Making a Half Brick Repeat Pattern in Procreate
A half brick repeat pattern with flowers by Larissa
We have learned how to make full drop repeat patterns and half drop repeat patterns for the last two months. Today, let’s look at making half brick repeat patterns in Procreate.
Making a Half Brick Repeat Pattern | About Half Brick Repeats
Setting Up a Half Drop Repeat Pattern File
Create a new canvas of 3000px by 3000px (could be any other square size) at 300dpi,
Toggle on “Drawing Guide”, set it as “2D Grid”, bump up the grid size to “max”, you will then have a horizontal middle line and a vertical middle line on your canvas,
Fill the entire canvas with a color, creating a square shape,
Go to “Transform”, toggle on “Magnetics” and “Snapping”, bring “Distance” and “Velocity” all the way to max,
Move up the square to the top until the bottom edge of the square snaps to the horizontal middle line. If you see orange lines popping up, that’s an indication you are doing the right thing, but always zoom in to check if the shape lines up perfectly to the edges of the canvas,
And now you have a rectangle shape on your canvas,
Go to “Layers” and then create a new layer, fill that layer with a different color,
Go to “Transform” again, make sure “Magnetics” and “Snapping” are toggled on,
Move the shape downwards until the top edge snaps to the horizontal middle line, then move it to the left until the right edge of the shape snaps to the vertical middle line
Again, if you see orange lines popping up, that’s an indication that you are placing the shape correctly, but always zoom in to see if the shapes line up perfectly,
And now you have a small square in the bottom left corner,
Now use the same method to create another small square in the bottom right corner,
Select the top rectangle in the “Layers” menu, tap on “Save & Load” at the bottom, tap on the “+” symbol to save it as “Selection 1”,
Select the bottom left small square in the “Layers” menu, tap on “Save & Load” at the bottom, tap on the “+” symbol to save it as “Selection 2”,
Select the bottom right small square in the “Layers” menu, tap on “Save & Load” at the bottom, tap on the “+” symbol to save it as “Selection 3”,
Create a new layer on top, fill it with a different color,
Move the shape horizontally to the left until the right edge of the shape snaps to the vertical middle line. Now you have a rectangle on the left half of your canvas,
Use the same method to create another rectangle on the right half of your canvas,
Select the left rectangle in the “Layers” menu, tap on “Save & Load” at the bottom, tap on the “+” symbol to save it as “Selection 4”,
Select the right rectangle in the “Layers” menu, tap on “Save & Load” at the bottom, tap on the “+” symbol to save it as “Selection 5”,
Delete everything in the “Layers” menu, then your half brick pattern file is set up and ready to go.
How to set up a half brick repeat pattern file in Procreate
Making a Half Brick Repeat Pattern | Using a half brick repeat pattern file in Procreate
Designing the Pattern
I will use the two stamp brushes I’ve made before to design this pattern,
Make sure whatever you draw does not cross the edges of the canvas.
Designing a half brick repeat pattern with stamp brushes of flowers and leaves
Flipping Selections 1, 2 & 3 Horizontally & Vertically
Before doing the flipping, make sure to create a new layer under the elements you have drawn, and fill that layer with a color,
It would be great for you to think about the background color for your pattern at this stage, and use that color to fill this new layer,
Group the elements you’ve drawn so far and the color layer together, the group will become the original repeat file after you’ve done everything,
Select all layers within the group, go to “Selections”, tap on “Save & Load”, tap on “Selection 1”, then go to “Transform”, tap on “Flip Horizontal”, and then “Flip Vertical”,
Do the same for Selection 2 and Selection 3.
Flipping Selections 1, 2 & 3 horizontally and vertically in the half brick repeat pattern
Continuing to Design the Pattern
Feel free to reposition the elements as you go,
I use the “Freehand Selection“ tool to isolate the element I’d like to move,
Now you can continue to design your pattern,
Make sure whatever you draw does not cross the edges of the canvas.
Continuing to design the half brick repeat pattern
Flipping Selections 4 & 5 Horizontally
Select all layers within the group, go to “Selections”, tap on “Save & Load”, tap on “Selection 4”, then go to “Transform”, tap on “Flip Horizontal”,
Do the same for Selection 5.
