Watercolor painting of a purple and green flower with abstract leaves.

Watercolor-style illustration of pink and purple thistle flowers with green and brown stems, repeating in a pattern on a white background.

Open gold-colored purse with floral lining and interior pocket, resting on a wooden surface.

What can a surface pattern be used for?

A surface pattern can essentially be used on any surface, if it can be printed! So even your less commonly thought surfaces such as a kleenex box, a water bottle, tissue paper, stationery, ceramics, furniture.

What is surface pattern design?

A surface pattern is a pattern that can repeats over a large surface, such as wallpaper and fabric.

What makes a surface pattern designer successful?

Having a variety of designs that elude a similar style is always a benefit! Seasonal designs such as Christmas and Halloween is also another way to drive traffic to your store. Compete in design challenges to get views on your art.

Who can become a surface pattern designer?

Anyone can become a surface pattern designer. There are many courses available to be taken online. There are amazing tutorials on Skill Share that also offers a free trial. Bonnie Christine and Erin Kendal offers freebies as well along with courses for payment.

There is room for you!

A false assumption is that because surface pattern design is a popular and saturated market, there is no room for new designers. The truth is, there is room for you! Anyone can create and sell their work! Each artist elicited a different style and feel to their work so there is always room for creativity! Surface pattern design can be used on any surface, so this is something to consider when experimenting with surface pattern design!

Is selling on Spoonflower worth it?

Spoonflower is a free platform to get started as a surface pattern designer! One thing that really helped me was to create a variety of designs and see what sold. It was the perfect place to let me experiment and help me grow and develop my style! I am so thankful I gave Spoonflower a go. They used to require designers to purchase samples but now they let artists see if there are any pattern flaws directly from the computer. The first few months on Spoonflower I earned $300. Who thought passive income could be so much fun? Each sample I sold meant the promise of a possible wallpaper sale. After a number of years on Spoonflower I have been able to replace my teaching income with passive income. I now spend my 9-5 designing, creating collections, and best of all, seeing my designs out in the real world. From RV renos to wedding venues, and all the in between, I get to see buyers create beautiful spaces and build relationships with interior designs.

How do you get your inspiration?

I find inspiration all around me! When I walk outside and see the trees and flowers and that’s when the ideas start flowing!

How do I leverage my Instagram as a surface pattern designer?

Experts recommend posting once per day and creating stories twice per day. Keep in mind as you are starting out, this is probably unrealistic. So much of your time is creating growing yourself in other ways. Give yourself compassion as you native forward and take on what you can, keeping in mind balance and see what posts get the most views.

Some things that have worked for me: Choose a colour pallet to use as Instagram colours. Don’t share ALL your work, but work that fits into the colour theme and overall feel and brand you are wanting to create. Don’t be afraid to delete old posts that interfere with this and as you gain more practice, you will see an increased following over time.

the process