How To Get Started As Textile Designer. Advice For Self-Taught Artists. My Experience
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มี.ค. 2017
- How To Get Started As Textile Designer. Advice For Self-Taught Artists. My Experience.
___________________________★_________________________________
RELATED BLOG POST: oksancia.com/video-how-to-get...
* BONUS WORKBOOK: GROW YOUR PATTERN PORTFOLIO 15x FASTER: Want to learn my system for growing your repeat pattern portfolio 15x faster? Request my bonus workbook here: oksancia.com/resources/for-de...
__________
★ FREE WEBINAR: 3 Secrets To Running a Creative Lifestyle Business Designing Vector Repeat Patterns. Register for free here: oksancia.com/freewebinar/
__________
Hi! My name is Oksana. I am an artist, textile designer, and a creative soul. I help customers envision and design beautiful products that will wow and connect their customers. I am also passionate about sharing my experience of running a textile design business with fellow creatives.
Up to this point, I created more than 5000 vector repeat patterns and worked on more than 58 freelance surface pattern design projects. In this video, I talk about my experience getting started on the path of a self-taught textile designer.
I’ve been receiving many questions on how to get started and wanted to share my experience and what helped me to start and to grow my creative business.
I am talking about how to start a career in textile design or how to become a surface pattern designer :
1) Call yourself what you want to become. Write it down and tell people.
2) My iStock “illustrator” story which empowered me to become a professional illustrator and later textile designer.
3)Design your patterns, order them on Spoonflower fabric, and hold them in your hands. Look at them every day. Show people. Then create more.
You can order your patterns on Spoonflower fabric here: www.spoonflower.com/create
*I am not affiliated with Spoonflower. Only have experience as a customer and designer with them.
I hope I gave you some ideas and inspiration on how to start as a textile designer or how to become a surface pattern designer. Please let me know if you feel that my advice as a professional textile designer has been useful for you.
***
I am Oksancia - a freelance illustrator and textile designer who creates original repeating pattern artwork and helps bring unique concepts and ideas of my clients into the designs that are not only beautiful but also meaningful.
If you think that my work is a good fit for your products, please contact me to schedule your free Skype consultation today.
Website: www.oksancia.com
Facebook Page: Oksancia-153...
Instagram: / oksancia
Twitter: / oksancia
Shutterstock gallery: submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=...
Grow, Love, and Create!
Oksancia
Freelance Artist - Textile Designer
___________________________★_________________________________
MORE VIDEOS FROM MY CHANNEL:
❤ What Is Vector? Vector vs Raster Artwork Formats For Manufacturing Products: • Live Stream: How I Cre...
❤ How To Use Vector Repeat Pattern Swatches in Adobe Illustrator. Beginner Tutorial On Vector Patterns: • How To Use Vector Repe...
❤ Exclusive vs Non-exclusive Artwork License For Designing and Manufacturing Commercial Products: • How To Use Vector Repe...
❤ How I Grew My Textile Design Business By 200x In 2 Years: • How I Grew My Textile...
❤ How To Design Handbags and Backpacks Using Vector Repeat Patterns - Hessa Bags Case Study: • How To Design Handbags...
❤ How to design fabric using vector repeat patterns - Cari Slings Babywearing Wraps Case Study: • How to design fabric u... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Oksana, you have just changed my life. I've been making art since I could grasp a pencil. From elementary to high school, I won dozens of awards for my work locally and nationally, but when it came time to go to college, I never even considered going to art school. I’m now 34 and recently realized what a mistake that was. I’m meant to make things. I’ve been learning to use illustrator, photoshop and indesign on my own for about 6 months now, and am almost overwhelmed with the amount of education I have access to online. I took a class on surface pattern design and fell head over heels for it. I made my first repeat, and felt alive and inspired. But I hit a mental block when I realized how popular pattern design is right now - and so many people have that stamp of approval that comes with a degree in graphic design. For the first time I actually feel old, and like maybe I’ve missed my chance. I’m still learning the software, but I haven’t made another pattern. When I remember how it felt to work on "lemony penguins," I know I want to pursue this, but every time I get started, I start telling myself that I’m not actually a designer and won’t ever be able to call myself one. At least not compared to so many other talented people. And instead of making something new, I go watch a class and end up with new knowledge but no new experience. a technique instead of experience. I know how useless thinking like this is, and that I have to snap out of it, but I haven’t been able to do it on my own.
