YOU NEED GOOD FLORALS

If you’re a working designer, it’s likely you have some kind of floral up your sleeve. 

Florals feature on so many products (from teacups to pyjamas, to curtains to journal covers...) either as the central focus or peripheral decoration. Clients are always looking for good, unique florals and there are limitless ways of depicting them. But how do you make your florals stand out in the (massive) crowd? And how do you create variety and not get stuck in a rut, doing the same flowers over and over again?

I  worked for years as a womenswear textiles designer, eventually co-owning a New York design studio, and most of the designs we sold were floral based. We’d hold weekly meetings, discuss the themes and styles that were in demand, and decide who was going to tackle what. We had to make sure our portfolio was varied, well-rounded and, more than anything else, totally original.

Often, we’d look to the past for inspiration. Certain styles, colours, compositions and techniques slot together like recipes to form certain ‘looks’ and it helps to know the ‘ingredients’ of each one so you can create your own original version.

In my Explore Florals classes, I offer a new design brief each week that encompasses a key ‘look’. I explain the historical context and style characteristics of each one then suggest how you can approach the theme with different techniques.

I don’t teach you how to paint florals like me, but I do help you to be you and develop variety in your own unique way.

Registration for my online course, Explore Florals 2C, is now open. 

IMPORTANT  - It’s a re-run so make sure you haven’t taken it before. Email me to check if you’re not sure.

Sign up here now and get a $10 early bird discount (see details below).

Create beautiful, original floral designs. Combine historical influences, exciting techniques and your unique taste for a floral portfolio that stands out from the crowd.

Three-week course, starting Mon, July 13th 2020.

Only $75.

$10 early bird discount until June 22nd 2020 (use code EF2CDAISY).

Cart closes Fri, July 11th, 10.00 pm GMT.

Check out the phenomenal student work from my classes @victoriajohnson_createxplore

These are some of the florals I’ve done in the last year or so (a couple of them in response to my own course briefs). You can see that the style is consistent but the approach changes - from a tonal to a multi palette, from digital to hand-painted to collage, from repeats to placements, and sometimes combined with, birds, butterflies and pots (my fave things to paint aside from flowers!)

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Victoria’s Explore Floral courses (1b and 2a) and I’ve created several finished pieces for my portfolio! The briefs were amazing - well researched, informative, inspiring, challenging and “on-trend”. Probably my favorite feature in each of the briefs are the sections about what attributes characterize the art style that we were focused on. Having the essence of the style distilled and articulated so clearly was VERY helpful! I haven’t ever done the exercise of defining style like that (never even occurred to me) and it was very clarifying. The color palettes were perfect for each style and she provided great suggestions for different techniques to try. The group dynamic was supportive and open. Victoria and the other class members all volunteered great suggestions and ideas. Probably the most fun was seeing everyone’s different interpretations of the brief - that in itself really broadened my perceptions and pushed me to try new things. I would definitely recommend the class to any artist - from “newbies” to seasoned illustrators!

Anna Marie Bower
(Creative Director for Papyrus for many years.)