This small project is about creating seamless pattern mainly with Adobe Illustrator, using advanced technique of composing & placing elements of texture.

I began this project from sketching and got three ideas: ginkgo leaf, gradient geometric shape, and illustrated mug. I chose the first one to work on.

Before composition on Illustrator, I set up a color palette from colourlovers.com, I could find a suitable palette that fits with my “color of leaves” concept. If you research, the shape of ginkgo leaf has a cut from top middle, and my whole idea was that its petiole resembles a cut on the leaf. I made the color of petiole dark so that appears as a negative space of leaf. The composition was a repetitive process between copy and paste, since continuity is the most important in seamless pattern. After all, completed pattern was submitted to spoonflower.com to print.

I LOVE geometric shapes. The composition was mainly about calculation and balancing between positive space and negative space. The process of creating seamless pattern was simple enough to learn quickly, and I’m happy with it. Your job is to bring any one shape as a unit that you can comfortably work with, and use Move tool from Object>Transform to accurately place elements in the unit to form continuity.

Color Palette:

Sketches: