Stephanie O'Brien's Blog

Symmetrical Pattern: Frozen Floating Flower

28/7/2019

I wanted to do something simpler for my next pattern, so I went with a flower instead of a snowflake.

I originally planned to make the petals almost solid white, with dark blue markings on them and pointier green leaves behind them. But after a few brush strokes there was more lingering purple than I'd expected, and I liked the effect, so I kept it.

The pointy leaves looked OK, but they felt at odds with the rest of the picture, so I changed them to a more lily pad-like appearance to go with the watery background.

If you want to learn how to draw symmetrical patterns like this, check out my tutorial here. You'd be surprised how easy and relaxing it is!

This pattern is available on coffee mugs, tapestries, pillows and more in my Society6 store and my RedBubble store.

Here's what it looks like on some of the available items:

You can see all the RedBubble items with this pattern here.

Society6 doesn't have a "view everything in this pattern" feature that I know of, so here are the links to the items in the picture above:

Tote Bags
Wall Clocks
Throw Pillows
Comforters
Notebooks
Hand & Bath Towels
Shower Curtains
iPhone Cases
Wall Tapestries
Coffee Mugs
Rectangular Pillows
Travel Mugs

Napstablook Fan Art: "I Must Seem So Rude"

26/7/2019

In the upcoming page of Just Cause, Frisk encounters Napstablook again, and the revelation that this stranger knows Napstablook but Blooky doesn't remember them causes the poor, anxious ghost no end of stress. "I must seem so rude... oh nooooo..."

My Patrons can read the 16-panel work-in-progress preview here.

New Ocean Pattern: Symmetrical Sea

19/7/2019

I was recently looking over Mom's shoulder while she relaxed with a symmetrical pattern coloring book, and it inspired me to go in a completely different direction with my latest pattern.

This time, instead of using colors exclusively, I started with lineart:

And instead of making the entire pattern one coherent shape, I built it out of different interlocking shapes, all with an ocean/beach theme.

Then I colored it in, mostly using colors one would normally find on a beach, to make it easier to distinguish which element of the design is which.

I could see myself making a coloring book out of this kind of art, but I'm not going to commit to it at this point, since I've already got a few primary projects I've committed to, and I've learned to be cautious about how many different projects I tell myself/others I'm going to stick with at any given time, haha.

For now, you can download and color in a smaller version of the uncolored image, if that catches your fancy. Just be sure to credit me for the lineart with a link to this post if you publish it online.

Click the link below to download the .png file.

symmetrical_sea_outline_only_preview.png
File Size:	213 kb
File Type:	png

If you want to learn how to draw symmetrical patterns like this, check out my tutorial here.

This pattern is available on coffee mugs, tapestries, pillows and more in my Society6 store and my RedBubble store.

Here's what it looks like on some of the available items:

You can see all the RedBubble items with this pattern here. The lineart-only version is also available here.

Society6 doesn't seem to have a "view everything in this pattern" feature, so here are the links to the items in the picture above:

Tote Bags
Wall Clocks
Throw Pillows
Comforters
Notebooks
Hand & Bath Towels
Shower Curtains
T-shirts
Wall Tapestries
Coffee Mugs
Rectangular Pillows
Travel Mugs

And here are the links to the lineart-only versions of these products:

Tote Bags
Wall Clocks
Throw Pillows
Comforters
Notebooks
Hand & Bath Towels
Shower Curtains
T-shirts
Wall Tapestries
Coffee Mugs
Rectangular Pillows
Travel Mugs

New Symmetrical Pattern: Sea of Shining Seaweed

17/7/2019

I felt like doing another botanical snowflake pattern, this time with more of a marine theme. It ended up not looking much like a snowflake; I wanted it to look good when tiled, so I added a bunch of extra vines and leaves to the outer edges to make it connect nicely to adjacent tiles.

Here's what it looks like when tiled:

The slightly luminous yellow bulbs were inspired by the creepvines in the kelp forests of Subnautica. It also crossed my mind that the color scheme is reminiscent of Loki - probably because I was watching the first Avengers movie while I drew this, haha.

If you want to learn how to quickly and easily draw beautiful symmetrical patterns like this, check out my tutorial here.

This pattern is available on coffee mugs, tapestries, pillows and more in my Society6 store and my RedBubble store.

Here's what it looks like on some of the available items:

You can see all the RedBubble items with this pattern here.

Society6 doesn't have a "view everything in this pattern" feature that I know of, so here are the links to the items in the picture above:

Tote Bags
Wall Clocks
Throw Pillows
Comforters
Notebooks
Hand & Bath Towels
Shower Curtains
iPhone Cases
Wall Tapestries
Coffee Mugs
Rectangular Pillows
Travel Mugs

Two New Print-On-Demand Patterns: "Woven Vines of Silver and Life" and "Fat Women Should Wear..."

13/7/2019

I've been a busy girl this week! I published four subtraction art pieces and a new chapter of Just Cause, and today I just finished not one, but two new print-on-demand patterns.

