Clare Martin is a surface pattern designer and illustrator living in the sunny port city of Fremantle, Western Australia.
”I love to draw and paint and inspiration comes from the quirky, wonderful shapes, colours and patterns found in animals and plants, vintage objects that remind me of my childhood or anything that catches my eye that I just have to draw. My aim is to create joyful, whimsical art full of colour, layers and texture, that will make you smile and feel good. My designs have been sold on fabric, bags, homewares, home decor and swimwear.
When not working I like to spend time with my kids, walking our dog at the beach, seeing live music and shows at the Summer Arts Festivals in Perth, planning my next travel adventure and searching the local cafes for the perfect chai.
My work has been featured in:
• The Pattern Observer blog, April 2021
• The UK blog, Print & Pattern, May 2020
• Pattern Pulse – Exploring the art of Australian surface designers, Rachael King, 2020
• Uppercase magazine newsletter, June 2020
• E-magazine, The Digital Cloth, 2020
Clare’s experience taking UPB :
Doing UPB was brilliant for me. I was just starting out and didn’t have any experience in surface pattern design, only a background in graphic design. I had done Modules 2 and 3 first, which was important to have done these asUPB is that much more advanced. It rounds out the whole course of 4 modules so nicely, and covers things you don’t learn in the other modules which you may not have been ready to learn earlier. It’s very comprehensive and sets you up to have a great, commercial portfolio at the end of the course and is designed to give you a good understanding of how the industry works, including things like trade shows. It really pushed me much further than I thought I was capable of going, I was out of my comfort zone, but at the end of it I was so glad I’d done the course.
The Live Briefs and portfolio reviews were a highlight for me. The briefs were really fun and diverse, with the added incentive of winning a licensing contract for each one. The personal portfolio reviews by art directors were invaluable, plus being able to see everyone else’s critiques as well was really interesting and insightful. My design Cute AnimalJumble, was created for the kids wallpaper brief and is now one of my best sellers in my Spoonflower shop. My first ever collections were created during my time doing UPB.
How it started for Clare in 2018:
Clare’s accomplishments between taking UPB and now:
A career highlight for me recently has been attending Surtex New York in May last year. The experience as well as being a lot of fun and hard work, made me feel more connected to the surface pattern design world. Meeting both art directors and other artists was so important, and it’s incredible to get face to face feedback from art directors on your work, and to hear what they are looking for.
How it’s going in 2024:
Find out more about Clare here:
Instagram I Website I Pinterest
- How to build a commercial and lucrative body of design work
- How to attract and secure the right buyers and clients
- How to work with clients effectively and build a strategy
- How to get trade show ready
- How to progress your digital design skills to advanced level
- Plus so much more!
