profile

Nicola Rowe

Hi, I’m a surface pattern designer & Illustrator based in Shropshire, UK 😀 My style is bright, fresh and colourful! 🌸🌼🌺🌿🌈 I provide valuable resources to my community through a monthly newsletter, online Resource Library exclusively for creatives and a free Colour Palettes Masterclass.

Featured Post

Seasonal Autumn colour palettes - get creative with different moods

Hello Reader, As we head into the remainder of the year, are you freaking out like me at all the things you haven't yet got around to?! Every new year I sit down and think about what goals I want to complete for the year and I can honestly say I never get to tick them all off! I'm sure you can relate :) It's scary how fast time goes by, yet here we are nearly at the end of the year again and I'd love to ask your opinions and thoughts on the newsletter... Have your say in the newsletter...

Hello Reader, This month's newsletter is quite bit longer than normal, so get yourself comfy, grab a coffee or cup of tea as I unveil some goodies for you... As I send these emails monthly, I want to give you more value from them, so you'll notice that they will become a little longer than normal. Having got some great feedback about what you want to see in the newsletter, I've tailored the content to fit and hopefully you'll get even more value from it than before. Right, have you got that...

HelloReader, Do you struggle when creating harmonious colour palettes that show off your designs perfectly? Do you make a colour palette only to think 'well that's not going to work well?'. I've had that same thought many times and in today's newsletter I wanted to share a great free resource with you that will help you overcome those thoughts. Creating a harmonious colour palette is easy only when you know how. In this free guide you'll learn: what a harmonious colour palette is how you can...

Hello Reader, I've been busy the last few weeks writing up and creating the content for the free Colour Palettes Masterclass starting in March. Loads of you have already completed the survey I sent out when you registered for the Masterclass (HUGE thank you to those of you who completed it). If you haven't yet completed it, I'd really appreciate your thoughts as I will be tailoring the content to what you really want to learn about. TAKE THE SURVEY HERE It's been really interesting to read...

Hello Reader, Making your designs stand out to companies and art directors and ultimately customers who will buy your products is an important skill to master. It's not easy to convey the right mood and feeling with your chosen colours! Every colour palette I use in my designs, has what I call 'POP' colours. So what are these? Well, essentially they are 1-3 colours that you see when you first look at a design. They literally 'pop' off the design and help to give it contrast, variety and give...

Hello Reader, When designing a pattern design, it can be really frustrating when the layout isn't quite working or when you're close to finishing a pattern only to discover that you can see some obvious holes and gaps.....eeek! In my latest blog post, I discuss the most common layouts used by surface pattern designers as well as some fixes for common problems and how to solve them. You'll learn: common layouts used by surface pattern designers why the most common layout is the 'tossed/...

Hello Reader, Time is something that is precious to us creatives and planning out how you'll spend your time is just another task on our to do list! I don't know about you, but I always feel like I'm playing 'catch up' and trying to get yesterday's tasks done today that I didn't get around to..... Until that is that I started planning out my month and week with my most important and urgent tasks. Just this simple technique of planning out my time has helped to keep me on track even when life...

Hello Reader, Improving your pattern designs is a constant journey as a pattern designer, yet one that is very important! In today's blog post I discuss 5 proven ways you can improve your pattern designs. Summary of what I discuss: Colour palette Line work Details Scale Motif variation & quanity Read the latest blog post below: 5 Proven Ways to Improve your Pattern Designs As a subscriber I have a companion one page pdf Cheat Sheet just for you to complement the blog post. Click on the button...

Hi, Reader, I love Spring for it's colour palettes and the end to winter with all it's greyness, after all as creatives we LOVE colour! I love giving away freebies (who doesn't love freebies?!) so to get you started, I've included 5 FREE Spring colour palettes below, for you to use in your personal or commercial work. Enjoy! 5 FREE Spring Colour Palettes Latest Blog post I've (literally) just this week started my blog, so this week is blog post #1. I can't believe it's taken me soooo long to...