When I first decided that I wanted to make patterns and become a Surface Pattern Designer, I read all that I could about each of the classes I found online but really couldn't find anything comparing each of the classes, so decided now that I've taken a few, that I'd do a post about it. I hope this may help some of you choose what is right for you. If you have any questions about them, I'm more than happy to answer them! Following you will find a brief description listing the pros and cons of each one as well.
MAKE ART THAT SELLS
Courses taken: MATS A, MATS Home Decor, MATS Bootcamp
MAKE ART THAT SELLS
Courses taken: MATS A, MATS Home Decor, MATS Bootcamp
Overview: Make Art that Sells (MATS) is a wonderful online platform to take your art and apply it to a number of substrates. It is illustration heavy - so it's not really suitable to those of you who are more graphic or just love patterns - the work that comes out of MATS is to-die-for! It's chock-a-block full of gorgeous, lush, artistic illustrations. If this is your thing, then you'll really love it!
Suitable for Beginners?: MATS A and MATS B are certainly suitable for beginners as they introduce you to the industries that you may be interested in designing for. Lilla Rogers has a wonderful and warm vibe and her videos and content are bright, colourful and engaging. You will be inspired and work to briefs set out in the course. I would not recommend any of the other MATS offerings for beginners (other than the Lilla's Recipe series which I'm yet to take) as you will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of talent in the classes.
Pros: Lovely and warm community, many of whom have obviously known each other for quite some time. A great way to be inspired by some incredibly talented artists. The Facebook groups are always busy and active and the galleries are so amazing to browse through.
Cons: I love live courses - as in, courses that have new content released on set days/times and real time briefs to work to. I am someone who really needs this to stay properly motivated and this is something only some of the MATS courses offer. MATS A and MATS B are not offered in this format anymore and although you'll be invited to join a Facebook group for MATS A and B, when I joined you could hear crickets and anything I posted in my excitement was never or rarely commented on. If you're anything like me, you require validation in order to stay motivated. The more advanced courses are mostly live though.
Also, you will not learn how to make repeat patterns in any of the MATS courses. So it is assumed that if that's something you want to be able to do, that you already know how to do so.
Suitable for Beginners?: MATS A and MATS B are certainly suitable for beginners as they introduce you to the industries that you may be interested in designing for. Lilla Rogers has a wonderful and warm vibe and her videos and content are bright, colourful and engaging. You will be inspired and work to briefs set out in the course. I would not recommend any of the other MATS offerings for beginners (other than the Lilla's Recipe series which I'm yet to take) as you will be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of talent in the classes.
Pros: Lovely and warm community, many of whom have obviously known each other for quite some time. A great way to be inspired by some incredibly talented artists. The Facebook groups are always busy and active and the galleries are so amazing to browse through.
Cons: I love live courses - as in, courses that have new content released on set days/times and real time briefs to work to. I am someone who really needs this to stay properly motivated and this is something only some of the MATS courses offer. MATS A and MATS B are not offered in this format anymore and although you'll be invited to join a Facebook group for MATS A and B, when I joined you could hear crickets and anything I posted in my excitement was never or rarely commented on. If you're anything like me, you require validation in order to stay motivated. The more advanced courses are mostly live though.
Also, you will not learn how to make repeat patterns in any of the MATS courses. So it is assumed that if that's something you want to be able to do, that you already know how to do so.
MAKE IT IN DESIGN
Courses taken: ABSPD Modules 1, 2, 3 and Ultimate Portfolio Builder
Overview: I have a real warmth for MIID as it felt like a real school format - new stuff added daily and briefs to work to. It took us from veritable beginners through to almost seasoned pros :) I also really loved and truly value the fact that these were offered live and many of those I started Module 1 with, were still with me at the end of Ultimate Portfolio Builder - we watched and encouraged each other grow as designers and built lovely friendships. The Facebook groups are lively and friendly. This was where I built the closest relationships with others on this journey.
The Modules take you through everything you need to know to start a business in this area. There are loads of design briefs, information on trends and colour and lots of tutorials helping to understand both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop (both of which you really need in order to do these courses). If you have no background experience of illustrator beforehand, I recommend taking a short course at Skillshare (see Bonnie Christine in this post) or similar first.
Suitable for Beginners?: Yes, although as I mentioned above, it will be much easier if you take a brief course on AI first. Other than that, it's perfectly suited to beginners who want a career in Surface Pattern Design.
Pros: Great community - and they now have a monthly subscription group called the Colour Gang to keep you motivated with briefs, trends and palettes as an ongoing thing. The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design is your one stop shop for launching yourself into the business.
Cons: The only cons are that the ABSPD Modules 1 - 3 are now only run as a self paced course. For some people, that will be IDEAL but for me personally, I wouldn't do too well as I need the encouragement of fellow students and real-time deadlines to keep me motivated. So if you're like me, not so good, but if you have a really busy life otherwise, this could be ideal. The other con is that you don't get very much at all in the way of teacher feedback. I am a person that always second guesses myself and need feedback (needy aren't I?) and the fabulous Facebook groups and fellow students were wonderful with this but we all realised at some point that we were always telling each other only great things, and so quite a few of us asked for real, critical feedback from each other and that definitely helped. I would have really valued more feedback from Rachel Taylor as we all look up to her as a successful designer. The Ultimate Portfolio Builder had a great review process where we had to upload a number of collections for critical review that was recorded. We all got to watch each others and that was really valuable.
