Find examples of illustrators who have designed wallpapers, fabric wrapping paper or for other flat surfaces that you find interesting. How do their illustrations play with the idea of flatness?
I began by searching on Pinterest for ‘flat illustration designs’ and created a board with some of the results. The majority that I found were based on nature as well as some which had stylised human characters.
Another excellent source of less contemporary flat designs is the V&A Collections catalogue, which has a wealth of examples including Charles Francis Annesley Voysey and William Morris. I had heard of the latter, but was not aware of Morris’s speciality in this area of illustration.
In the example of William Morris wallpaper design below, the influence of nature is clearly apparent. Each section of the design (enclosed by the circular branch) is symmetrical and contains carefully places elements that each fit perfectly in position within the balanced composition. The colour palette is limited to variations of green and is very desaturated, which relates to the intended purpose of the design as a wallpaper.
Source: V&A Collections.
I have always found it difficult to comprehend how artists manage to create intricate pattern design, but those by M.C. Escher absolutely astounded me. In the typical example shown below, Escher has used what is assumed to be the negative space between the darker fish and filled these with the exact same design in a lighter colour. They are like optical illusions and I have no idea how he managed to conceive them! My focus was always initially drawn to the darker, outlined and thus stronger of the designs before becoming aware of the lighter surrounding versions.
Two contemporary illustrators that produce flat pattern designs are Mina Braun and Loo McNulty.
In the example below by Mina Braun, linear perspective has been removed resulting in a flat design, which reminded me of the style of illustration found pre-Renaissance art in the West and in Eastern cultures prior to the Western influence of perspective.
Loo McNulty’s work seems to be mostly aimed at a younger audience and so incorporates bright colours (compared to the example above) and fairly simple, flat vector shapes.
Summary
For flat surfaces such as wallpaper or fabric covering, repetition is the key influence on the design. Often the design will be applied to large areas and is not enclosed within the usual compositional restraints of a rectangle (e.g. paper or a screen).
Theoretically, the designs would need to go on for eternity in all directions so, generally, there is not a single focus point. All elements are created with equal importance, although there may be certain ones that are highlighted repeatedly.
In terms of clothing, for example, the pattern design would need to cover different shapes and not become distorted.
Due to the dimensions of the designs, the focus is not on creating depth or ‘accurate’ perspectives, but rather the relationships between elements/shapes and how these can be interlinked to create a visually-pleasing, repetitive pattern or design.
Generally the colour palettes tend to be limited and fairly subtle (except when targeted at children), which may be due to the destination of the patterns (e.g. wallpaper) and also the costs involved.
Bibliography
Braun, M. (2022) Mina Braun. Available at: https://www.minabraun.com (Accessed 04 November 2022).
M.C. Escher Company B.V. (2022). M.C. Escher – The Official Website. Available at: https://mcescher.com (Accessed 04 November 2022).
McNulty, L. (2022) Loo McNulty Design. Available at: http://loomcnultydesign.com (Accessed 04 November 2022).
Morris & Co. (2022) Morris & Co. – The Official Home. Available at: https://morrisandco.sandersondesigngroup.com (Accessed 04 November 2022).
V&A (2022) V&A – Explore The Collections. Available at: https://collections.vam.ac.uk (Accessed 04 November 2022).
Wolfe, S. (n.d.) The Art of Repetition: Top 10 Pattern Artists. Available at: https://magazine.artland.com/the-art-of-repetition-top-10-pattern-artists/ (Accessed 04 November 2022).