Hi there...
I’m Barbara Abbatiello. I am a Surface Pattern Designer and Illustrator. My goal is to create elegant, fun and whimsical patterns and illustrations perfect for your products. With years of technical experience in graphic design, I can be sure to create art the way you want and can speak your language getting art ready for your products.
A little bit about me….as far back as I can remember, I had a passion for drawing and coloring. I decorated bulletin boards and drew graphics for teachers in elementary school, and made posters for all my high school events. When I left for college, my very practical and sensible self led me to major in Engineering because of my love of math and drafting. During this time, my mom tried to convince me to take art classes and major in Art. I thought she was crazy and fought her tooth and nail. What parent does that? After my first semester as an Engineering major, I HATED it. I came home and told my mom, I would take one art class. Although my heart was always in art, I was scared to try to make a living at it. I mustered up all my courage and switched majors. I never looked back.
I have spent the past 20 years of my life as a Designer both in the corporate world and as a Freelancer. Yes, I thank my mom all the time for her belief in me and pushing me past my fears. I enjoyed my corporate career for over 13 years at PAPYRUS Greeting Cards/Marcel Schurman. I soaked up all the GOODNESS I could being around an incredibly talented team every day. I eventually left to become a stay at home mom/freelancer. Now you’ll find me in my studio doing my dream job and creating my heart out designing art for products like yours.
Check out my skills below…
Skills
Technical Skills
I love technology. I work in the Adobe Cloud Creative Suite concentrating on Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. I am constantly learning and training. You will also find me on my Ipad which I would rather have than my phone. I love this thing! I work in ProCreate and Adobe Draw primarily. WordPress is my new friend and I enjoy tinkering around.
Traditional
Mmmmm, the smell of paint on wet paper. I am mesmerized by the flow of watercolor paint in water. Creating and painting in my studio is my happy place. My foundation in college was traditional art. We learned to do everything by hand, then on the computer. I was on the cusp of the transition to the digital age. You will still find me today with my sketchpad and pencil, sipping on coffee in the corner of Starbucks, in my own little world.
Surface Pattern Design
I create Surface Pattern Design in both Photoshop and Illustrator. I love the magic of creating a repeat and making that baby lock up. Seeing the full pattern come to life is one of the many joys of designing for me. The whole process from concept, inspiration, sketching, digitizing, colorizing and building a pattern is always fresh and new. Each time I start a new project, and work through it to completion, it feels like Christmas.