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Author Archives: Alice Frenz

Psychedelic Succulents Design

16 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern design, pixels

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Adobe Illustrator, colorful, design, motifs, Op Art, Peter Max, psychedelic, succulents, textile design

psychedelic-succulants--floral-pattern-print-design-alice-frenz-2016-06-16-t4-600x877-80

For this textile pattern design, I was working towards a design inspired by Peter Max posters from the 1960s and 70s and also the current popularity of succulent plants. I decided that for at least this version, I wanted to go with the energy of bright colors and the rainbow/color spectrum feel of Peter Max’s work.  And I just kept thinking about Orlando and the rainbow colors of the Pride flag.

I think the plant and flower shapes that aren’t succulents, as well as the color, makes the succulent concept not come across and it simply feels floral. Perhaps I’ll try a more predominantly soft green palette for one of the colorways.

©2016 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

 

Here are 2 great exhibitions of Psychedelic Art to see this summer:

peter max exhibition poster tampa museum of art

 

 

You can see the work of Peter Max
at the Tampa Museum of Art
through Sept 11, 2016

 

 

Jerry Garcia exhibition at Psylodelic Gallery Fur Peace Ranch

 

 

You can see the artwork of Jerry Garcia
at the Psylodelic Gallery
in southeast Ohio
through July 31st.

 

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Psychedelic Succulent Motifs

07 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern design, pixels

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Tags

active wear, floral, mood board, motifs, pattern, psychedelic, succulents, textile design, trend

Op-and-Pop-Succulents-leaf-and-flower-motifs-and-mood-board-alice-frenz-750x485This mood and motif board is for my Op and Pop trend observation and corresponding leaf and flower motifs. I photographed succulents in my garden and drew the leaf and flower motifs in India ink pen in my sketchbook. I then selected my favorites, scanned them, cropped and retouched in Photoshop, then assembled my board layout in Photoshop.

Op-and-Pop-Succulents-leaf-and-flower-motifs-and-mood-board-alice-frenz-detail-1-600x795-80

My idea is to combine the current popularity of succulents with a poster style reminiscent of Peter Max, in bright psychedelic colors. I also would like to incorporate some Op Art curving stripes into my final pattern inspired by the work of Op artists such as Bridget Riley.

Op-and-Pop-Succulents-leaf-and-flower-motifs-and-mood-board-alice-frenz-detail-2-600x758-80

To me, the current popularity of succulents, Mason jars, and hand letter reminds me of the 60’s and ’70s popularity of mushrooms and snails motifs, organic typography, and the psychedelic neon color posters everyone hung on their walls. I think it’s something about their curvy shapes and casual beauty. Though I don’t recall snails and mushrooms being a decorating theme at any weddings I attended back then…

I had so much fun putting this board together! I hope you enjoy it.

©2016 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

psychedelic-succulants-alice-frenz-thumbnail

 

See my colorful Psychedelic Succulent design
created using these motifs here.

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Motifs for Boho Borders

06 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern design, pixels

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Tags

active wear, Adobe Illustrator, Boho, floral, mood board, motifs, women's

Boho-Borders-flower-arrows-2-alice-frenz-fiberandpixels-900x582-90I’m working on motifs for women’s active wear for a trend I found in the Vogue runway fashions for Fall 2016. I’m calling the trend Boho borders. I found designs that interested me in their pieced together look of multiple ornamental borders.

Boho-Borders-motifs-bud-arrows-alice-frenz-900x704

I’m trying to build the sense of zigzag stripes and diamond shapes composed of the small flower buds and leaf shapes I created. I will probably combine these motifs with curved or angled abstract stripes, and linear textures to increase the feeling of empowerment and energy for the active wear market.

Boho-Borders-flower-arrows-2-motifs-alice-frenz-600x750-100b

I first drew the flower bud and leaf shapes in pen and ink. Then I manipulated scans of my drawings with Kaleidomatic by Stuffmatic to generate ideas for different arrangements and combinations of the smaller shapes.

