Day: February 23, 2018

I am sure most of us have seen wallpapers, phone covers, bed sheets and a lot of other things that have unique designs that seem to repeat themselves to form an endless pattern. Repeating patterns are also used for visualizers for music to help you put yourself in the right mood. Today, we look at a few of the tips on how to create your own repeating patterns.

1. You might be tempted to jump into a lot of image editing software available online to start drawing some patterns and repeat them, but I highly suggest avoiding this. Start off with using a pencil or a pen and drawing some designs on a sheet of paper as it gives you a better idea of where to position your designs and help you think a bit more creatively than having to rely on the internet.
2. Once you decide on a particular design to repeat, it’s not necessary to repeat them over and over again by yourself. Even though you’re more than welcome to do it, you will see the lack of accuracy in the repeated designs, especially if it’s a complex image. I suggest you take multiple photocopies of the first image and just keep pasting them right next to each other to get the desired result.
3. Once you get the hang of the basics, try creating complex designs. You can try having an incomplete image at the edges of your sheet and continuing the next pattern from there, so it looks consistent and has a seamless transition into the next design.
4. It’s encouraged to experiment with a lot of colors. For example, a design could have one color for the background and the elements could have different other colors. Repeating the color scheme could result in your patterns looking unique and different.
5. Do not limit yourself to one particular art style. Try going for something that you think would not work, but be surprised as to how nicely they start blending in with each other. You could try some tribal patterns or geometric illustrations and repeat them to get a unique type of image.
6. Do not leave a lot of empty space. Try and fill out a page by adding a lot of elements. This does not mean you have to clutter your sheet to a point where nobody can figure out what it is. Give enough gap for people to recognize the patterns, but not big gaps where the design starts feeling empty.

These are some of the basic tips on repeating patterns. Feel free to learn more about it online.