(Ok, so posting that I took a pledge on social media, LinkedIn, and telling you here does feel a bit icky and performative. But what is the alternative? Stay silent?)
Before 2020, I had contemplated sharing my personal stories of racist, sexist, and just plain ego-driven meanness in the apparel industry. But I kept shrinking away from it.
Why? Because although I am not white, I have built-in privileges in my name, Ludmila, and my German language and citizenship, keys that have opened doors for me throughout my life.
I didn’t have to do anything to earn those privileges. Born and raised in Germany, my mom picked a Russian name and VOILA! I couldn’t easily be put into a box.
Author: Ludmila
Do you have a creative practice ? | With examples by Justina Blakeney
Hey! You! Don't want to read the entire post? Scroll down and read my summary of favorite reason to have a daily (almost) creative practice. Prefer video and audio? I'll post the video below that I recorded talking about this topic on IG & FB live.
January is almost over, and this wraps up the first month of a new habit that I am practicing. If you follow my Instagram account, you might have seen me post a time-lapse of my digital sketching daily (Mo-Fr). That is a daily creative practice that I have meant to start many years ago. I finally committed to it, and I am experiencing a lot of mixed emotions about it. I'll talk about this during another time, but for now, I just wanted to share the benefits that I am experiencing and what designer, artist, and author Justina Blakeney shared during her Creative Morning talk that confirmed with me that this is just a great thing to do for myself.
The power of completion | Happy New Year
Happy new year courageous creative, I hope you slid (that's what we say in Germany) well into 2019, and are ready to tackle any intentions that surfaced as crucial to you.
Last year, while I was creating refresher courses (for the FIDM Alumni department) and new content here like the Freemium Studio courses, I was questioning myself and debated when I was finally going to let the courses be finished so I could share it.
To decide something is completed lies within my power. Yet there have been many times that I've been wrestling with the illusion of perfectionism to stop myself from moving forward.
While I was creating courses and Freemiums, I was wondering whether you too had thought about perhaps building a new portfolio or whether there were other projects personal or passion projects that are still lingering around collecting real or digital dust. You know, projects remaining stuck in the unfinished stages?
This got me thinking that I could share a couple of valuable snippets of encouragement, newly found awareness, and resources on how to complete more of what's on your plate and restore some balance in your life.
I know I know productivity is a huge buzzword and that is not what I'm talking about at all. I'm advocating serenity here, so what I am talking about is more about a shift in perception. In this blog post, I am sharing some powerful tips that have helped me complete more and feel satisfied at the end of each day. From not reading uninteresting books all the way to the end without feeling guilty, to finally getting that portfolio polished (hint;0 ).
Here is a book that I stumbled across online by Martha Ringer called Complete. Done. Finished.
I am posting a couple of images here to not take away too much of what this powerful book has taught me. Let me just say that it is informative and visually pleasing. The visuals lend to the calm feeling of having a choice in the matter of completion.
Survival guide to Adobe Max And Is It Really a Creativity Conference? | FREE – PDF Overview with links to resources (Short)
Whether you're heading to Adobe Max for the first time this year or are a veteran and want to reminisce and share your thoughts with me, this blog post is the place to be. I'll share below all the highlights, tips, tricks, and ups and downs that I experienced at Adobe's yearly creativity conference over the years.
This blog post is going to be a long read ( 20 min) with lots of visuals and two videos. I summarize my survival tips at the bottom of the post. At the end of the post, I also break down my thoughts on Adobe Max for fashion and textile designers. Just in case you were wondering if it's for you and should you go?
Alternatively, grab a summary and links to resources. This summary breaks down the sessions and makes it easier to understand what you can sign up for. Click the image below and request the password for the resource vault! Ready. Set. Go!
The Community Pavilion
To me, Adobe Max has two inspiring events happening simultaneously. One is very obvious, and that would be the sessions that are outlined in their catalog when you register. Those are broken down in many different ways, and I will speak about a couple of those further below. The second one that might not seem so apparent for newbies is the playground pavilion. The pavilion is where sponsors and other vendors showcase and sell their wares. Also, this is also where Adobe and said vendors create a lot of either educational sessions for their products, where you can meet and chat with authors, artists, podcasters, and even make connections with design teams at bigger companies like Adidas. The vendor-sponsored welcome reception is a great evening to walk around and see the entire place on the first night and see what you want to come back for on the following two days. The pavilion is also a place where you can create things. Here I have screen printed tees and postcards, created a mosaic type mini painting as part of a mural against bullying, have heat seat images onto metal via a process that I can't remember the name of right now, and many other fun things.
The pavilion is also a place to recharge your batteries, your devices and your body. Last year they had a oxygen bar with flavored oxygen that you could inhale through your nose. I am sharing a pics somewhere below of that. Kind of yucky at first but felt like a boost of some sort (coffee like?).
