I am a firm believer that there is no “one way” to get into surface design, because I’ve interviewed so many artists over the last few years inside The Studio and they all have taken completely different paths to achieve their surface design dreams.  I myself stumbled into surface design

I’ve been doing this job of making art and teaching others how to do it too for over 5 years, and during that time countless creatives have sent me their print-on-demand shops and licensing portfolios along with the question, “What is wrong with my art?”.  These creatives are often on

In this post I’m going to answer one of the most common questions I get from both beginner and experienced artists: Which app is better, Procreate or Affinity Designer?  This is a difficult question to answer because there are very different uses for the two apps so which one is

I hear from so many hopeful pattern designers that they love making patterns, but struggle to build a portfolio or fill a print-on-demand shop because of the time it takes to make each pattern. I have made over 6000 patterns in my life (yes that includes color versions, but I’m

There has been a lot of talk going on about Society6 these past few weeks since they announced their new plan to charge a monthly subscription for selling on the platform, and honestly there’s been a lot of talk about them BEFORE that because so many artists were seeing their

When I shared a bit about the story behind my path to becoming a surface designer in an Instagram Reel a few weeks ago, I never would have guessed that it would become one of my most viral Reels ever!  I’ve never had more comments on a Reel, or had

https://vimeo.com/1070608718?share=copy#t=0 Have you ever thought about designing a calendar, but get overwhelmed by all the details?  I’ve put them together in a neat little bundle for you in this class where you’ll learn how to plan, design, and sell an illustrated calendar. THE PROJECT In this class we’ll design a

Creating pattern collections used to be something I feared and dreaded.  I had so much uncertainty around what my process should be, how many sketches and patterns I should make, and how many colors to use!  It just wasn’t fun to spend the whole time guessing and then finish up

The Studio turned 1.5 this summer and I’ve been reflecting on how much it has grown since we opened doors in January 2022.  When I first had the idea to open a membership, I had no idea that in a little over a year we would have live drawing sessions by

If you’ve ever had “pattern creative block” where you can’t seem to take that first step of drawing elements for your pattern, here is a trick: layouts!  Pattern layouts are simple templates you can use as a starting place for your patterns, and there is no better place to find

Some of the links on this post are affiliate links, meaning I get a percentage of the purchase price, but it does not increase the cost for the buyer.  I only use affiliate links for products I already own and love! If you know me at all, you know I