Material Difference : Swirling Platypus

 

Pink colourway for Swirling Platypus design on Material Difference

A friend of mine recommended me to the really cool owner of Material Difference , a print on demand online fabric shop to create a few patterns for their website. They are a big supporter of using local Australian artists and I love that in a company, especially now that AI is so prevalent.  They browsed through my instagram account and saw my platypus work in progress and we discussed that it would be one of the patterns we try out for their website.   

I drew the platypus at a food court in the city after gym a few months ago. I love drawing animals in movement. I also find platypus fascinating so they do tend to turn up a bit in my work.

I then coloured them up using staedtler watercolour pens.  It's a fun medium to use and I would recommend it since it's quite convenient to bring on the go and I get to do water colours without having to change my paint water, compared to when I work with normal watercolours. 

I then scanned and edited the original images in Photoshop to create the repeat pattern. There are four colourways I provided that I thought best suited the original drawings.  I tend to design for fashion/apparel since that's the dream.  I love being able to wear my own designs when I put them up on Redbubble and I would love to see my designs on clothes out in the wild in the future.  Who knows if it will actually happen but I'll keep trying in the meantime.

Mock up bought on Creative Market from Freeman Studios

Green really works I think, it actually looks like how it would be if you found Platypus swimming underwater.

Mock up from Rawpixels 

Lavender is another good one.  Green and violet are contrasting colours and brown just stands out on violet shades.

Mockup from Rawpixels

I was going for neutral colours and blue grey is a really good background since it works with the grey beak and flippers of the platypus and it has a natural feel to it.

I also think this design would work with other products like tote bags, pillows, tea towels etc.  I'll have to put up the design on my Redbubble shop too.

If you are interested in buying this fabric design please check out Material Difference.  They have a huge variety of fabrics for all your needs from cotton to lycra.  It's pretty fantastic!  They also have a lot of other awesome designs for you to check out!

Material Difference