ABSPD FEATURED DESIGNER: Carrie Tasman

Welcome back everyone. Today I share the work of Carrie Tasman. Carries creative abilities are amazing. She is an amazing painter and I am in awe of her abilities as a Surface Pattern Designer as well: 

Can you tell me a little bit about your background in Surface Pattern Design?

I've been a painter for the last 12 years or so. I paint still life and interiors and have always put lots of patterns in my paintings leafing through home design mags for inspiration! I've painted my dogs into my paintings often and this turned into doing commissions, custom paintings of people dogs and cats, which has helped me stay afloat during the last few years as my painting sales dropped a bit in the economy slump. I've been selling my art on the road at outdoor art fairs and I'm also in several galleries on the west coast us. About three years ago I developed what I consider a crafty collage technique with polymer clay, and that's what got me really interested in surface pattern design because I designed all my own stamps and silkscreens to lay down swathes of patterns on the clay. I loved designing my own patterns, and have used some in my paintings too, and realized I found pattern making most satisfying. 

What made you apply for the ABSPD course and what have you gained from it so far?

This last year I just burned out on the long summers of travel and art shows so my husband and I talked it over, and figured I had enough commission paintings to get me through the summer, so I could take some classes I'd been interested in for a while. I took The Sellable Sketch with Michelle Fifis, which just got me started, and then I found Rachael Taylors course, and they were just ready to begin Module 3, but I signed up anyway, and have been obsessed with designing, sketching and everything pattern since then. I have a background in computer graphics so the computery part is easy and fun for me, and Rachel gave me just enough tech lessons to get me going, plus tons of industry info so I can begin to see how this might work as a profession. It is a perfect combination of my college background in graphic design and my passion for art and painting. 

Can you describe your style and what methods you use to create your designs?

I love bright bold saturated color, I love nature, flowers, damask patterns (which are complicated but fun to do). In my art and design I work from my sketchbooks, same for pattern design. I have these ideas in my sketchbook, which look fun and playful to me, but when I get them into the computer and refine, they come out looking a bit more traditional than is my intention, but with a super modern color palette, so I think I'm still discovering who I am as a designer. More to be revealed.Where do you see your work progressing in the next few years, and what industry would you say you are aiming at?

I am interesting in licensing my design and my art to companies. Initially I thought I was interested in home goods, but once I started putting patterns on things, I can see how they would work on a lot of different products. After my fall art shows and a trip to Paris (so lucky me) I'm going to concentrate on portfolio building and look into tradeshows for fall/winter 13/14. The trade show format is familiar to me, I love talking to people in the business and making connections. Meanwhile, I'm sketching like crazy, and designing while preparing for my art shows! A fun and very busy creative life!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT TASMAN STUDIO:

http://www.tasmanstudio.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tasman-Studio/134901142375