The third creative powerhouse to feature in The Designer Project is artist and designer Anna Markula. As part of the instalment Anna has made a range of her captivating designs available in our Fabric Shop online and we are so thrilled to be able to offer these for printing on any of our stock fabrics! Anna herself has put together this blog which invites you into her creative studio to see what goes into Girl and the Deep Blue Sea designs.
Hi everyone! Anna here from Girl and the Deep Blue Sea – I’m so excited to have some of my pattern designs available through Digital Fabrics. Girl and the Deep Blue Sea is all about fun, vibrant, tropical vibes and I hope you enjoy this blog post about my design process.
Anna Markula in her studio
I created Girl and the Deep Blue Sea to allow an escape from the everyday…. a shimmering, vibrant, lush, neon-esque tropical island surrounded by crystal clear waters bursting with colour and life!
My goal with my designs is to capture a certain feeling or a fleeting moment, like water ripples in the sun, or that overwhelming joy from dancing to your favourite song.
One of Anna’s many moodboards
Anna’s creative space
I love creating Pinterest boards with images that capture the feeling of Girl and the Deep Blue Sea, and often gain inspiration for my designs from this. I also have a huge photographic library from years of travelling, and am constantly inspired being outdoors in nature, especially at the beach or snorkelling a coral reef!
I work with a variety of mediums, mostly acrylics and watercolours. I love to experiment with different art materials to get a particular look I am after.
I like to work from a moodboard, but will often see (or dream!) the final design in my head and then I will work out how to create it.
‘Blue Diamonds’ design
‘Blue Diamonds’ design used for a beach throw
Process work for the ‘Blue Diamonds’ design
When I’m ready to start a new design, I set myself up with my moodboard images, some fun music (like Pnau), and the colour palette and art materials I want to work with.
I love to then spend a few hours just painting and creating lots of motifs – and usually drinking lots of green tea too!
Creative process behind the ‘Palm Swirl’ design
‘Palm Swirl’ design
‘Palm Swirl’ design used for a cushion
I then scan everything into Photoshop and start the fun part of turning the motifs into a repeat pattern. I will often layer my artwork with photographs to create a unique design, or sometimes I will create a design purely from my photographs such as Blue Lagoon.
The absolutely most exciting part of the process is seeing my designs in real life as lovely fabrics, and imagining what could be created with them.
‘Bird of Paradiso’ design
Anna at work in the studio
Anna’s ‘Summer Nights’ Collection
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and that you are inspired to bring some Girl and the Deep Blue Sea into your life!
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project initiative and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you want to be part of this and sure, I will be in touch.
We’ve been incredibly lucky to have the very talented Surface Pattern Designer Crystal Kruger take part in the latest instalment of The Designer Project. As part of the initiative, Crystal has made a range of her designs available in our Fabric Shop online which can be printed onto any of our stock fabrics! In her blog post Crystal shares plenty of gorgeous snaps of her gorgeous designs, process work and creative space.
Hi everyone, I’m Crystal Kruger, the designer behind Skye St. Studio. I’m excited to share my new collection ‘From the Garden’ with you all and even more excited that you will be able to print my designs onto your favourite fabrics through Digital Fabrics.
Crystal Kruger in her creative studio
The ‘From the Garden’ collection is inspired by all things nature. Each print is a little bit nostalgic, but is also modern, soulful and trend relevant. The collection celebrates the comfort and joy of having a backyard garden or courtyard (or even a favourite local park) and of growing up playing in grandparents’ flower gardens, crunching along pebble driveways and a swing or two around the Hills Hoist. ‘From the Garden’ also gives a nod to our recent times in isolation, to romantic dreams of having your own fruit trees or veggie patch, being more self-sufficient or having a tree change and rediscovering the joys of home.
“From The Garden Collection” mood board
Collection of pretty finds in Crystal’s studio
There is quite a bit of variety in the collection, with some great trans-seasonal prints including florals, abstracts, stripes and fruity prints, which are so much fun! There are definitely patterns that are suitable for fashion, homewares, upholstery and accessories.
“From The Garden” textile collection
“Clementine Rose” fabric design used to upholster a chair
You will also find variety in the scale of the motifs across the collection, including a small-scale pattern called ‘Inky Botanical Ditsy’, which is asking to be made into some gorgeous dress!
‘Inky Botanical Ditsy’ design printed on Ponti fabric
I especially love the energy and joy of the ‘Summer Dahlias’ print, but there are some darker, moodier patterns as well, if that’s more your style!
‘Summer Dahlias’ design printed on Ponti fabric
All of my patterns start as hand-drawn and hand-painted motifs that I then digitise, clean up and then put into a repeating layout. I love that I can capture the organic feeling of a painting, all those lovely textures and variations in colour through digital fabric printing.
Crystal Kruger sketching designs in her studio
Clementine Rose hand painted artwork
“From The Garden Collection” hand painted motifs
I love to work with gouache paints because they are so versatile, from gorgeous washy ombre colours to solid, bold block colours. Cleaning up hand-painted motifs in Photoshop is definitely a labour of love, but worth it to have all those wonderful hand-painted marks and brush strokes.
Lemonade design- hand painted elements
‘Lemonade” design digitally printed on Demi fabric.
