A beautiful Raven tessellation, created decades before M.C. Escher’s time. Copying the masters has always been a superb way of learning anything, in any field. Since I started drawing tessellations, I’ve copied 10 of M.C. Escher’s tessellations, this is my first attempt at reinterpreting a Koloman Moser.
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This new class shows you easy ways to create quick patterns as well as new ways to vary your pattern layouts. TWENTY patterns in THIRTY minutes. We will use the four previous class symmetries to create these patterns showcasing the simplicity of the line.
All you need for this class is a good dose of imagination, an iPad, and a stylus. No need for advanced drawing skills. No math skills. No geometry jargon. No programming. Not even scissors and carboard.
And the KaleidoPaint iPad app is free!
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The topic for this class is the most simple, most basic method of creating tessellations and patterns. It’s the method most taught in grade school or high school, and usually involved scissors and cardboard. But none of these antique tools here, (not that there’s anything wrong with that!). We will be using an iPad and stylus.
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This time, we will zero-in on symmetry group P3, the Three Cozy Buddies is how I like to call these character arrangements. Humans, animals, birds and fish, or geometric designs, the topics are endless. If you know the artist M.C. Escher, then you’ve seen his wonderful tessellations.
All you need for this class is a good dose of imagination, an iPad, and a stylus. No need for advanced drawing skills. No math skills. No geometry jargon. No programming.
And the KaleidoPaint iPad app is free!
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Learn to create tessellation patterns with easy step-by-step lessons and plenty of examples. You will be drawing true nested shape tessellations in no time at all. No cardboard, no scissors, we will dive into all the symmetry groups over the next while. Using your iPad tablet, I will show you all the tricks I have learned in the last decade of drawing nested shape tessellations using KaleidoPaint. You will become a tessellation artist!
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These designs were structured using different symmetry groups, but using similar arcs pinned in a specific location. It creates a pleasing gradation enhanced with a colour blend.
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For some unknown reason lately, symmetry group P31m has been number one for my latest efforts at creating tessellations. I’m not a big fan of mirrors in nested shapes, by far I prefer the fluid lines of other symmetry systems. Well, this guy showed up as a vampire in its original sketch.
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Pentagonal Derivative #Tessellations: just a short fancy way of saying that I used a grid built up of pentagons to come up with these two designs. It was quite a blast and a struggle last year (it’s not yet a complete project) to re-create all of the ways that a surface (plane) can be equally divided using pentagons. Continue reading
Most of us learn the easy/best way. Look at the masters, follow their path and learn all that we can from them. Replicate their artwork. It is a long process, especially without any direction or assistance from a teacher. This is where I’m at right now — copying / learning from the pentagon symmetry system seekers: Reinhardt, Kershner, James, Rice, Stein, Mann, McLoud, and Von Derau. As I did for a while, copying M.C. Escher’s tessellations, decades ago, although I no longer need MCE inspiration to create a tessellation. Continue reading
My Pentagon Challenge is keeping me busy. I am plowing my way through all of the pentagonal tiling types. Quite a few of them are built within either a perfect hexagon, or one that has been distorted beyond recognition. I am finding some interesting rules of symmetry I had not yet encountered. Wrapping my noggin around new concepts. Many of these symmetry types are skew-able, not only scale-able. Also, many of the anchor point for division lines inside hexagons are variable in their location, as long as the variable is kept constant for each pentagonal unit. Continue reading
Another challenge showing up on my desk, compliments of Woodpecker Carving. Hussein posted a beautiful Islamic geometric design, displaying the use of pentagons. But wait I thought, aren’t pentagons impossible to tile using the original seventeen symmetry groups? Or so I thought. I had seen intriguing examples of pentagonal tiles over the years, but I was still obsessed with M.C. Escher type nested shapes – and will always be. Continue reading
These ocean-side tessellation topics are dear to my heart since we moved to the Island, a decade ago already. The weather is wonderful, winter and summer, those year-round hikes — local, beautiful, plentiful, varied. Continue reading
Updated 2021-12-09:
Since M.C. Escher started popularizing “nested shape” tessellations, many artist have dabbled in the field. Some show a passing interest, yet still create with a very deep understanding of the rules of symmetry. Others can’t get enough and create constantly in this medium. Continue reading
Constant compromise. Coming up with a tessellation is an excercise in seeing both sides of the coin. A long process of shifting the needs on both sides of the line and allowing the other side to use available space, without loosing sight of your own purpose, your own needs. Finding a crack somewhere, nudging a line, inserting a limb in a space between. Give and take. Just as in life. Elle philosophise. Continue reading
The other side of me is the carver, 3D instead of digital artwork. I came across a carving by Chouki Derrouiche, a tessellation of Whirling Dervishes carved with different woods. Spectacular. I undertook to figure out which symmetry system Chouki used to create his nested shapes. I was baffled as to which symmetry system was being used Continue reading
Tessellations by Francine Champagne 