The persistent peacock. Textile design inspiration or nuisance? | Free peacock vector download
Working as a freelancer can at times become very isolated and downright depressing. Even though I enjoy working on pattern design with Adobe Illustrator and it is almost my favorite work to do. I have to be very proactive to not fall into a downward spiral and have created systems to keep me in an upbeat mood and to continue my onward movement following an upward spiral.
During the past years, I've decided to keep a little notebook where I write down little miracles ????that happen. Depending on your belief system, you might refer to them as God (Higher Power/ Goddess) -shots, invisible hands, the creative muse appearing, or sheer coincidences. I am going to start sharing them and hope to hear about your little miracles as well.
Here are a couple of examples of how the peacock showed up during the duration of this project.
Example No 1: I live in Pasadena, and my dentist is located in Arcadia. So on the day of my dentist appointment, a real-life peacock just sat right next to my parked car. Kind enough to wait and pose for me to take a picture. Example No 2: That made me remember and realize that the peacock is the official symbol for the city of Arcadia. So I stopped and took a picture of the city symbol too.
It gave me such a happy feeling that the real life bird was patient enough to let me come close enough to take detailed photos. My cell phone's camera was good enough and I really think this creature quite enjoyed giving me a show.
Video and free download – Week 20 – Intermediate – How to create ruffles with varying width in Illustrator – 52 weeks Adobe Illustrator for fashion design series
Create a variation of an existing ruffle brush. Learn to change the edges of the ruffle to become narrower and the center wider. You can view the video on my YouTube channel or after the jump here on the blog. This week’s free download comes with a cutout ruffle flat sketch in 3 colorways. One ruffle brush to use as is. The file also included one geometric watercolor swatch (sorry, not seamless) and multiple colorways of it. Follow along and share what you create with it. Free Resouce Vault (click here).
Video and free download – Week 19 – Intermediate – How to create outlines of lines in Illustrator – 52 weeks Adobe Illustrator for fashion design series
There must be a quicker way of doing this! Outlining lines that we have previously drawn in Illustrator can become a time-consuming task. Let me show you how to create a spaghetti strap for your fashion flat sketch in a couple of seconds.
You can view the video on my youtube channel or after the jump here on the blog. This week’s free download comes with a spaghetti strap top flat sketch in 3 colorways.The file also included marble swatches (sorry, not seamless) and multiple colorways of it. Have fun using them as is or taking them apart Free Resouce Vault (click here).
Video and free download – Week 18 – Beginner to intermediate – How to create a gingham textile design in Illustrator – 52 weeks Adobe Illustrator for fashion design series
Have you ever wanted to create your custom colored Gingham swatch in Illustrator? In this week 18, I am showing an easy and a more intricate way of creating the Gingham textile pattern in Illustrator. The easy method is going to be a swatch with flat colors. In the intermediate method, I will use a filter called Scribble to create a texture in the Gingham swatch to make it look more alive.
You can view the video on my youtube channel or after the jump here on the blog. There you will also find a written step by step instructions. This week’s free download comes with a flat sketch of a dress in 3 colorways. The file also included various flat Gingham swatches and multiple colorways of the textured Gingham swatch. Have fun using them as is or taking them apart. Free Resouce Vault (click here).
Video and free download – Week 17 – Beginner – How to create Fisheye effect on text in Illustrator – 52 weeks Adobe Illustrator for fashion design series
#17 is adding a little pop to your text across your garments. You can see the difference at the beginning of the video between regular text and then with the added Fisheye effect in Illustrator.
You can view the video on my youtube channel or after the jump here on the blog. There you will also find a written step by step instructions. This week’s free download comes with a flat sketch of a tee in 3 colorways. Use it to see your text effect in action right away. These are available for download and for taking apart in the Free Resouce Vault (click here).
Video and free download – Week 16 – Beginner – How to create a faded denim or wash on denim in Illustrator for scalloped edges along flat sketch edges – 52 weeks Adobe Illustrator for fashion design series
Have you tried distressing your flat looking technical denim flat sketches inside of Illustrator? It’s quite easy by adding a little bit of a wash to it.
Here are the step by step instructions or watch the video below:
To see the results, make sure you have a denim swatch or flat sketch with denim underneath. You can also use a sold blue, but that doesn’t let you see the real effect.
In Adobe Illustrator:
Step 1. Use your Ellipse tool to draw an oval. Use a white fill and no stroke.
Step 2. Select the oval with the selection tool.
Step 3. Go to Effect> Blur> Gaussian Blur
Step 4. Click on the Preview button in the Gaussian Blur options
Step 5. Slide the Radius slider a little at a time from the left (no blur) to the right (a lot of blurs) to see the effect
Step 6. You can press OK when you are satisfied with the result
You can view the video on my youtube channel or after the jump here on the blog. This week’s free download comes with a denim pant flat sketch, a wash for you to pick apart, and a seamless denim swatch in 3 colorways. These are available for download and for taking apart in the Free Resouce Vault (click here).
