I'm having so much fun creating wallpaper right now and I have also come up with a couple of "tricks" to speed up the mockup and video production part which takes me longer than the pattern design and listing it self, lol. I will list some here in the hopes my tips will be useful for others.
- Generate Seamless Patterns with AI! Make Your Own Unique Pattern or Search Royalty-Free Stock images & Download for free!
https://www.patterned.ai/?via=SanFrancisco (this is an affiliate link - if you don't wanted to use it just remove the part after the question mark).
It's great to browse the gallery for inspiration. If you use Canva you might already know this tool since
Canva has it listed under Apps. I my self just found it today. Small images you can download for free - just upscale in Kittl at https://kittl.pxf.io/SanFrancisco (an other affiliate link so we can buy tons of treats to spoil our cat Luna rotten - just remove the SanFrancisco part to get there otherwise). - For the mock-ups I use https://canvy.com/ - they give you 7 weekly downloads for free but I personally went pro to change it up a bit more (and you can even upload your own rooms if you like).
It's handy too because I can just upload a pattern square from Zazzle as my art work piece and Canvy gives me the correct size (all scaled perfectly) in the room photo right away.
Since this is a European site use 61 cm for 2 feet as measurement (comes pretty close). Of course one pattern square doesn't make a whole wall paper. To get an entire wallpaper of my design I use the pattern square in the correct size (scaled by Canvy) in a html file to receive a repeating background. Than I just take a screenshot, crop and paste that image as a layer into my mock-up - goes faster than copy and paste each square in Kittl or Canva. Just pick a good contrast color (white, black or blue as an example) for the wall in Canvy's photo and than it's easy to make the entire wall in the Canvy picture transparent. If you don't know how to write the html code download the file from our resources page at https://sanfrancisco.zone/resources/ (it's almost at the bottom under "HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, JQuery & Such" - it's the link called "HTML Code for Simple Website with Repeating Background". Put your pattern image into the same folder as the html file in your computer or it won't work and open the file in your web browser (and don't forget to edit the html file first in a text program so that the image file name is correct - /* Replace 'pattern.png' with your image file name */). - And finally for the video part I use NiftyToolZ (Promo Tools for Zazzle affiliates and storekeepers – free & paid) by Mark Highton Ridley at https://niftytoolz.com/ which creates a GIF file for me which I than can easily upload to Canva to insert into a square graphic for Zazzle.
@Cherie You too Cherie. I love summer time!! 🌞🤗
And yes - Mark is super awesome!!
I never heard of Krita - need to google that tomorrow. Thanks so much Cherie.
@idraw Thanks so much. I have already found Krita and followed some of their Social Media accounts now. I will download it soon to give it a try.
I don’t use Photoshop anymore (ever since they went subscription based so many years ago), in earlier years I just bought the software which is what I prefer doing in general. I use Gimp instead and love it. It may not be as sophisticated as Photoshop but it’s good enough for me - simple, straightforward and free. I can always support free software with a donation if I feel like it (and I do at times).
@Connie Your very valid point is taken. And trust me - I thought about it too. A lot actually. But AI 🤖 isn’t going away - quite on the contrary. Using AI is a tool - it can’t (hopefully) replace human creativity. It’s kinda like computers who have replaced typewriters, typewriters who have replaced the folks writing books by hand etc.. AI is here and it will stay here. If you are now dealing with your bank or what ever, chances are you have been dealing for some time already with AI and not a human teller anymore. It’s sad, frightening and concerning but the Genie is out of the bottle. For some time already. And it’s not like Zazzle isn’t using AI either.
I discuss this matter a lot with my neighbor who happens to be a hairdresser. She’ll be fine for some time I believe . But most jobs are in jeopardy. We have to learn to adapt.
PS: I remember the days it took me countless hours to clean up one single image pixel by pixel. I today use happily AI for this super boring task.
@Connie How about if we asked Zazzle to create a special highlighted/featured category for the artists who don’t use AI? I could see that being very beneficial for everyone, especially for the artists who do it all by hand. I actually think that maybe 99% of the creators use AI in one way or an other. Of course I could be wrong, eight months ago I thought all Zazzle did was selling iPhone cases, smile.
I wouldn’t be one of them though (the ones who do it all them self). I used to create oil paintings (and hand made dolls), had exhibitions and sold my art too. But that was many, many moons ago. I use now lots of tools in my digital art. I still believe I have an eye for what looks good (sometimes). But than again when I at times see what actually sells I wonder. Well, the good thing is that so many people have so many different preferences and art has always been a question of taste (and then some).
@Connie And a camera is just a “thing” taking pictures. Are photographers no artists? It goes on and on and on. I will now not respond to this topic anymore, I said what I think about it. Happy Monday - for us the heatwave seems to be over now and I feel like a normal person again, lol. 🙂
@Connie Oh, this discussion can go on and on and on. What makes it real art? Is using some tools still ok? I have always used tools as long as I can remember and I have NEVER EVER meet an artist not using them (of course I wasn’t around let’s say 500 years ago). Where do you draw the line? What is art and what is simply cheap imitation?
