a midwestern new yorker

It's hard to feel incompetent. Well, I mean, it's actually easy to feel incompetent (even easier? being incompetent). It's only hard, of course, on one's ego. Unfortunately, it seems an inevitable part of learning something new. This is what I keep telling myself, anyway, while I struggle along in my attempts to rebirth myself as a fabric designer. Yes, another quilter who wants to also design fabric! Quelle suprise, no?

I really should be learning HTML and other useful things like that. Instead I am pursuing a midlife career shift that will likely be even less remunerative than being a publication designer. What can I say? I like doing things the hard way.

To that end, I've started a textile design class at F.I.T. Specifically, designing for textiles in Illustrator. It is geared by default for the fashion industry, but the class is quite small - only 4 students - so the fact that my interest veers a bit can be accommodated. Our first class was this past Thursday. We are working with the pen tool, and though I've used Illustrator for years, I've certainly never mastered that particular tool.

Actually, I've begun to think of myself as the Queen of the Workarounds. Being a largely self-taught graphic designer I've always tended to work technical things out in whatever fashion was handiest/quickest. It's past time that I learn how to do them correctly, but lawd is it painful. I have so many ideas, though, that I am willing myself to endure feeling like an idiot in order to actually realize them.

Homework for this week is to create a mood board for the designs we will be creating. My starting point is going to be a beautiful fabric from a book I have of Frida Kahlo's clothing. I know Frida Kahlo has been mined to death as a source of inspiration for artists and designers, but I don't care. I'm really interested in working with a super-saturated color palette. Chartreuse, purple, red, turquoise. Can't wait!

Done! Ready for class.