NO FILL, NO LINE? NO PROBLEM!
Today’s experiment is all about rule breaking. For this pattern I threw out one of the basic rules of building a pattern in Illustrator and ended-up, I think, making something that is quite beautiful.
So what rule did I break? I didn’t put a no fill, no line box behind my pattern before I dragged it to the swatches panel!!
Wait, what?
Ok, let me back-up. When you are done building a pattern in Illustrator, you create the seamless repeat by:
Creating a bounding box for your pattern and sending it to the back,
making the box no fill and no line, and
selecting everything and dragging it to the swatches panel.
I DIDN'T DO ANY OF THOSE STEPS AND I THINK MY REPEAT TURNED OUT BETTER!
Now, I’ll warn you right now. MOST of the time this technique will just not work. In fact, here is an example where I tried this technique and it failed MISERABLY. Boy, this pattern is awful, wouldn’t you agree?
But like most rules, at one time or another they are made to be broken. Here is the pattern I designed that is quite truly the exception to the rule. I believe that it works because of the transparency and the white/negative space that already existed in the piece.
Now, I have to tell you the truth. I came across this ‘rule breaking technique’ quite by accident. I, like so many new pattern designers working in Illustrator, simply forgot to add a no fill, no line box to the back of my pattern before dragging it over to the swatches panel.
Word of the day: serendipity!
So, what do you think? Happy accident? Will you try this technique with your next pattern?