How I Make Analog Repeat Patterns with Paper Collage | What's On My Palette: Mar 15–21

Creative Practice

Mar 26

painted paper blog header with light blue background containing a painter's palette and brushes, but instead of paint blobs, its collage fruits

Last week’s studio time started the way a lot of good things do for me lately… with a spark I didn’t overthink. ✨

I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole watching repeat pattern videos (as you do), and before I could talk myself out of it, I decided to just try it. I wanted to see if it was doable with paper collage since every one I’d seen was hand-drawn or painted.

I had no plan, no prep, just pulling from my (dwindling) painted paper stash and seeing what happened.

And if I’m honest… I don’t really love how it turned out. 😅

The colors feel a little off to me, and the composition isn’t quite clicking in the way I wanted it to. It’s one of those pieces where I can see what I was going for, but didn’t quite land there.

However, I REALLY LOVED making it!

Like, fully lost track of time, scraps everywhere, brain lit up in the best way… loved it!

And that feels worth paying attention to…

A finished analog repeat pattern created with hand-cut paper collage pieces arranged into a seamless design

🎨What’s On My Palette is a studio series where I share the process, art supplies, creative workflow, and behind-the-scenes of my current illustration projects. Perfect for artists, stationery lovers, and creative entrepreneurs curious about process and materials.

If you want to see more, check it out here: What’s On My Palette

7 Steps to Illustrating an Analog Repeat Pattern

1. Start with 4 equal square pieces of paper

Same size, same orientation.
Lay them together in a square shape.

Lay them out like this:

Four square pieces of paper arranged in a larger square to begin creating an analog repeat pattern.

2. Tape them together (lightly)

Tape on the back side.
Just enough to hold while you work.
You’ll be removing them later.

Four square papers lightly taped together on the back to form a single working canvas for a repeat pattern

3. Draw your designs in the middle area

Treat it like one canvas.
Let elements cross between pieces.
Don’t draw near the edges yet.

A simple design of tulips and retro starbursts drawn across four connected paper squares, with elements crossing the seams.

4. Separate and swap TOP ↔ BOTTOM

Now remove the tape.
Swap the two squares on the top with the two on the bottom.
Tape back together.

Four paper squares separated ready to swap top 2 with bottom 2

top two paper squared separated and rearranged, showing a top to bottom swap in the repeat pattern process.

5. Flip over and fill the space

Now draw in the new empty space.
Allowing images to cross the seams. Still avoiding the edges.
This step makes the top/bottom edges repeat seamlessly.

Drawing added into the newly created center area after rearranging paper pieces to continue the repeat pattern.

6. Separate and swap LEFT ↔ RIGHT

Remove the tape again.
Swap the two squares on the left with the two on the right.
Tape back together.

A simple tulip and retro starburst design drawn across four connected paper squares, with elements crossing the seams, avoiding the edges.

7. Flip over and fill the space

Draw in the remaining empty space.
Finish with final details, avoiding the edges.

A completed hand-drawn analog repeat pattern made from four paper squares.

Ways to Use Your Pattern:

Once it’s finished, you can turn your design into:

gift wrap
book covers
thank you cards
stationery
phone or desktop backgrounds

Don’t forget to scan or photograph your pattern tile so you can assemble and repeat it digitally in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator!

A closeup finished analog repeat pattern created with hand-cut paper collage pieces arranged into a seamless design

In this post, we’re focusing on the repeat pattern structure itself.

Next week, I’ll show you how I use this same method to create a paper collage repeat pattern, including how I turn my sketches into templates for cutting and layering.

Thanks for reading! See you next week!

Xo,

Sarah

🎨What’s On My Palette is a studio series where I share the art supplies, creative workflow, and behind-the-scenes of my current illustration projects. Perfect for artists, stationery lovers, and creative entrepreneurs curious about process and materials.