Written By Aubrey Tate
Hi! Aubrey Tate here from TateMadeModern - I’m excited to be writing for the Shine Bright blog today! You may or may not know that many of the designs Kelsey curates for her labels were designed by me, including the labels (& seamless designs) that are dropping in next week’s zoo collab with LBK Printing! I thought it would be fun to share a bit of my process behind the zoo designs and how they came to life.
Quick side tangent story - Kelsey and I actually met and were in the same friend group at church 13 or so years ago, but then lost touch. I have no photo evidence of our previous friendship but! When I went to add her to my phone contacts recently (after reconnecting all these years later via Etsy of all places, when she found my designs!) I found she was already there, under her maiden name. So – proof! ;)
Back to the zoo. I’ve found myself drawing lots of animals on my iPad since I started my business back in 2020. My biggest design inspirations are my kids - I have a daughter and son and both are obsessed with animals. So of course it brings me great joy to draw their requests and see their eyes light up when they see their favorite animals come to life on my screen. And guess what? Cheetahs and monkeys are at the top of their favorites list so I knew a zoo print was needed! We have taken several trips to the Oregon Zoo since we live so close, and I have many photos of random animals on my camera roll from our visits. My favorite way to start drawing is using my own photos as reference, like for the cheetahs! I have found that instead of tracing over photos, which I started out doing when I was getting back into the swing of drawing, I like to reference them but start with a rough sketch and then refine it in Procreate with my favorite brushes to bring them to life for seamless patterns!
Once I have all the motifs drawn as I want them for the seamless pattern, I take those into Photoshop for arranging the seamless pattern.
Back in Procreate, I will trace over the colored motifs with a simple black pen in order to make them into SVGS, which my customers can then use with their cutting machines to cut vinyl for apparel, or with a laser machine to make adorable things out of wood and acrylic, or - made into patches & labels for Shine Bright! Sometimes drawing something in black and white is way harder than drawing them in color where you can add dimension and texture with colors, so keeping the animals’ personalities and characteristics with just 1 color is a fun challenge. After I draw them in Procreate I send the drawings to my computer where I get them formatted as SVGs in Adobe Illustrator.
And then the best part - they are printed on fabric and made into labels and brought to life by sewists like you!
I hope you enjoyed this peek into my process as a designer, and I hope you love the zoo collab! Connecting with makers & other small business mamas is my favorite, so come find me on Instagram @tatemademodern and say hi! You can also find my seamless designs & SVGs on Etsy, and shop my fabrics at LBK Printing Co., Carriage House Printery and Spoonflower!
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