How to Improve Your Surface Pattern Design Skills Faster

I remember sitting at my kitchen table working on another custom watercolor piece, while pages of playful florals and doodles sat beside me, waiting to be scanned and turned into patterns.

I wanted my business to grow. I needed it to create income. So I kept saying yes to work I didn’t really want to be doing, quietly wondering, why does this feel harder than it should?

I was creating constantly. Learning new tools. Watching tutorials late at night. And yet, progress felt slow and fuzzy. Not because I wasn’t working hard, but because I didn’t yet understand how skill actually compounds in surface pattern design.

What changed everything for me was realizing that growth doesn’t come from doing more. It comes from doing the right things, more intentionally.

If you want to improve your surface pattern design skills more efficiently than I did, here are three practical shifts that make a real difference.

1. Finish more, even when it feels imperfect

Skill accelerates when you complete work, not when you endlessly tweak it. Finished patterns teach you far more than abandoned ones.

Set smaller goals. Finish the repeat. Export it. Move on.

You can always return with fresh eyes a week or two later, and you may be surprised by how differently you see your work. Completion builds confidence and clarity faster than perfection ever will.

2. Study patterns like a designer, not a consumer

Instead of scrolling for inspiration, slow down and analyze what you see.

Ask yourself simple questions.
How many motifs are actually in this repeat?
What is the scale and color palette?
How much negative space is there?
What is this design intended to live on?

This kind of observation sharpens your design instincts far more than passive inspiration and directly informs your own creative process.

3. Choose one skill and stay with it long enough for it to settle into your core

Growth speeds up when you stop trying to master everything at once.

Choose one program, Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate, or Affinity.
One medium, sketching, digital brushes, watercolor, gouache, or ink.
One platform, Instagram, Pinterest, or Spoonflower.

When you slow down and repeat the basics, scale, spacing, balance, color relationships, and repeat structure, they stop feeling like decisions and start feeling intuitive. And when that happens, your work becomes stronger, clearer, and more efficient with far less effort.

Staying with one skill long enough to feel automatic is what turns effort into ease and growth into momentum.

Looking back, I wasn’t lacking talent or effort. I was lacking focus. When I stopped trying to do everything and instead finished more, studied with intention, and committed to one skill at a time, growth finally started to feel lighter and more natural.

If things feel slow or scattered right now, you’re not behind. You don’t need to rush your growth. You just need a clear path forward.

I’m so grateful to be walking alongside you in this messy, beautiful creative life.

A quick note before you go

The Pattern Revival Workshop is happening this week, February 11 through 16, and it holds a very special place in my heart. When I first took it, it completely opened my eyes to what was possible in surface pattern design and truly shaped the early direction of my work and the opportunities that followed.

If you’re feeling stuck, scattered, or unsure what to focus on next, this workshop can be a powerful reset.

Save your free seat here

p.s. Want weekly encouragement, creative tips and resources like a custom monthly mockups? Join Studio Notes Here🤎