It has taken a while for me to let go of the expensive Adobe Photoshop, to complete my tessellations. Quite a bit of research and testing to figure out which iPad app was the best for my purposes. Pixelmator wins on all fronts. It does what no other single app accomplishes, open the exported tile, recolour areas using multiple types of selection, allows brush painting, or overall hue modifiers, has layers for non-destructive tests, allows the addition of watermarks with opacity control, as well as text, has a slew of filters. Can’t beat the price of 7 dollars, compared to the exorbitantly expensive Photoshop monthly fee. Bye bye Adobe.

1. I use #KaleidoPaint to sketch and complete a tessellation and export its tile.
2. Then, I open the exported tile in Pixelmator, determine the number of areas that need recolouring, in order to aid the viewer to identify the characters.
3. There are a few options after this step. Either create an expanse of tiles, for a print, which is quite easy in Pixelmator. Or use the tile and create a spiral video using iO Crafter, which exports an MP4 file.

No Windows PC or Mac required anymore, in any part of my workflow. Love the Apple Pencil as well, allows shading by pressure sensitivity, just have to get used to the fact that it needs charging. The Adonit Jot Pro was my tool of choice beforehand.

A sampling of images to give you an idea.

The original drawing from a few years ago, “Have You Seen the Size of His Crabs?” In this version, due to the identical colouring of each character, this makes it difficult to identify which where when and who’s who.

A recent modification of the tile’s colouring and reconstruction into a larger plane lets you see the characters a little bit better. Still no freebies, you must take the time to examine and decipher, but the job of looking and understanding a tessellation is a bit easier in this instance. Alternating clothing colours.

Here’s a zoom-in for a better look. Check the shading on the crab!

 

 

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If you’re a “Learn by Seeing” “Learn by Doing” kind of person, I’ve started creating videos on “how-to” create tessellations. I’ll be covering each of the 17 symmetry groups, one class at a time. And like all artists, we need to make a living. So. I’ve uploaded these to the Skillshare platform. I’ll get paid by minutes watched.

You can take the classes for free. Skillshare offers anywhere from 2 weeks to a month for free if you sign up, even temporarily.

You can register for just a month and cancel anytime. It’s less than the cost of a Netflix subscription! And you can still stay put on the couch. There are over 40,000 classes on topics for creative persons just like you. Join my mailing list, either here on my blog (in the sidebar), or a at this link for a specific list I use to announce new classes.

I’d love for you to join me on this wonderful learning adventure.

If you prefer, you can follow my progress on social media, I always announce my new class:
Facebook: Franc Champagne, and Vancouver Island Tessellation Artist
Instagram: champagne.francine
Twitter: FChampagne1
Linkedin: Graphic Design, PowerPoint and tessellations
Youtube: Video animations and class intros

My classes have received an independent rating of 9.7/10, placing these Skillshare classes in the TOP 2% of classes reviewed by CourseMarks!

🙂

Here is a list of the classes up so far:

1. Rekindle your Love of M.C. Escher Tessellations, draw your own tessellations using a free iPad App. In this class I introduce the concept of tessellations, show you the work of M.C. Escher as well as other artists. Then we dive into a first symmetry method, P4g, accomplished by drawing only one line to create the perimeter of your tessellation.
2. Just like M. C. Escher’s Tessellations: Draw Using a New Symmetry Method and Your iPad. We tackle the Mirrored Triplets symmetry group, aka P3m1.
3. This UP/DOWN, LEFT/RIGHT Tessellation method was M. C. Escher’s favorite. It is also the symmetry method, P1, most taught in schools. Probably the only way most artists have tried to accomplish a nested shape. We will push it a tad farther, but also easier than scissors and cardboard.
4. M. C. Escher Tessellations: The Three Cozy Buddies Symmetry Group, know as symmetry group P3. Lots of examples, from many different tessellation artists. One of my favorite ways of creating tessellations.
5. Digital Patterns: Super Simple Quickie Patterns. 20 patterns in 30 minutes! I will show you how to draw and assemble your pattern design elements in four different and unusual ways. Come explore the possibilities, from a different point of view using your iPad and the free KaleidoPaint app. There is more to symmetry than rigid repeats, half-drops and tossed layouts.
6. My next class with deal with a symmetry group I have named: “This way — that way”, aka crystallographic notation Pg. That Koloman Moser video above, is part of the series.

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