10 best skillshare classes for budding pattern designers | Pitter Pattern

Ok, so I have a confession to make… I’m addicted… To Skillshare classes!

I’ve been a member of Skillshare for a few years now and my compulsion for finding and joining their fabulous classes hasn’t dwindled, if anything it’s increased. Any minute I have free I’ll be glued to my iPad learning new tricks. This can be while I’m having breakfast/lunch, while relaxing on the sofa (tv doesn’t do it for me anymore) or, let’s be open, on the loo, as I don’t like the feeling that my life is flushing away down the toilet ;-).

Just as a proof of my obsession, let me tell you that I’ve completed 73 classes, I’m enrolled in 8 at the moment and I’ve 227 classes saved for the future (I know, crazy). As you can see, I’ve gone through loads of classes and to be honest I haven’t loved them all, so when I find worthy candidates I like to share them with my creative comrades.

Let me begin by explaining what Skillshare is, just in case you haven’t heard about it.

Skillshare is an online learning community for creative skills that works just like Netflix. Students anywhere in the world pay $10 a month for access to thousands of online classes, on-demand.

Anyone can teach for free on Skillshare, which means students have access to the most relevant, up-to-date creative skills. Students learn everything from design to business to photography, film, crafts, culinary, music, writing, technology and more, from the world’s best teachers.

Skillshare classes are designed to be bite-sized with short video lessons to fit your schedule. You can learn at your own pace and on-the-go with their free mobile apps on both Apple and Android devices.

Being a graphic and surface pattern designer myself, my favourite classes are those that have anything to do with these fields. Classes about designing and making patterns, illustration, Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop always make it onto my ‘to-watch’ list. No matter how much of an expert you think you are, I believe you can always learn new things from watching your peers’ workflows. Everyone’s got their quirky ways of doing stuff and we can learn a thing or two from each other, that’s for sure.

So, if you’re just starting out designing patterns, or you’re a bit higher up the ladder, I’m sure you’ll find a class on this top 10 to tickle your fancy!

To be able to watch some of these Skillshare classes you must be a paying member. You can get full access for $7-$10 a month, BUT because you read Pitter Pattern and I love you for that, you can get a 2-months FREE trial if you sign up through any link on this page!

Please note: As a Skillshare teacher, I’ll get a small referral bonus if you sign up to any of the classes through Pitter Pattern (at no extra cost to you, but it does help run the blog!). But let me tell you that even if I didn’t get a penny I would still recommend these gems. I’ve taken these classes, I loved them and that’s why I support them.

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So, without further ado, here are my chosen 10 best Skillshare classes for budding pattern designers (in no particular order)…


Skillshare class | Introduction to Surface Design: Creating and Mixing Patterns with Jenna Frye | Pitter Pattern

Introduction to Surface Design: Creating and Mixing Patterns

With Jenna Frye

A teacher at MICA, Jenna knows her stuff. This is a fabulous class that covers the basics (and a bit more) of pattern design and helps you develop your skills with colour, texture and personal style. Plus, amazingly, it’s free! What’s not to like?


Skillshare class | Introduction to Designing Repeat Patterns in Illustrator with Elizabeth Olwen | Pitter Pattern

Introduction to Designing Repeat Patterns in Illustrator

With Elizabeth Olwen

Elizabeth is an inspiring surface pattern designer. In this introductory class, she shows you exactly how she creates her wonderful patterns, right from gathering inspiration to colouring and preparing final files.


Skillshare class | Pattern Design II: A Creative Look at a Full Pattern Collection with Elizabeth Olwen | Pitter Pattern

Pattern Design II: A Creative Look at a Full Pattern Collection

With Elizabeth Olwen

Another class by Ms Olwen. This one follows up on the skills learned on the ‘Introduction to Designing Repeat Patterns in Illustrator’, showing you the steps to designing a cohesive pattern collection.


Skillshare class | Pattern Design: Bring Your Artwork to Life on Products with Elizabeth Olwen | Pitter Pattern

Pattern Design: Bring Your Artwork to Life on Products

With Elizabeth Olwen

In her latest class, Elizabeth goes one step further by showing you all that is needed to visualise your own artwork on products (which is always the most fun part of the design process in my opinion!).


Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Learn Adobe Illustrator | Create Patterns with Bonnie Christine | Pitter Pattern

Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Learn Adobe Illustrator | Create Patterns

With Bonnie Christine

Bonnie is another super talented self-taught surface pattern designer. In this class, she goes deep into the technical aspects of designing patterns using Adobe Illustrator.


Skillshare class | Surface Pattern Design 2.0: Design a Collection | Start a Career with Bonnie Christine | Pitter Pattern

Surface Pattern Design 2.0: Design a Collection | Start a Career

With Bonnie Christine

Another one by Bonnie. This one is for any of you that are more serious about surface pattern design as a career. She shares loads of useful information, from designing a collection, to how to get noticed in the industry.


Skillshare class | Design & Bind Your Own Creative Portfolio with Bonnie Christine | Pitter Pattern

Design & Bind Your Own Creative Portfolio

With Bonnie Christine

Bonnie’s latest class is not only for aspiring surface pattern designers but for everyone wanting to build a physical design portfolio. Get the scissors, glue and even drill out and prepare to get crafty!


Skillshare class | Illustrating Patterns: Creating Hand-Drawn Wallpaper with Julia Rothman | Pitter Pattern

Illustrating Patterns: Creating Hand-Drawn Wallpaper

With Julia Rothman

Julia is an illustrator and a fabulous one at that. If you prefer to get down with pen, paper and scissors, instead of a computer, then this is the class for you. It takes you through her process of illustrating and turning her drawing into a repeat pattern for wallpaper.


Skillshare class | Designing Repeat Patterns: From Icons to Apparel and Beyond with Kimi Lewis | Pitter Pattern

Designing Repeat Patterns: From Icons to Apparel and Beyond

With Kimi Lewis

Kimi is an illustrator, graphic designer and art director. In this free class, she takes you through the very basics of creating repeat patterns using graphic icons in Adobe Illustrator.


Skillshare class | Watercolor Meets Surface Pattern Design with Jenn Coyle | Pitter Pattern

Watercolor Meets Surface Pattern Design

With Jenn Coyle

And last but not least we have Jenn, a designer, illustrator and blogger. If you’re into your watercolours then this is the class for you. You’ll learn the basics of digitising and vectorizing watercolour paintings and creating repeat patterns using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.


You made it to the end, well done… I really hope you liked my selection of Skillshare pattern classes and that you found something suitable for your needs/wants.

Remember, if you sign up to Skillshare through any link on this page, you’ll get a 2-month FREE trial, and during that period you can test the waters and see if Skillshare offers anything you want. If you’re anything like me you’ll LOVE it. They have around 17,000 classes, so there’s bound to be something you’ll want to learn about.

And if you’re interested in more surface pattern design resources then click this button!


I am a designer, originally from Colombia and now living permanently in Cornwall, UK. I graduated in Product Design but since then have mostly worked in graphics for print and web. A few years ago I decided to specialise in Surface Pattern Design and I'm loving it!

7 Comments

  1. Thank you so much Veronika <3

  2. Hello Veronica, I am also a product designer by education and I do lots of watercolors. I’ve been wanting to start making patterns and I wanted to watch some of Skillshares tutorials, but I’m not sure if I might end up hearing something I already know or can figure out on my own. Also since I come from Bosnia (paying for monthly subscription is not something I am looking to invest in right now), I’m wondering if I have to continue using Skillshare after one free month, or can I just terminate my account? I know it’s a weird question, but I kind of want to just see what is there on skillshare, since I’m a tutorial maker myself. I just want to find out if these videos have more substance than I think but don’t want to commit to continue paying

    :p

    • Hi Jasmina, thanks for your message. You can definitely take just the trial month and then close your account, no problem at all with that. You’ll find loads and loads of watercolour classes on Skillshare. I haven’t taken any that aren’t related to pattern making but there’s such a huge variety that there’s bound to be something for everyone’s taste and ability. Good luck with all your future projects and hopefully see you around again!

  3. Thanks so much Libby! I’m glad it was useful to you… One does wonder sometimes if the things we write about are gonna be of any use to anyone, so you make me happy! Hopefully see you around again… :-)

  4. This is a wonderful round up thank you! I confess I am also a little obsessed with Skillshare so thank you for introducing me to some new classes.

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