Monthly Makers Fabric / Midnight

I was going to make something that wasn’t digital this time… I was going to paint, on an actual (fabric) canvas and try something new. And I did try it! It went horribly. Nothing turned out like I wanted it to and I left the paints so frustrated and mad that I actually decided to never paint again. Well, I might actually paint again. That was a bit of a heat of the moment-thing. But still, I needed some time to cool down so I wasn’t really going to pick up the brush again this month.

So I returned to my trusted computer, and started to brainstorm ideas on how to interpret the word “fabric” digitally. It wasn’t really obvious to me, but in a moment of utter hubris I decided I was going to draw flowing fabrics in Illustrator. As if I would’ve been able to do that…….. But I never got that far, because while I was looking for advice on how to draw fabric I came across this tutorial on how to make a satin texture in Photoshop. And it worked! I had to tweak the method a little bit as it didn’t really work on larger files and ended up with these weird lines and slight choppyness that I didn’t like. But I applied a few different kinds of blurs and stuff and it worked. I actually only generated this one piece of “satin” and used different parts of it for the finished images!
I applied some color to it and didn’t really know what to do with it at this point. (I think the image above is before I blurred it too because it looks a bit choppy still!) But I didn’t feel like it was a finished artwork yet! And then I remembered I had been meaning to draw different crystals for a while, and that they would look cool against the satin! So that’s what I did! The crystals are made in Illustrator with the pen tool and then just gradients added to each side! Pretty simple but still cool.

Added them to the satin and edited the images a little bit more (added noise and stuff like that) and then they were done! The Midnight Trio.

Midnight I. Midnight II. 
Midnight III.

And that was it for this time! I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else has created on the theme “FABRIC”.

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Monthly Makers is a challenge for anyone who wants to be more creative. During 2017 we’ll be launching twelve themes – one for every month – to inspire and challenge you. For February the theme is FABRIC and Wilda is hosting. Comment on her post here with a link to your creation before 28/5 to be a part of the compilation. More inspiration can be found over on Pinterest.

The people behind Monthly Makers 2017 are Alicia, Beatrice, Elsa, Emilia, Fredrika, Johanna, Julia, Mikaela, Ruth, Stina, Wilda and me. Be inspired, create and challenge yourself all through the year.

Follow us on Facebook to keep up with everything and be even more inspired. You can also follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, our website and in the inspirational group We Are Monthly Makers.