Flipping Selections 4 & 5 horizontally in the half brick pattern
Continuing to Design the Pattern
Now you can continue to design your pattern,
Feel free to reposition the elements as you go,
Make sure whatever you draw does not cross the edges of the canvas,
You can see I sized a leaf down at some point in the following clip,
When working in Procreate, I do not recommend you sizing any part of your work up, because we are working with raster images here, sizing anything up will bring up the pixels which will ruin the quality of your work,
However, sizing anything down is alright. You will see me doing a lot of sizing down throughout the rest of my process,
After positioning all the leaves, I will place some flowers on top of the leaves,
I will create a new layer for the flowers. I suggest you do the same, to create seperate layers for the elements in you design.
Continuing to design the half brick pattern
Flipping Selections 1, 2 & 3 Horizontally & Vertically
Select all layers within the group, go to “Selections”, tap on “Save & Load”, tap on “Selection 1”, then go to “Transform”, tap on “Flip Horizontal”, and then “Flip Vertical”,
Do the same for Selection 2 and Selection 3.
Flipping Selections 1, 2 & 3 horizontally and vertically in the half brick repeat pattern
Continuing to Design the Pattern
Now you can continue to design your pattern,
Feel free to reposition the elements as you go,
Make sure whatever you draw does not cross the edges of the canvas.
Continuing to design the half brick pattern
Flipping Selections 4 & 5 Horizontally
Select all layers within the group, go to “Selections”, tap on “Save & Load”, tap on “Selection 4”, then go to “Transform”, tap on “Flip Horizontal”,
Do the same for Selection 5.
Flipping Selections 4 & 5 horizontally in the half brick pattern
Continuing to Design the Pattern
Now you can continue to design your pattern,
Feel free to reposition the elements as you go,
Make sure whatever you draw does not cross the edges of the canvas.
Continuing to design the half brick pattern
Flipping Selections 1, 2 & 3 Horizontally & Vertically
Select all layers within the group, go to “Selections”, tap on “Save & Load”, tap on “Selection 1”, then go to “Transform”, tap on “Flip Horizontal”, and then “Flip Vertical”,
Do the same for Selection 2 and Selection 3.
Flipping Selections 1, 2 & 3 horizontally and vertically in the half brick repeat pattern
Continuing to Design the Pattern
Now you can continue to design your pattern,
Feel free to reposition the elements as you go,
Make sure whatever you draw does not cross the edges of the canvas.
Continuing to design the half brick pattern
Flipping Selections 4 & 5 Horizontally
Select all layers within the group, go to “Selections”, tap on “Save & Load”, tap on “Selection 4”, then go to “Transform”, tap on “Flip Horizontal”,
Do the same for Selection 5.
Flipping Selections 4 & 5 horizontally in the half brick pattern
Continuing to Design the Pattern until Completion
Now you can continue to design your pattern,
Feel free to reposition the elements as you go,
Make sure whatever you draw does not cross the edges of the canvas,
When the entire canvas is filled with my design elements, I can move on to testing and troubleshooting the pattern.
Continuing to design the half brick pattern until completion
Testing & Troubleshooting the Pattern
Make 5 copies of the original repeat and use them for pattern testing,
Go to “Transform”, make sure “Magnetic” and “Snapping” are toggled on, and make sure “Distance” and “Velocity” are kept at max levels,
Select each pattern copy in the “Layers” menu and shrink it to 1/4 of your canvas size,
In my case, my canvas size is 3000px by 3000px, I need to shrink each pattern copy to 1500px by 1500px,
You will see the size indication while you are shrinking the pattern copies, just look for the correct numbers,
Line up the pattern copies in a way that is shown in the following clip,
Always zoom in to check along the middle horizontal line and the middle vertical line to make sure all 5 copies are perfectly aligned,
And now you can quickly troubleshoot your pattern to see if anything needs to be adjusted in a way that is shown in the following video clip.
Testing & troubleshooting the half brick pattern
Showcasing Your Pattern
Please note when showcasing your pattern online, do not show your original repeat,
Create a new file in Procreate and line up your repeats to make a new image, and sign it, then you can share that image online,
I will create a 4:5 file (an Instagram post size) in Procreate to showcase my pattern in the following way:
Showcasing the half brick patterm
Watch the full tutorial here:
By using the same method, I also created a slightly complex half brick pattern using the stamp brushes I made, which you can view here:
Resources
To get you started making a half brick repeat pattern, I’ve prepared the half brick repeat pattern template in the following sizes (files open in Procreate):
In the template, I’ve set up the selections for flipping. You can just go straight into designing your half drop pattern, and then flip the selections as you need.
You can download my stamp brushes to use them as templates for the stamp brushes you are going to make (file open in Procreate):
You can also download the color palettes I used in the tutorials (files open in Procreate):
I hope you will be inspired to make a half brick repeat pattern in Procreate.
Happy creating!