The first is a bit of a departure from my usual snowflake patterns; my long-time friend and Patreon supporter, Mica, wanted a pattern with a lighter background, and requested a color scheme of white, teal and grey, preferably with a botanical theme.

She asked, I delivered, and here it is:

The concept for the snowflake came easily; I drew a woven snowflake pattern with a simple brush, then added leaves onto it.

The background, on the other hand, fought me every step of the way. I experimented with one thing after another, and they all looked wrong, until I tried this.

This pattern, "Woven Vines of Silver and Life", is available on coffee mugs, tapestries, pillows and more in my Society6 store and my RedBubble store.

Here's what it looks like on some of the available items:

You can see all the RedBubble items with this pattern here.

Society6 doesn't have a "view everything in this pattern" feature that I know of, so here are the links to the items in the picture above:

Tote Bags
Wall Clocks
Throw Pillows
Comforters
Notebooks
Hand & Bath Towels
Shower Curtains
iPhone Cases
Wall Tapestries
Coffee Mugs
Rectangular Pillows
Travel Mugs

The second picture is an even larger departure from my usual artwork.

It was inspired when a big, beautiful lady I follow on Twitter shared some pictures of herself posing in a tight, sexy outfit, stating that she was doing so in defiance of the claim that "fat women shouldn't wear tight, sexy clothing".

She absolutely ROCKED that outfit, and got my creative juices flowing. This was the result:

I was originally going to just cross out the "n't" in "shouldn't", but then I remembered that some BBWs don't want to wear tight clothing, and saying they "should" would just be another way of trying to control what they wear and how they look, so I changed it to "whatever makes them happy".

Also, I love how the red dress turned out, and I think the lady who inspired this picture would look fantastic in it.

If you want this body-positive message on your body or in your home, here are some of your options:

You can find all the RedBubble items with this artwork here.

And here are the Society6 links:

Tote Bags
Wall Clocks
Throw Pillows
Comforters
T-shirts
Hand & Bath Towels
Shower Curtains
iPhone Cases
Wall Tapestries
Coffee Mugs
Rectangular Pillows
Travel Mugs

Page 45 of My "Undertale" Comic, "Just Cause", is Ready!

10/7/2019

With this mysterious motivation driving them forward, Frisk's power over the timeline fully awakens.

They don't fully understand what just happened or how, so they're trying to shake these weird possibilities out of their head and find a more plausible explanation. But it's only a matter of time before they realize how powerful they've become.

The grey text saying "You cannot give up just yet" is one of the game over messages you can receive when you run out of HP. The game doesn't explicitly explain why you hear these messages, but it does drop very strong hints, which you'll see later.

To support me as an artist, and to get exclusive access to the written fanfiction version of page 44-46 and other cool rewards, please consider becoming a patron on Patreon!

If you want me to draw something specific for you, check out my commissions page.

And if you'd like to get my art on your pillows, mugs, blankets, furniture and more, take a look at my stores on Society6 and RedBubble!

New Art Series: Subtracting Night from Rainbows

5/7/2019

I recently watched a course on SkillShare called The Art of Subtraction. It teaches people how to draw background patterns and textures for their art, then give shape to their creation by erasing portions of it.

I've already used a similar method for pieces like "Chaotic Hearts", but the class gave me ideas for how to expand on the technique, so I decided to complete the class project - which is, create 3-5 pieces of artwork by subtracting from a drawing.

The result was this 3-part art series, "Subtracting Night from Rainbows".

Maid of Stars and Rainbows

Forest of Weeping Jewels

Butterflies and SnowFlowers

Full Collection + Drawing Process

To create these pictures, I started by making a black layer. Then I added a layer of color on top of it, then another black layer.

After that, I used the eraser to remove parts of the upper black layer, thus revealing the colors beneath in my chosen shapes.

In response to the course's recommendation, I also added layers, colors and shapes on top of the black layer, to add variety and interest. For example, the picture at the top of this post, "Maid of Stars and Rainbows", has stars added on top of her partly-erased black layer.

Because it was a quick experiment for an art class, I didn't draw it at full 8,000 by 8,000 resolution like I usually do for my print-on-demand pieces, so it isn't available on the full range of products, but you can get it on coffee mugs, journals, shower curtains and more in my Society6 and RedBubble stores.

In this case, I'd recommend RedBubble over S6, because it let me tile the image and thus add it to a wider variety of products and make it look better on them.

Here's what some of the available products look like:

For your convenience, here are the links:

Coffee mugs
Travel mugs
Cutting boards
Tote bags
Stationery cards
iPhone cases
iPhone skins
Canvas prints
Mini art prints
Throw pillows
Hardcover journals
Throw blankets
Shower curtains
Drawstring bags
Laptop skins

A Sneak Peek at Page 45 of "Just Cause"

2/7/2019

The work-in-progress preview for page 45 of my Undertale fan comic, Just Cause, is ready! Here's one of my favorite panels:

Supporters pledging $1/month or more on Patreon can see the full 9-panel preview here.