Overview: I absolutely LOVE these classes. The content is enormous, you are taught and encouraged to gather imagery for inspiration and you are taught how to draw and how to simplify your style (Foundation Course). Both the Winter Trends and Kids Trends courses are invaluable in my humble opinion. Trends are really explored and the downloadable trend book alone is HUGE and packed full of inspiration and trend forecasts. Content wise, these courses are my favourite. I will continue to take all of the Trend Classes in future. The other invaluable thing with these courses is the feedback from the course creators.
Suitable for Beginners?: The Foundation course is absolutely suited to beginners. The trends courses are better suited to those who already know how to create technical repeats and understand what trends are and how to develop collections etc.,
Suitable for Beginners?: The Foundation course is absolutely suited to beginners. The trends courses are better suited to those who already know how to create technical repeats and understand what trends are and how to develop collections etc.,
Pros: The Trend Books are a HUGE Pro in these courses - they are worth taking for these alone. The in-depth tutorials are fabulous and the feedback from teachers is priceless. I highly recommend these classes. The Trends classes are also taught in real-time which - as you would by now be well aware - I'm a fan of :D
Cons: There is a distinct lack of community because Design Garden only have the one Facebook group that is not very active at all, and some of the people in it may have only taken the foundation class a year or so ago. I think that if Design Garden had dedicated Facebook Groups for each live class that the community would be much stronger. I think Sabina really wants the Gallery to be the place we grow as a community but it feels very much like posting on a notice board and not interactive like Facebook is. After all, most of us are logged into Facebook most of the time so we get live notifications as soon as there is anything happening in our groups or comments on our posts.
Cons: There is a distinct lack of community because Design Garden only have the one Facebook group that is not very active at all, and some of the people in it may have only taken the foundation class a year or so ago. I think that if Design Garden had dedicated Facebook Groups for each live class that the community would be much stronger. I think Sabina really wants the Gallery to be the place we grow as a community but it feels very much like posting on a notice board and not interactive like Facebook is. After all, most of us are logged into Facebook most of the time so we get live notifications as soon as there is anything happening in our groups or comments on our posts.
Classes taken: Create Christmas I & II, Explore Florals I
Overview: Lovely little short courses with really lush trend boards and industry information from a professional designer. Fantastic interactive Facebook groups and galleries all inside of Facebook which makes it super easy to share, comment and interact.
Suitable for Beginners: Sure, but you might be overwhelmed by the incredible talent of some of the seasoned artists. You are not required to be able to make repeat patterns so many of the designs are illustration heavy.
Pros: Fabulous for adding to your portfolio as both Christmas and Florals are always needed. Also the classes are LIVE :)
Cons: None really, only that they are too short - I'd like 6 weeks instead of three :)
RISE DESIGN & SHINE
Classes taken: Folio Focus
Overview: A great course with a new brief each week to help flesh out that portfolio. Explore different substrates and markets within some of the briefs. Includes some lettering.
Suitable for Beginners?: No, it's about building on your portfolio.
Pros: The cost is really affordable for the amount of content and briefs. The class is live and it's got an active Facebook group.
Cons: This is more personal than anything else, but I just wasn't terribly inspired by the briefs. That, however, could be seasonal.
BONNIE CHRISTINE CREATIVE LIVE
Classes Taken: Design Surface Patterns from Scratch
Overview: This is the class that got me started. Before this class I had NEVER touched Adobe Illustrator and by the end of it, I felt really proficient in it. However, I went through it two times, the first time I just watched as I felt a little scared and overwhelmed and panicked that I wouldn't be able to pick it up. The second time I went over it all and paused and did everything as she did it and made notes. I went back and watched certain things a few times again until I felt I had it down pat. She takes you from absolute beginner to being able to realistically use it to create technical repeats from scratch. This class is not live but in this instant that's what's great about it as I would've been overwhelmed if it was live.
Pros: There was nothing else like it out there at the time. Her new Immersive Course would be even better but it comes at a cost. The Creative Live class was VERY affordable. I highly recommend this for any beginner. Other designers I've met along the way say the same thing and recommend this class as a starting point.
Cons: None really, unless you don't have Adobe Illustrator or you already know how to use it.
WHAT NOW?
I've also taken a whole heap of short courses on Skillshare on everything from drawing, creating textures, lettering, and using ipad pro, procreate, wacom etc., I highly recommend it and have an ongoing subscription.
I plan to take a couple of Lilla's Art Recipes with MATS in the near future as well as any future Design Gardens Trends classes. I may be brave enough to one day take the MATS Illustrating Children's Books but that's a couple of years away at least. Are there other courses you've taken or would like to take? I'd love to hear some of your experiences! I'd love suggestions of other classes I can take in the future and review as well!
Next up I'd like to find the community that's the right fit for me, from Bonnie Christine's new Flourish Tribe (was the Roost Tribe) or the Colour Gang or Textile Design Lab... it just needs to feel right before I commit fully. I wish there was a one month free trial at all of them so that it would be easy to decide :)
I plan to take a couple of Lilla's Art Recipes with MATS in the near future as well as any future Design Gardens Trends classes. I may be brave enough to one day take the MATS Illustrating Children's Books but that's a couple of years away at least. Are there other courses you've taken or would like to take? I'd love to hear some of your experiences! I'd love suggestions of other classes I can take in the future and review as well!
Next up I'd like to find the community that's the right fit for me, from Bonnie Christine's new Flourish Tribe (was the Roost Tribe) or the Colour Gang or Textile Design Lab... it just needs to feel right before I commit fully. I wish there was a one month free trial at all of them so that it would be easy to decide :)
