
The light there is much stronger than in the UK, so I always take a camera, sketch book and small box of paints with me and make quick sketches to be worked on at a later date when I’m back in my studio. Local markets can be a great source of inspiration with piles of fruit and vegetables and sacks of bulging spices in rainbow hues.

Materials

Artist quality watercolours are expensive, but they are well worth the investment, as they contain more pigment that the Student quality colours. Watercolours can be purchased singly as half pans, which is cheaper that buying them in a box. You can easily find a small plastic container for these. You need a sketch book with decent quality paper and a selection of brushes. I would recommend Grain Fin Cold Pressed NOT paper, as it has a good texture to work on, and is fairly robust. A little bottle of water, some small natural sponges, and possibly a palette for mixing, and you are ready to go.

Colour Combinations

Work freely and don’t get bogged down in detail. It’s important to really look at shapes of the objects that you are painting and the spaces that are left between them.

Turning a drawing into design

When designing dress or furnishing prints, one has to bear in mind that the patterns have to repeat within a certain size. This is especially important when designing Furnishing fabrics as the repeat is dictated by the width of the fabric. Most furnishing fabrics are printed on 54 in wide fabric. The fabric repeat size must fit exactly into this size, so that the full repeat is shown. The height of the fabric repeat is dictated by the screen or roller size, generally 25.25inches, but this varies according to the printer.