Then I redrew the motifs I liked best in Adobe Illustrator as vector shapes. This allowed me to compose most of the motifs by reflecting and rotating copies of the vector shapes. I also composed the mood board in Adobe Illustrator.

Boho-Borders-flower-arrows-detail-1-alice-frenz-600x572-100

I have some very different flower and leaf motifs for the other trends I found and hope to get them organized to post tomorrow.  It was such a great treat to take time out to spend with the flowers and leaves in my gardens working on my sketchbook.

©2016 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

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May 16

17 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in sketchbook

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Tags

drop cap, flowers, hand lettering, ink, ladybugs, M, motif, pen, sketchbook, sunflowers

m-for-melissa-may-16-2016-alice-frenz-hand-lettering-flowers-900x732-80
sunflowers-sketchbook-ink-coloring-page-alice-frenz-750x590-80
sketchbook-ink-coloring-page-alice-frenz--flowers-ladybugs-750x593-80

©2016 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

May Sketchbook

16 Monday May 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern play, sketchbook

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Tags

floral, hand, ink, lettering, M, Melissa, motifs, pen, sunflowers

letter-m-hand-lettering-flowers-sketchbook-alice-frenz-05-15-2016-750x794-80
block-letter-m-hand-lettering-flowers-sketchbook-alice-frenz-05-15-2016-750x679-80
2015-05-15-sketchbook-alice-frenz-ink-pen-750x589-80
under-the-sea-sketchbook-ink-alice-frenz-05-15-2016-750x587-80
sunflowers-sketchbook-ink-alice-frenz-05-15-2016-900x786-80
melissa-hand-lettering-design-sketchbook-alice-frenz-05-15-2016-900x587-80
m-sunflower-sketchbook-alice-frenz-05-15-2016-600x727-80

©2016 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

Pattern Design on the iPad

30 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern apps, pattern design, pattern play, pixels

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Tags

app, camera, design, ipad, iphone, Kaleidomatic, kaleidoscope, pattern, repeat, tile

Rosalie in rose and peach by Alice Frenz

This design only needed a small amount of editing in Photoshop to create a final version I was please with. Most of the design was create through experimentation with Kaleidoscope apps on my ipad.

While playing with the app Kaleidoscope Camera by Binary Noise Ltd. on my iPad, I discovered that the play of daylight and shadow on the dimensional fabric of my solid colored peach comforter and dark red pillows created interesting shapes.

Peach and Red pattern by Alice Frenz
Peach and Red pattern by Alice Frenz
Peach and Red pattern by Alice Frenz
Peach and Red pattern by Alice Frenz

I played with many different compositions, saving those I liked to my iPad camera roll. Next I opened them with the app Kaleidomatic by Stuffmatic and played with them in more complex compositions. You can find instructions for using this app at Kaleidomatic.com. The following are instructions for how I used it.

lower-left-button-opens-camera-roll-kaleidomatic-alice-frenz-600x750

Open Kaleidomatic and touch the button in the lower left corner to open a design saved on your camera roll. These designs were first created using the app Kaleidoscope Camera with my iPad’s camera.

Touch two fingers to the screen then move and twist them to change the pattern. Pinching will zoom out. Spreading your fingers apart will zoom in.

If you touch with two fingers and first hold them steady on the screen before moving them, a box will appear showing the placement of the kaleidoscope piece in relationship to your photo. The box will stay visible as you move your two fingers around to change the pattern, but will disappear when you lift them off the screen.

Sometimes I find I want to see what’s happening in the box. Other times I just start playing without it.

change the setting wheel at the bottom for different arrangements

Change the shape and arrangement of the reflections with the scroll wheel at the bottom of the screen. Shown here are “Grapefruit” and “Meadow”.

