Figured Out Half Of It.

I spent most of yesterday looking at repeating pattern tutorials, drawing, cutting, taping and scanning before I figured out two things.

1. I can't cut straight with a ruler.

2. I have the technology – I might as well use it.

The simplest tutorial I found was on how to cut and tape a drawing to create a repeating pattern and guess what ... it works for Photoshop, too. Here's what I did.

Step One
Draw a design in the middle of your a piece of paper. Make sure nothing touches the edges.

Step Two
Divide your design in half (I'll do it vertically first), switch the positions of each half with the other and tape them back together – Photoshop users can skip the tape part.  ;-)

Step Three
Divide your design in half the other direction (horizontally this time), switch the positions again and tape them back together – unless you're using Photoshop, you big cheater, and then you don't have to tape.

Step Four
Add to the design in the open area, but again, do not let your new elements touch the edges of the paper.

Now you have a complete "tile" that you can use to create your repeating pattern. I reduced it by 50% in Photoshop and tiled it four times to create this image.

Next step for me is to figure out the easiest way to add color. I think that means I have plans for tomorrow.

:-)