Then I spent 9 min and 10 sec watching and listening to you, and the switch flipped. Your story spoke to the part of me I haven’t been able to reach… thank you.
I’m officially considering you a mentor, I hope you don’t mind. I’m going to start watching your videos today, but before I do, I’m going to start my next pattern.
And right now, I’m going to go place an order at Spoonflower for some "lemony penguins." Because I am a designer.
"Now I’m going to do this."
Hi Az. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your kind words! :) I am so glad you found my video and it helped you grow on your creative path. You message made my day! :)
What a story! Az, hope you'll stay inspired and let yourself go with this creative flow. Never too old to do something you enjoy to do!
th-cam.com/video/C-1nJ1yZIJA/w-d-xo.html
I am inspired!
I needed to hear this today. thank you for your wise words!
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story Oksancia!! This is exactly what I needed to hear as I am just starting out as a pattern/textile designer!
Thank you so much, this is just what i needed and wanted to hear 😊 my journey can now begin.
I love it! Thank you, I am so excited to have found that textile design is the narrowed focus Ive been looking to figure out where I belong in art.
Thank you, Autumn Grace. Textile design is an amazing art form which is very rewarding :) I hope my videos help you on your creative journey!
You are a blessing to this platform 🥰 thank you, Oksancia, for inspiring and encouraging us!
Thank you so much for sharing your story! I really appreciate you being so open.
You are amazing! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful video! Very inspiring and super helpful!
So glad I found you! I love Spoonflower. Making designs and then seeing them on fabric makes life more fun! xoxo
Thank you! Just found your channel and I am in love and feel so inspired by you! Your down to earth personality is what resonates with me the most. Keep up the amazing work and thank you again!
youre amazing !!! i really needed that motivation :) thank you!!
You are so cool! Thank you so much! I am learning a lot! All the best to you and your family!
Omg! Very coherent and useful information! Thank you so much!
Just found your channel! I love your videos! You're a lovely person and very generous to pass on your knowledge! I have been making seamless patterns for fun (for game content)and just started to do my own tiny art illustration business, you are an inspiration to us self taught hopefuls!
Thank you very much for your kind words. They mean a lot to me! :) Good luck with your new creative business. Let me know how it goes and if you have questions.
omg... you are such an inspiration for me! so young and so talented and secure of yourself. I become a graphic designer when I was 21 years old. since then I tried manufacturing my own children brand but my country was in a chaotic transition... now I make embroideries for a kids wardrobe brand and the designs. I want to become a textile designer because is my passion. the other things are for living... love u oksana, thanks for your support!
+Mariela Tresoldi Thank you for your kind words, dear Mariela! Your feedback means a lot to me. Wishing you all the best on your creative journey and I will do my best to help in any way I can :)
Thankyou so much for your short & very informative how to do things, your down to earth helpful advice ☺️ so happy to have found your channel
I'm happy that you are enjoying my resources.
Thank you for sharing! Very inspiring!
Thanks for sharing, You have such a great confidence level.
HEllo ! thank you for this video, i was kida lost these days about what I wanted to do, and you helped me out. :)
this was great. i listened a second time. i now have adobe illustrator!! i will use the tutorial to maneuver around and get acquainted. i look forward to keeping in touch. thank you and to your members. i'm sure i will learn something from everyone..
Thank you so much! You are an inspiration!!
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s very inspiring.
Oksana, thank You for your videos! They are VERY inspiring and uplifting, like a Sunshine in the clouds! And very informative to! Thank you so much:-)
Such an inspiring story :) Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing your story! x
You are so inspirational. A great helps for me being a beginner 💕
OMG, You're so great and so honest and so down to earth. I looove all of your videos. You're a real inspiration. Best of luck with your work!