When you are ready to save a design, touch the arrow in the lower right corner to go to the save settings.

select tile

Select to save as a tile, and change the color scheme if desired.

pattern-play-ipad-app-kaleidomatic-color-burned-alice-frenz-2247-600

“Plain” keeps the colors unchanged. I liked how this design looked “Burned” so I saved once as “Plain” to keep the original colors, and once as “Burned”.

touch-lower-right-corner-for-next-screen-to-save-alice-frenz

Touch the lower right corner button to go to the final save screen.

high-quality-on-and-touch-green-button-to-save-to-camera-roll

Turn “High Quality” on. Press the green button to save to your iPad camera roll. A progress bar will appear across the top of the screen. When complete, the app turns back to the kaleidoscope design screen.

Here’s the final saved tile from the design above. The saved tiles I’ve tested in straight repeat with Photoshop and on Spoonflower appear to be very accurate.

Since I don’t have to spend time perfecting the repeat, I have more time to make edits for design aesthetics. I use Photoshop for editing, then test the revised tile again in repeat until I’m pleased with the design.

saved-tile-kaleidoscope-camera-kaleidomatic-alice-frenz-fiberandpixels-2016

©2016 Alice Frenz all rights reserved

 

Read more about using apps for pattern design in these posts:

alice-frenz-creating-pattern-ideas-iphone-app-kaleidospic-2014-11-30-03-c

Kaleidos Pic app by Fluocode

alice-frenz-all-from-an-8-thumbnail

Kooleido app for iPhone

Echo I

24 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern apps, pattern design, pattern play, pixels

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Tags

diamond, grain, pattern, repeat, symmetry, wood

1974-harmony-blue-spoonflower-alice-frenz-600x900b
I created these abstract pattern designs from some doodles I made in an old iPad 3 app called Touch Sketch. The app was based on Mr. Doob’s Harmony procedural drawing tool which is still available to use online here.

touch-sketch-kaleidomatic-pattern-design-ipad-play-alice-frenz-fiber-and-pixels-600x364

After saving the Touch Sketch drawing to my camera roll, I open it in Kaleidomatic by Stuffmatic.

2102-blue-harmony-spoonflower-alice-frenz-600x900

fitzgerald-manse-blue-harmony-spoonflower-alice-frenz-600x900

fitzgerald-manse-black-harmony-spoonflower-alice-frenz-600x900

2021-white-abstract-doodle-pattern-harmony-spoonflower-alice-frenz-600x900

©2016 Alice Frenz all rights reserved.

These designs are available for sale on Spoonflower and Roostery

1974 thumbnail from spoonflower1978 thumbnail from spoonflowerFitzgerald Manse thumbnail from spoonflower

fitzgerald manse tablecloth alice frenz on roostery b

Lilacs and Bitty Bugs

23 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern design, pixels

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Tags

bugs, floral, lilac, pattern, purple, tiny, twigs

alice-frenz-purple-bitty-bugs-2016-04-22-f-600x900-70

This design is inspired by the tiny twigs and florets of my Spring lilacs, where I imagine purple bitty bugs hiding among the tufts of lilac florets.

This pattern will be available on Spoonflower soon.

alice-frenz-purple-bitty-bugs-2016-04-22-f-600x600-85

Jazz Trio

04 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by Alice Frenz in pattern design, pixels

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

design, floral, orange, pattern, purple, repeat, spoonflower

jazz-trio-alice-frenz-fiber-and-pixels-pattern-design-detail-2-600x600jazz-1-alice-frenz-fiber-and-pixels-pattern-design-600x900-b

A trio of abstract shapes, reminiscent of flower forms, appear to spin and pulsate to a sparkling jazz melody.

jazz-1-alice-frenz-fiber-and-pixels-pattern-design-detail-600x600

 

Moo Cards

21 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Alice Frenz in graphic design

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

awareness, cancer, childhood, faith pruden, gold, graphic design, ribbons

FFPF-business-cards
Business cards for Friends of Faith Pruden Foundation arrived yesterday from Moo. I designed the layout and art.  I’m very please with the printing and paper quality from Moo.

View previous post about my logo and website design in Friends Project.

my illustrated gold ribbons©Alice Frenz 2015

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