5 Ways to Find Inspiration for Your next Pattern: What to Do When You Run Out of Ideas?
We have all had those days when we run out of ideas. Everything we try to make starts to look flat or has already been done and we just need to take a step back so we can reset our brain. Here are 5 techniques that I use to find inspiration for my patterns.
Go Outside
Sometimes we need a change of scenery to feel inspired. Take a camera or a sketchbook and go hiking, go to the park, take a walk, head into the city, or go shopping. Every time you see something that would make a good element for a pattern, take a picture of it or draw it in your sketchbook. Even if you don’t end up using it you can look back at your pictures and drawings down the road as inspiration for new patterns.
Look at Other Designs
What I like to do when looking at others designs for inspiration is to pay attention to techniques. How did a designer create a certain element or texture? You don’t want to copy any elements in someone else’s designs even if you give them credit, but what you can do is get an idea of how they are creating certain elements and how you can use that technique on your future patterns.
When I first started making patterns I saw a lot of patterns where objects would be outlined haphazardly so that the outline would be slightly larger than the actual object. While I wasn’t able to figure out completely how they were able to achieve that look, I was able to come up with my own style of doing things by creating a no fill, black stroke copy of my pattern and off centering it on top of the existing pattern like so:
When doing this, you have to be careful about imitating someone else’s style. You want your patterns to be easily recognizable as your own and if you blatantly copy elements of another artists’ designs you are not creating your own style.
Pick a category and draw everything you can think of in that category
Whenever I run out of ideas for a new pattern I like to pick a category and just draw. For instance, Autumn is around the corner so something I might do is draw fall leaves, pumpkins, fall clothes, etc. and see which drawings jump out at me. I tend to make a lot of patterns that have one element or motif duplicated over and over again so if you end up only liking one of your drawings that is ok too.
Revisit an Old Pattern
Patterns should always be revisited and revised. You may have a one off pattern that you can turn into a collection, a collection that could use another secondary pattern, or have a pattern that you think you can redesign and make it better. Use the time when you cannot think of any new pattern ideas to work on the patterns you already have. Not only are you using your time wisely by improving upon an old pattern, but also being creative inspires more creativity so hopefully working on old patterns will spark ideas for new ones.
Create Mood Boards
This is something you should be doing all of the time to stay inspired. When you have an idea of what type of pattern you want to make but you don’t know where to start it helps to create mood boards to give you ideas. Pinterest is a good way to do this by creating boards with the same theme as your pattern. If we go back to the Autumn idea, one of the strong images I picture when I think of Autumn is a homemade swing that consists of a piece of wood and a thick rope tied to a tree and surrounded by piles of fallen leaves. I might pin something like that to my Autumn board.
Instagram is also a great source of inspiration. Similar to Pinterest you can save pictures or designs you like and add them to collections of the same theme.
These are just a few of the ways I search for information when I am in a creative rut. What are some of the ways you stay creative when you are out of ideas?
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