Tropical Heat in New Australia Prints

Escape to the water in this new mood board by Chris Olson with tropical-inspired color palette featuring psychedelic prints and a painterly vibe

Sharing a moodboard with three patterns from my Australian print collection. This collection features a fresh tropical-inspired color palette with psychedelic prints and a painterly vibe. Prints in this collection are available for purchase and licensing. Visit my website for details. I’ll be sharing more patterns in this collection soon.⠀⠀

Pattern development backstory. Before I dove in and started gathering supplies to create each pattern, I spent time researching the nature of the coast and ocean surrounding of Australia. The details in the natural elements, the veins in the leaves, the shadows on the sand, the ripples in water all create interesting shapes—and changing shapes. I wanted to incorporate these bold and beautiful patterns of Australia in my designs. Contrasting colors appear and disappear over time and make an object blend in when seen against a background. That magical transformation fascinates me. The light and dark leaves, the rocks on a shore, the sea vegetation, tree branches in the wind, and all the pockets and shafts of light in an underwater a reef are captivating.

For this pattern collection—only three of many designs are shared above—I used a variety of design tools including paint and inks for creating splashes and stylized waves. I used simple mark making and printmaking tools to create camouflage and textural skins with a hint of the psychedelic. For many of the designs I created a sense of movement using blurred mark-making and splattered and splashed art. Adding layers and layers to each design gave the added elements of natural texture and depth. All designs are available as hi resolution Adobe Photoshop files or Illustrator files—and many are available in multiple color ways.

Stay tuned for more Spring/Summer 2020 patterns including abstracted animal prints and natural elements with an Australian mood.

For creative projects and collaborations, contact me via my portfolio at www.chriscocomedia.com. You can follow me at www.instagram.com/chris_coco_olson

Always thankful for the talented photo folks over on @unsplash for the lovely mood photos: Scott Webb (leaves); Taweeroj Eawpanich (surfer); Tim Marshall (ocean waves).

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