Updated Work: Dandelion Fields Surface Pattern Collection

I’ve been working behind the scenes to update my surface design portfolio and available patterns on Spoonflower and Minted. Part of this effort is deciding if I should “retire” any of my artwork for sale as part of my portfolio curation.

I have been slowly retiring many designs from my Dandelion Fields collection. I originally designed that pattern collection back in 2019. It was my first collection and I went WAY overboard with the number of colorways and options I decided to sell on Spoonflower. I think I had something like 500 designs for sale from this collection 😅

So I retired 400ish of the designs but took a few days to refresh the seven original pattern designs with a new color palette.

Updating my Dandelion Fields Surface Pattern Collection

My original motif designs were basically sketches. Back in 2019 I was so thrilled to have a finished repeat pattern collection that I went ahead and put it out there. Fast forward several years, with fresh eyes and more experience working on illustration and repeat patterns…I started cringing a little when looking at these designs! The layouts were solid and the motif ideas were fun, so I decided to refresh the designs instead of totally retiring them.

Revision Process

To refresh the designs, I went back to my art foundation roots. I asked myself how best to distill these florals into repeat motifs while adding variety. I chose to include gouache paint textures, stippling, and a variety of thick and thin lines to add visual interest throughout each pattern.

I also chose to redraw/paint each motif multiple times for each pattern. I only designed 15-20 motifs for the original pattern set, which makes them less interesting. Although these revised patterns rely on the same basic motif ideas, there are hundreds of individually drawn/painted motifs throughout this updated pattern collection.

Updating the Color Palette

I focused on one-color designs in popular neutral colors. I thought about quilting fabrics, home decor, and children’s apparel when refreshing the color palette. I wanted my revised pattern designs to easily match many of the print and pattern designs currently on the market so that these designs are accessible coordinates.

I’m really happy with the end results! I am going to be revising and retiring some of my other older pattern collections in the next few months as I prepare to pitch my pattern design portfolio. I’ll share here as I update!

Thanks for reading!