“Lemonade” fabric design used for a dress
You can see some of the behind the scenes photos of original artworks and motifs, paintings in progress and my studio space. My studio is based at my home in Sydney and I love my days working here creatively. It is a bit of an eclectic space, with some vintage/retro and upcycled furniture, lots of colour and plenty of inspiring items I have collected from my travels around the world. Oh and also lots of design books and plants – which finish off the perfect studio space! Part-time, I am also a design teacher, so it is wonderful to have that balance between my own creative projects and helping others manage their projects and learn design skills.
Crystal’s furry studio assistant
I can’t wait to see what all of you wonderful sewers and designers out there make with my prints, feel free to tag me on Facebook and Instagram so I can share your amazing creations! I would love to see some gorgeous upholstery or bedlinen made from the ‘Clementine Rose’ print, or perhaps the ‘Frutti Tutti’ stripe. Maybe some fun summer dresses made from the ‘Lemonade’ and ‘Papaya Spot’ patterns? There are so many great fabric bases to choose from at Digital Fabrics, so almost any project is possible!
“Frutti Tutti” design digitally printed on Ponti fabric
“From The Garden” fabric collection used in kitchen textiles set
“Papaya Spots” fabric design digitally printed on Ponti fabric
“Papaya Spots” fabric design used for a dress
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project initiative and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you want to be part of this and sure, I will be in touch.
Our first designer at The Designer Project – Artists designed fabrics and textile goods program, is simply wonderful human, textile designer Katy Dee from @shiztastic. She is passionate about all things prints, textiles and surface design and has unique fun cheerful design style that is she known for. Here is what Katy has to share about her beautiful collection.
Hi all! Katy Dee from @shiztastic here with some exciting news.. You may have seen in the recent newsletter that I have some print designs up in the Digital Fabrics fabric shop that you can choose to print on any fabric of your choice which is pretty fun! We can’t wait to see what you might make from them, perhaps a dress or some cushions?! The internet has many answers to this question.
I am excited to launch a small curated collection of textile prints that are suitable for fashion or interiors, they range in scale and each one began as an original artwork, painting or collage.
We thought it would be fun to share with you some studio behind the scene photos where the designs were made as well as some ideas for what you can use the fabrics for and a small guide of how I made them and their inspiration. Fun!
Most of my prints are inspired by botanicals, op shop finds, shapes and general fun that have an 80’s colour palette running through them even when I try to avoid it. I love bold bright clashing colours and shapes and exploring the fun you can have with it. Playful bold prints for you and your home.
Katy Dee -Studio Shot
Most of my prints begin as paintings or collages in some form or another. I tend to paint sheets of colours and/or shapes and play around until I find the colour or scale that I want or I might paint an artwork straight up. This process can be a labour of love and I like to take my time and enjoy it as it is the part I find most fun!
Painted Love fabric design – Original scan.
This is an example of what an original artwork “Painted Love” scanned in will look like before it has been cleaned up digitally and then turned into a repeating artwork. I use both Photoshop and Illustrator to create my prints and both have qualities that are great for different things. This design was inspired by the 80’s and a love for double denim! It is a funky print full of pizzazz and nostalgia, a stripy print suitable for fashion or interiors.
‘Painted Love’ Imagined as a skirt
Here is an example of how ‘Painted Love’ fabric would look as a skirt! This print is available here and could be printed on a fashion fabric such as London or Oliver to make a skirt like this one. Get in touch with the team at Digital Fabrics to chat about other printing base fabrics that are available for your sewing DIY project.
Painted Love fabric design printed on Ponti print base fabric
Wild Thing fabric design -original scan
This is the original scan of the print ‘Wild Thing’ that is also available in the shop. It began as a series of funky leopard print paintings in my favourite colour combo, Pink and red! I then took it to the computer to clean it up, change scale, background colour and create a repeat:
Studio shot – Digital editing of Wild Thing fabric design
My studio space is a very bright and colourful place to be. I like to be surrounded by things and artists that inspire me as well as my plants, that I try to keep alive and many trinkets that I have collected. I have lots of artwork up as well as fabric samples and vintage finds to reference when I need to.
Wild Thing fabric design after digital adjustments
‘Wild Thing’ fabric design ended up with a cobalt blue background because I just felt like it needed to be super bold and brash, just a fun twist on the classic animal print. This print would be great on an interior fabric as a statement piece such as a cushion or even a chair. You can order this print here and can be ordered on all-sorts of fabric for your crafty needs.
Wild Thing fabric design printed on Aerocorp fabric base
I hope you have enjoyed seeing behind the scenes and perhaps have given you an idea for a fun sewing project while we are all stuck indoors in this strange pandemic time.
You can view more of my designs in the fabric shop where you can choose the print base fabric and how many metres you want, minimum is only 1m!
Katy Dee painting botanical elements
Katy Dee at work designing her next fabric collection
Thank you for taking the time to have a read, I would love to see what you make with my designs and hope this has inspired you one way or another! Please tag both Digital Fabrics and me in any crafty projects you undertake with these fabrics!
If you want to follow along with my design stories, come find me on Instagram or Facebook. Big Love, Katy Dee
If you want to collaborate with us on The Designer Project initiative and become part of this creative club, please apply! Send us an email with your portfolio and why you want to be part of this and sure, I will be in touch.