Many thanks for your kind words, dear Ugne
Thank you for sharing you are incredible! Your words Resonate with my soul ⭐️☀️❤️🎊🙏🍃
Thank you 😊 This video inspired me.
Thank you so much for sharing, Oksancia, I love your encouraging Videos. I am at a similar point now as you before 11 years. I am a flower painting Artist, but feel this tendency to textile design since ever. Before I discovered your channel I didn't even think about a carreer as a designer. But maybe I should give it try. Thank you again !!
Thank you so much for your testimony!!!
Thank you for your kind advice. You are such a sweet person to share all of this from your heart to us. Many blessings to you.
Many thanks for your support and kind feedback, dear Kerry!
I found this really helpful and encouraging Oksana. Thank you! :)
Thank you so much, Siobhan! :) So glad to help!
Awwww, Oksanko, you are amazing!
I have just watched this video, hey there too :)
:D Glad you found it! Thank you once again for introducing me to microstocks! You are awesome!
You're awesome. Thank you so much for the confidence. What a wonderful story.
Thank you for your kind words, dear Monica!
You're lovely. Thanks for inspiring people to pursue their dreams.
I like yor videos so much! I like your voice and how you expleins all the steps! VERY NICE THANK YOU!
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Hello Oksancia! I was looking for some inspiration for starting a career in designing. And I found your video. Trust me, after months of youtubing, I see that you are the only one I found, who speaks so much from experience and has so much of originality. Thank you for being real and honest
Thank you very much for your kind words. They mean a lot to me! :)
th-cam.com/video/C-1nJ1yZIJA/w-d-xo.html
Watching all your videos sometimes twice you are wonderful sharing your knowledge thankyou so very much xxx
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I really appreciate it! :)
Everything is very inspiring! except for to annoying clown music, which interferes with listening to information.
Thank you very much for sharing this! This gives me a justification that education background is not merely determine who I am. I'm currently undertaking master degree in entrepreneurship in Uk, which somehow along the way I feel like I wanted to become an artist. Similar case like you which I haven't yet try to create my first portofolio, so I will try to create something without hesitation and be confident about it. Thank you very much!!
th-cam.com/video/C-1nJ1yZIJA/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for sharing your story, it was quite helpful.
Thank you very much for your kind words. They mean a lot to me! :)
Thankyou for your advice ,I have a textile advance diploma as well but i never had a confident that i could actually sell my designs .Your video helped alot .Thanks xx..
Thank you, dear Nid! I'm glad you find this information useful. Wishing you the best on your creative path! :)
Thankyou :)
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story and for the advise. Congratulations on your success and pushing through self-doubt that I'm sure most artists and designers feel at some point. I also have found that I have some self-doubts with my jewelry design and metalsmithing as I am self-taught. I have recently become interested in surface pattern design because I love to design my own patterns for etching metal. However, there are limitations because of size and color as you only use black and white for the resist.
Because of my love of patterns, I have started thinking about creating my own surface pattern designs to sell on Spoonflower or one of the other sites. The handmade jewelry market is so competitive (surface pattern design may be also, I'm not sure). It seems to me that the investment for surface pattern design would be fairly low where with jewelry I have had to invest in tools, gemstones, metal, wire, chain, etc,. I will still continue to create jewelry, but because of your encouragement, I want to branch out in this new area. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for your inspiring videos. :)
th-cam.com/video/qKgRML31q5M/w-d-xo.html
I loved your channel! Thank you for sharing with us your experience. I'm starting in this business and I really want to know more about it to improve my skills and make what I love for living. :)
+Juliana Motzko Thank you so much, dear Juliana! :) So happy you find the information useful. Please let me know if you have questions.
oh thank you Oksancia! I'm travelling through your videos and getting inspiration to keep believing in this dream. And as you I started to get money with my illustration on stock site.. that's wonderful! :D Have a great week and keep your good work! :D
+Juliana Motzko Thank you, Juliana! Great to meet fellow microstock error! :)
Hi I am from India... N i am fashion designer and textile designer... Any freelance work I am doing here... I provide very good n quality work...... U start this business... I pair to god... Definitely u succeed.. Pbelwal396@gmail.com
Thanks Oksancia. Going to be buying Illustrator on Friday and finally just put my passions and gifts out there. It won't take long, and the experimenting will be so much fun. (Just do it!)
