Today is Oliver’s fourth birthday, so in his honor, I made a pattern with his input. I chose the horse motif (I’m on a folk art kick), and he chose the blue and the yellow. Smart boy. He says he loves the horses. And I love having a four-year-old cheerleader.
The horse I started with comes from a Dover book of Folk Art:
(Even though this sample is watermarked, I promise I own the book it comes from, but the book was at the office, so I just grabbed this from their website.)
I traced the horse with the pen tool and modified it slightly. I filled the bodies with dots, hearts, triangles, and stars. At this size, you can’t really see, but I imagine this made VERY LARGE and used on a blanket or curtains or sheets.
I played around a little with color, so here are two color combos. And the third pattern shows all the same horse (no variation of the inside pattern), with a different arrangement.
Which is your favorite?
Oo, I love the first color combo! Thanks for sharing your process. I actually have some Dover books myself … but always unsure of how exactly I can use them. Should probably find out more regarding copyrights!
Linda, I wrote an article about using Dover here: http://nicolesclasses.com/dover-pictura-as-a-resource/ They are a great resource. In many cases, the work that they are using is historic, meaning there is no copyright. So if you use Dover’s version, then you are limited to 10 in the same project without receiving special permission (and there are no limitations on resale or redistribution). If you create your own version, like I have, then you’re pretty safe no matter what! You just have to be aware that if someone used the same horse as reference for making their project, it might look a little like yours :) But with mine, I feel like the only thing I used was the shape of the horse itself, and even that I modified a little, so my horse might not look too much like someone else’s who used the same horse as reference.
First of all, I have to say that I love this pattern project you and Melanie are doing! It’s smart, in so many ways. Second, I love these horses. I’d have to go with the middle pattern, just because we have a lot of pink, purple, and horses in the house of girls. :) Love it, Alma!