As I wrote in my previous post Colour of The Year 2019, Pantone have recently announced the colour which will influence design and fashion in 2019, Living Coral. They have also provided 5 different colour palettes to complement it. These palettes offer different universes, some being soft and some more vibrant.
I find it very difficult to create nice colour palettes and I could not miss this opportunity of these trendy colour palettes offered to me. On top of that, I love the coral colour so I got really excited. That made a good excuse to create a new pattern!
Pattern birth
I obviously had to start creating a motif. I wanted to do a simple one, a kind of abstract one. I took a few brushes and my black paint and started painting short brush strokes of different sizes: large, medium and small. Then I scanned them.
You might find these brush strokes very dull and wonder how I’m going to use the colour palettes. This is not a problem at all, I can do that digitally!
The reason why I usually start a pattern using black paint or ink is that you get a good quality scan when you have black on white because of the high contrast. It is also easier to manipulate the elements of the scan in Photoshop or Illustrator when they are in black on white or in grayscale.
With these brush strokes, I have a very interesting effect that I want to keep in my motif: transparency. If I get rid of it, I’m afraid that the result will look too digital and lack authenticity. The only way to preserve it is to build my motif in Photoshop instead of Illustrator.
Creating the motif in Photoshop
Once the brush strokes are scanned, I can easily play with them in Photoshop:
- I can select the strokes I want to see in the pattern
- I can add colour to them
- I can mix the different sizes together
- I can superimpose brush strokes
- I can preserve the transparency of the strokes and this gives nice effects when different strokes of different colours are on top of each other.
Using all these techniques, I have made a first pattern tile.
The part I enjoyed the most was to add colour and I was stunned by the results!
Adding colour
The whole idea of making this pattern was essentially to try the colour palettes that Pantone provided with the new Colour of the Year 2019, Living Coral. If you remember my last post, there are 5 palettes. I decided I would try each of them to colour my tile. As you can see below, some inspired me more than others.
NB: the quotes are all from the Pantone website
Focal point
Immediately drawing our attention like a beacon of light, PANTONE Living Coral warmly engages, vivifying the palette as it becomes the focal point in this understated and upscale, composed and cool color grouping.
I agree with the description given by Pantone for this palette. I like how Living Coral is enhanced by the other warm colours. I tried many combinations for my pattern and ended up with the 3 patterns below:
It is so incredible how you can have very different outputs by using different colours of the same palette in different ways.
Shimmering sunset
Bold and brilliant, a palette evocative of the dazzling portrait of color splashed across the sky as the sun rises and sets, one where PANTONE Living Coral energizes and enlivens, adding to our feelings of pleasurable warmth.
This palette offers very nice warm colours but I found it difficult to use it on my pattern. I tried many different combinations but none of them gave me a wow factor. I believe this is because there is not much contrast within this palette. Therefore I decided to have a white background and this gives the fresh and very summery pattern below:
Sympatico
Paying homage to skin tones around the world and the shades we use to enhance our complexions; Sympatico is comprised of a beautiful array of colors that humanize; fusing together a panoply of international skin tones with those soft and warm colors we layer on to create that healthy glow.
Sympatico is the palette I found the most difficult to work with. Either it does not suit my pattern at all or it is just not to my taste, I can’t really tell. I still produced one pattern using its colours, I believe the best I could get, but I’m still not completely convinced… What do you think?
Trippy
A palette of hallucinogenic shades with dizzying effects, the wildly hedonistic color range we see in Trippy is pure and unadulterated; an exuberant range of joyful color that speaks to irrepressible fun and spontaneity that includes the life affirming PANTONE Living Coral.
I like the vibrant colours of this palette. As described above, it is fun, exuberant and brings a lot of joy. I had a real pleasure playing with it and it produced wonderful patterns!
Under the sea
Awash in color suggestive of the watery environment that lies beneath a tropical island paradise, Under The Sea places PANTONE Living Coral at the center of our naturally vivid and chromatic ecosystem, evocative of how coral reefs embrace with their warmth and nourishment and provide shelter to a diverse kaleidoscope of colorful sea life.
Under the sea is one of my favorite palettes. As you can see below, it inspired me a lot. The 6 patterns below look so different from each other. You could not believe they come from the same palette. Don’t you think they’re amazing??
A final one
There is no reason why you could not mix the palettes together. I made a last one by accident by picking colours from different palettes.
My thoughts
There is no doubt that 3 palettes stand out in my opinion. They are Focal Point, Trippy and Under the sea. They are the ones I enjoyed the most to use and which gave the most beautiful patterns in my eyes.
What I retain from this project is that you don’t necessarily need very complex or elaborated motifs to make a great pattern. The choice of the colours plays a huge role in it.
Using the palettes from Pantone made me realise that I may be too shy with colours and I should dare unexpected combinations in the future.
Finally, I will certainly continue to use the new Colour of the Year 2019, Living Coral! It is such a beautiful colour!
What are YOUR thoughts? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
You can view all the patterns from my new Simply Brush collection in my portfolio here.
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