Good luck with your creative adventure!
Thank you for sharing your experience. You are adorable and make me smile.
Awww! :) Thank you, dear! You are very kind!
I love this!Thank you for sharing! I am becoming a textile designer. Do you know of places other than spoonflower that do bulk printing??
Thank you for sharing your experience. It's inspiring because I also have degrees in English Literature and have been teaching English for eight years now while also having my handcraft small business. I have always wanted to get out of teaching and have been considering becoming a textile designer. I have no idea how to start and what courses I need to take.
Thank you very much Oksana! You are a very convincing person, you should give a conferences about believe in yourself.
:D Thank you, dear!
hi oksancia, im gratefull i found you. 🙂
So glad you are finding my videos helpful! Yay!
Simply-thank you.... I have been creating for 6 years now.... and I still feel kind of TOO SHY to call myself artist...illustrator... thank you.
Thank you very much for all the advice.
You are welcome, dear Buddhini!
th-cam.com/video/qKgRML31q5M/w-d-xo.html
I love your enthusiasm and passion for what you do. As acrylic artist myself, I have been thinking and chewing on the idea of turning some of my artwork into repeated pattern designs for textiles and after watching other You Tube illustrator, came across yours. I enjoy your explanations, but the music is kinda loud in the background, hard to listen, but nevertheless, thank you for the tutorial.
Love your vídeos!!!!
Thank you so much for your kind comment. I really appreciate it! :)
I was mostly self taught when I started selling my beaded jewelry. As I was driving to the opening night of my very first show, my self talk was that I wouldn't do well because my jewelry didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before. I thought I was strange and weird, and certainly not qualified to sell my work. It was a 3 day show and I sold $450 in those 3 days. The feedback I got from customers was that they loved my work because it was so unusual - they'd never seen anything like it before. LOL
kindly remove the background voice. it is affecting the experience
Thank you madam.. You are so encouraging.
You are so welcome
Thank you very much. I am going to follow you.
Appreciate it, dear Jana! :) Hope the information I share helps on your creative journey!
Very interesting video. Not sure where it's going to lead me but an exciting vision....
th-cam.com/video/qKgRML31q5M/w-d-xo.html
This is great information & inspiration. I've been struggling too...am I a photographer? I do sell some photos, but I LOVE to create patterns, motifs, and designs from my art photography; and I've been trying out Spoonflower just as you said! The ONLY thing about this video is the endless background MUSIC though, ugh - it's distracting for me! Anyway to not do that? (I know this video is from 2017 but...) I hope to watch more and try to ignore that music.
thank you!
Hello oksancia, i recently discovered your channel and now enjoying your videos. They are very interesting and inspiring!!
I'm in the same place you were at the beguining and I'm wonderig if now its harder (or more complicated?) then it was 10 years ago, because the market has grown and there is much more competition. What do you think?
Thank you, thank you for these videos! I am diving into your channel and learning a lot.
I have a request/suggestion for videos, hopefully you will take it as constructive criticism. The loud music is very distracting from the actual content of your video. Maybe some quieter music or music only in the intro and outro?
Again thank you for sharing your expertise with us. 👍💗
Thank you for the video! You gave me hope! Are you good in drawing or artistic when you started?
I was good at drawing as a child, but not much training, just a hobby. Had to learn for many years to get better and better :)
i am korean . thank you so much. i wonna be a surface pattern designer. thank you your help
Hi Oksancia, do you know if any software that is not subscription based like Affinity Designer or Sketch can work just as well as Illustrator for textile design? I learned Illustrator in school but I don't like the monthly subscription charge. Thank you!
