Using Patterns on Your Artwork for Depth

Using Patterns on Your Artwork for Depth

In art, patterns are a great resource that may be used to create intricate drawings or simply to give an active look and some visual interest to simple drawings. Strategic use of depth, texture, or complexity can be created with the placement of patterns in your artwork, thus giving it a sense of completeness and layering. Whether you're a professional artist or just getting started, mastering the use of patterns can certainly make great improvements in your art and open up new possibilities for you.

Why Patterns Matter
Pattern: It creates a really rhythmic feel in a drawing through repeated shapes, lines, or designs. This helps the structure of your composition and the placement of viewer's eye along with highlighting key elements. Aesthetic aside, patterns say something regarding emotions, themes, or even movements-behind, which is pretty critical in creating an artist's own unique voice.

Used judiciously, patterns can deepen the appearance of 2D drawings. Think about cross-hatching, stippling and so on; these patterns create the illusion of shadow and form in a drawing on otherwise flat surfaces.

Depth with Patterns
Layering Patterns: One good way to create depth by layering on different patterns. Intricate designs can be applied in the foreground whereas on the background, very simple and repetitive designs are used so that there will be a contrast drawing the attention to certain areas of the drawing. The denser patterns and light patterns may give a dimension.

Pattern Density Change the density of your pattern to break up lines or shapes between your patterns. More dense patterns create shadowed or textured areas, and more sparse ones suggest highlights or flatter areas. Contrast helps define depth and creates the illusion of distance in your drawing.

Using Patterns in Definition of Shape: Trace the contours of objects using your patterns to develop their shape. For instance, curved lines or circular patterns around a sphere could mean that the sphere is rounder, and angular patterns around a flat surface might be more rigid.

Patterns are great for creating textual illusions, such as tree bark might look rough, metal might appear sleek, and fabric soft. Different surfaces can be given a suggestion of different materials by applying different patterns.
Patterns in Inspirations
Patterns are everywhere in nature, architecture, weaving, and even high tech applications. Look at everyday life for inspiration: veins on a leaf, scales on a fish, or the city's street grid-all good places to start creating unique patterns in your artwork. Don't be afraid to look at unusual sources of inspiration, as combining an organic pattern with a geometric one can lead to really striking effects.

Conclusion
Using patterns in your drawings is a simple but effective mechanism for creating real depth and complication in your work. Try using various forms of patterns in different applications combined with what sometimes amounts to a deep layering technique, even getting back into different densities, to take even the very two dimensional drawing into an exciting composition with lots of flow. Using patterns takes experience, so after little while, it will be part of your arsenal. You will be able to say much more about emotion, texture, and form than you could before.

Using Patterns on Your Artwork for Depth