My 2021 Round Up - Welcome 2022!
Happy New Year from Edinburgh
Welcome to 2022. If you had the relationship with 2021 that I had, my guess is you are happy to be starting a new year.
I am grateful to report that last year was reasonably kind in the grand scheme of things. However, the dust of the pandemic lingered and made it hard to see a clear path ahead. In a personal sense, last year was a struggle and very much about survival - get to the end, endure. On Hogmanay, I felt a real sense of relief to be moving on. A good friend of mine said it felt like we had reached a checkpoint after facing one of the most challenging segments of our lives.
This creative pursuit of mine did not get the attention I wanted to give it over the past twelve months but despite that, it didn’t suffer complete neglect. I still managed to create new surface pattern designs and develop new products that I am proud of. In some small moments, I even managed to teach myself new skills and software. My biggest success however was the work I did on myself, creating a foundation of self-improvement and development. No questions asked, I needed to take time for myself last year. I feel positive that this personal growth will feed into my creative work this year and lead to good, if not great, things.
This January I feel fresh and energetic and I hope you feel that too.
Love and stuff, R x
Finally working with Procreate
I know, I’m late to the party but better late than never! I loved using this program and the way it allowed me to easily draw and a textures and move elements and change colours. It was such a great reminder during a period of creative burn out that illustrating makes me happy. I hope to illustrate some pals for these pears and make a fruit bowl series to help me develop my skills and hopefully bring a little fun to your instagram feed.
Please feel free to let me know your favourite fruit requests to help inspire me!
My 3 surface design trend predictions for 2022
Animal print
It doesn’t take a genius to predict that animal print will be popular - isn’t it always!?
Last year we saw lots of rainbow animal print (think Eleanor Bowmer), funky and abstract, perhaps off the back of the NHS rainbows being at the front of our minds. Bold, black and white zebra print also really stood out in a big way. My thought is that things will tone down a little this year. Animal print will become more subtle and sophisticated with pops of colour rather than the rainbow palettes of the last two years.
Cats and dogs (and birds)
Pets have been the real heroes of the pandemic, keeping us sane in lieu of human contact. Personally, I became a fur-auntie twice since the first lockdown.
I would also go out on a limb and say dogs will outshine cats this year (and birds might just outdo both). I’m not seeing any stand-out breeds but at the tail end of 2021, Dalmatians appeared to be the leaders of the pack and I think that will continue into 2022. With illustrators like Marcello Velho showing up in popular high street shops, I think we will see quirky styles and fantasy pets becoming part of trickle-down fashion this year.
Big, bold florals
Florals are always popular within the realm of surface design but what I’m seeing in this genre is big, confident abstract florals that are not afraid of clashing, confident, colour combos!
Daisies and simplified floral shapes also seem to be dominating the market. My guess is that after two+ years of the world being flipped on it’s head and filled with doom and gloom, people are looking for pure fun and cheerful colour.