Your story is impressive!!
Many thanks, dear Regina!
Can we just design the patterns for people who just wants our patterns/designs? And that’s it?I’m new at discovering new ways of trying to make designing a passion and full time job and just getting out there and discovering other options for creating digital products and designs. Thanks for sharing your videos :)
How we should draw the models on paper ..how to design their dresses..colors etc and which app should we use ??
Very cool video, thank you for sharing your experience and the wisdom you gained!
I'd like to leave some criticism concerning this video. It's already 2 years old and i didn't yet watch any current video, so i don't know how valid this is at this time. But here goes:
Even if the video might become a little longer, it would do good to just breathe in between all the info.
Plus, the looped, extremely annoying upbeat music makes the video even more dense, up to the point where it became stressful and i thought of turning it off, despite the good info you are distributing.
So. If you use upbeat music, consider something not quite that in-your-face happy. Something with a bit more variation, something calmer, maybe make it a tad more quiet.
You could even not use any music at all - in truth I'd probably prefer that.
I'm sure that your voice was kind of brittle because of the cough. Maybe you were a bit nervous too?
Together, the music and your tense voice were not a good match.
I think that what you have to say it's well worth my time. So you don't need to embellish it with "entertaining" aka annoying music. And you don't need to hurry to condense it into as little time as possible.
Quite the opposite. Please take your time and be assured, that you talking is perfectly fine to keep me interested.
I needed a lot of words, in sorry. Too tired to make it 100% crisp and relevant. :')
Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you
I want to do this!!! I am finally finding resources online that explains. How to be a textile artist. I am extremely self-taught in all areas of design and art.I have been doing art since I was 8. I am so glad that I found you oksancia. thanks!! Because I live away from the city. I will have to do my designing at home in the country. I have some ideas for patterns too. I am learning to quilt too. So I am making patterns that I can't find in the store. You mentioned microstock images- Shutterstock?? is that what you use to sell your patterns. What do you think of Spoonflower??
oh you answered the question about spoon flower!!! thanks
where should I start to become a textile designer? should i learn drawing first?
I want to ask you please about these textile patterns okay its repeated and added to swatches then when i make rectangle that fit the art board and apply swatch to it the left and right sides (or top and bottom ) of rectangle not fit together as symbols in each side not complete that of the other side so how can we use this pattern as textile as sides of artboard or JPEG we make not fit together when print it as repeated ?
Today I made the switch :)
what was the first thing you sold on istock photo?
Спасибо! Интересная информация, я тоже еще в начала пути и начинала с микростоков. Только, пожалуйста, звук потише в видео, плохо слышно вас
Thank you for your feedback, Natalia. I will get the music down next time :)
can you give me some tutorials on textile designing ?
please
I'm a third year textile designer at Tshwane University of Technology..it was my 2nd option doing textile..never thought it could be this interesting but I sometimes feel lost in where to start selling..marketing myself and all those things
If by chance you noticed my comment please do reply. I've been designing for a textile company and it pays. BUT, I've noticed that I'm way restricted in techniques using the COrelDraw app. I'm using PS combined but AI scares the hell outta me and I feel like that's where my salvation actually is. Can I pretty much design anything fabric using AI?
God bless you.
I only have paint on my computer. What program would you recommend for doing design?
Thank you for your comment, Autumn. You can create repeat pattern designs with raster software (Painter, Photoshop, analog paint and paper + scanner) or vector software (Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator). I specialize in vector design, so I talk the most about this type of artwork on my channel. Hope it helps! :)
great information . The music is kind of distracting from your message though.
I want to create Alaskan designs but don’t know where to start I want to have a copyright on my designs though
Background music is distracting. I don't know why people who have such great information to share have to drown out their videos with background music. Aside from the background music I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and knowledge.
Thank you for letting me know about the music. Noted.
