Saturday, September 7, 2013

Works in Progress







When I am designing a new piece, sometimes getting it to a place satisfactory to me requires quite a number of attempts. Now I have begun writing tutorials my designs are starting to alter because I am thinking "can I do a tutorial for this?"
Here you have four attempts at making a design and coming up with one that is easy to write 
and still looks good. 

On the right here you have a purple Lunasoft Cabochon surrounded in my latest design idea using super-duo beads in a shape that resembles 'flowers'.
I added crystals in this piece and although it is really pretty there are far too many steps to be illustrating for a tutorial. This pattern needs to be simplified.


The next image, on the right, shows my second attempt. The crystals have been removed, there are less steps in making this one and it is a design still very pleasing to the eye.
I showed this on Facebook and I had a competition for ladies to name the item and one woman suggested "Isla Rosa"  It reminded her of seeing little islands - "Isla" - from a high perspective and the Rosa because the 'flowers' had an old fashioned rose look about them.  So "Isla Rosa" it is and a tutorial to be written.

BUT, once again, too difficult to illustrate and for a beginner student to comprehend in a tutorial.

The next image, on the left, has the second and the third piece I designed side by side. Now, with the third design, I had a result that was easy to make, easy to write in a tutorial, easy for a beginner to understand and still attractive.

I have a winner I thought - not quite! 

Since showing the second piece on Facebook and having it named, when I showed the third piece on Facebook a lot of women preferred the second design saying it had a charm about it and they commented saying the third design was like a lot of other things they had seen before. A good point 

So the results of all this you ask? 

It has taken 3 attempts at coming up with a creation that I am able to write into a tutorial, one that will be easy to create, easy to understand, and easy for a beginner to comprehend. A creation that will have the combination of the charm of the second piece, the easy steps of the third piece and still have its very own individuality, not resembling a lot of other items 'out there'. 

But then isn't that the designing process? You keep at it until you are satisfied you have what you want.

This next image you may wonder?

This image, on the right, is me playing with colour placement and having a bit of fun. I like this being called "Chilli Peppers" it has an ethnic/spanish/mexican look about it.

So could you now say 4 attempts and 2 designs ?





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2 comments:

  1. Dear Patric,
    Thank you very much for sharing this wonderfull experience with us. You talk so true.
    I just started to play around with my own designs and try to document the pattern for me and I reconized how difficult this is. Sometime I really would like to write tutorials as well. But then I think no one would understand or the needle would break constandly ;-)
    Your article showed how difficult and how much work the design process is.
    Thank you very much

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  2. Hello and many thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. Always nice to know someone reads my rantings.
    Yes, our journey as a designer can be a long one. Don't give up on tutorial writing. If you have people liking your
    designs then you should persevere and learn to write them out.
    I tried many times with tutorial writing and pretty much had decided it takes too long, it takes me away from beading, and I just felt I didn't know enough about the graphics.
    I recently started releasing them and they are selling well. Now I think in "tutorial" speak when designing and have about 5 different patterns being written at once. LOL
    Cheers...Patrick

    ReplyDelete