Plaid pattern drawing can be a really mindful and relaxing activity. The pattern is complicated, which makes you concentrate and the repetitive motion of your movements is almost meditative. Therefore, this combination can get you in a nice flow.
When I think of autumn, I also think of lying on the couch with a warm blanket over me. For most people blankets may represent winter, for me, it’s definitely autumn. I love snuggling up on the couch with my blanket while it rains outside.
Plaid also reminds me of autumn. Probably because of the colors that are usually used, such as red, brown, yellow, green, and orange.
Plaid is a rather complicated pattern that has very many variations. The pattern is described in the dictionary as follows:
“a pattern of unevenly spaced repeated stripes crossing at right angles”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plaid (10 November 2021)
You can google some great plaid patterns or you can copy the ones I used for this exercise. Some are simpler than others. For example, the second one in the exercise below is an easy one to start with.
And as always, just do what feels good, use the colors that you wanna use, and choose patterns that you like. You can also choose one pattern and change the colors each time.
Please let me know if this plaid pattern drawing exercise helped you relax, I’d love to know.
You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown
Supplies used:
Bristol paper (Hahnemüle), alcohol markers (Winsor & Newton), fineliner no. 0.3 (Copic), Polychromos kleurpotloden (Faber-Castell), white paint pen (Posca).
Alternative supply suggestions:
You can use a regular pen or a pencil to draw the blankets and pillows for this exercise. If you want to add color, use whatever you have, such as crayons, markers, watercolor. Even if you just have a pencil, just try it. You can simulate different colors by using different shades of grey.
Instructions
1. Firstly, draw some blankets or pillows for your patterns. You can draw a couch as I did, but you are free to do what you like. The minimum required is that you have some spaces to draw your plaid patterns in.
2. After you’ve drawn your blankets, start with coloring your couch or other background or decorative elements you’ve added.
3. Now it’s time for your first plaid pattern. It’s totally ok to look up some patterns on Google for inspiration. The characteristics of plaid are that you only have vertical and horizontal lines and the width of these lines differs. For this pattern, I used alcohol markers, colored pencils, and a paint pen. It is important to think about the order in which you are going to add the lines and colors. If you start with yellow, for example, and then add red, the yellow will not be visible.
I started with a red background. Then I added some brown lines, 2 thin ones close together and a thicker one, both horizontally and vertically. Secondly, I added a yellow line with a colored pencil between the 2 thin brown lines, again in both directions. In the end, I added a white line to the right and below the thick brown line.
4. The second pattern is probably the easiest one. I started with a yellow background and then added the lines with a brown pencil. The order is a thin line, 2 thick lines, a thin line, 2 thick lines, etc in both directions.
5. The third pattern is the same as the first, but with different colors.
6. The fourth pattern is a bit more complicated. I started with a dark brown background. Then I drew a thick white line followed by 5 thin white lines and then another thick white line. Again, I drew them both horizontally and vertically. On both sides of the thick white lines, there is a thin orange line. And next to the outer orange lines there’s a yellow line on both sides. It is difficult to describe, hopefully, the picture below helps. Otherwise, let me know and I’ll help you.
7. The last pattern has alternating brown thick and thin lines on a red background with a white line above and on the left of the thick brown lines.
8. Lastly, you can add some extra details if you like. I added some tassels to a few of the blankets.
Now you have finished the mindful plaid pattern drawing exercise. Well done!
If you liked this exercise, you might like my Mindful umbrella pattern exercise as well.