This is valuable information I stumbled upon being a pattern designer and I have been creating for the last month. It’s taking to much of my focus and I think that’s a good think. I started putting patterns on zazzle and selling stencils and digital stamps on Etsy. I have a lot of improvement to do and things to learn but do you think it is worth it to cell prints on Etsy? Zazzle also seems like this huge pool of hundreds of thousands of products. How do I not waste time on these sites and stand out? Do you think agents are a good way to go for a beginner looking to sell designs?
Thank you, dear Aisha. Glad to help! I haven't tried selling patterns on Etsy yet, but I saw people do it successfully. I might try soon to test it out. My advice to stand out from the crowd on Zazzle or other websites is to start making patterns within a niche (specialized topic: food, travel, pets, etc.). I have never tried an agent. Always did everything myself. If you can find a good agent, I think it's worth a shot! Hope this helps!
oksancia thank you so much for your quick response, once again great advice I hope I can put all this into action.mashaa Allah your so positive I’m sure it’s an element to your success! Thank you for your advice😀
I want to start my career in fashion designing textile ...But I am beginner ....Can you tell me how to start ??
Hii oksancia,im currently persuing btech in electronics but I'm not interested in that and I wanna become a textile designer could you please help me where to start..😐
Microstock images?
💕
Ok!! What do i have to do after 12th to become a textile designer?
Please explain your question, not sure if I understand :)
oksancia- Thank you for this A-1 video. I myself am struggling and starving as an artist right now. As I've stated in other posts, I am in the process of creating my own Eccommerce store and online website where I will be selling my own souvenirs, apparel and accessories, home, office and interior design products. Thank you for being generous enough to share your wisdom and experience with others. I will be sure and point people in the direction of your videos.
If you ever need sound and useful interior design advice or inspiration please have a look at: Megan Morris Channel here on TH-cam. Megan is a world renown home staging and interior design professional whose channel and videos would be useful to all designers and those looking for great interior design tricks and tips.
Many thanks! :) Thank you for your recommendation. Good luck with your your creative business! :) Let us know how it goes!
hi i am COMUTER TEXTILE DISGNER
my whatsup no. 09825058900
excellent information. thank you
Hi i like u & like your pattern tutorials......I am a Graphic Designer.I need your help
Thank you. Please contact me with your questions via my website www.oksancia.com
thankyou for sharing your experience, please guide me about Spoonflower website iam geyting lil confuse here like how to sell your designs, one must have to purchase the fabric for ones self made print before selling? fter purchasing the swatch thn is it approve to sell your print online? please clear this concept, thankyou
Thank you for your comment, Sid! Yes, you need to purchase a swatch for every design you upload. If you have many designs, you can purchase as a collection of 30 swatches and that makes it much cheaper per swatch. In about a week after that, you can post these designs for sale. You can use the fabric swatches for crafts and to post pictures on social media after you have them.
Thank you for a great video :) For me it would have been better without the music. You have enough charisma to do without.
How are you ..? I'm a new friend of yours! I'm a scarf business man .! and I want to talk to you about a scarf
oksancia i really need to talk to you as i have put my pics in spoonflower but i realised when i went to ipad that anyone cant just copy and take them as they can zoom in and copy or save pic ...but not on the desktop i want to know that my pics are safe for sale only not to be taken by anyone thanks ...jody
Hi Jody, thank you for your question. I was not aware of this issue of anyone beeing able to copy the jpg file on the ipad. You should email Spoonflower with this concern. However, I have to tell you that I felt scared about people stealing my designs since I have all my work for sale around the web. And they did steal some of it :) Many times. That's when I realized, that when you become a designer with a lot of work out there and if people start noticing your designs, some of them will want to steal them. I decided that those people will not instill fear in me and impact my business. I will continue creating my art no matter. We still need to protect our work, of course. Just don't let that fear stop you from creating amazing things! Hope this perspective helps you a bit.
oksancia thanks for replying I let spoon flower know and they are addressing the issues now :) it's a worry xx
Thank you for taking action and contacting Spoonflower. Hope they fix it soon!