I sell art through Redbubble and Society6 and they both have their pros and cons. I personally prefer the print quality of Redbubble'southward apparel but Society6 really shines with their homewares products. I hateful y'all tin can become boobs on a shower drape. The absurdity of that speaks to me on a personal level.

Which is why I was genuinely excited when Society6 launched wallpaper earlier this year. I design a lot of repeating patterns. Wallpaper was my time to SHINE.

Or it would have been. But all my patterns to date don't tile equally a perfect square.

Instead, I'm dealing with this shit:

Screen shot of a rectangular pattern tile not fitting the Society6 wallpaper default

Note the cropping at the bottom and top of the pattern tile. If I tried to upload that, the resulting wallpaper would look similar this:

Groooossssss

The obvious solution is to design patterns so that their tiles are square which I'll be doing from at present on. In the concurrently, I'g rejigging my sometime patterns to fit the new format and information technology'due south a fucking pain in the ass. Then I figured what improve way to really feel the burn than to document this procedure for you guys.

You're welcome.

I'll be using my Relaxolotl pattern as a republic of guinea pig today considering it's ane of my best sellers.

Also, I'm a bourgeois snob who doesn't like learning new programs so the following is all Adobe Illustrator specific. You can, withal, apply a few of the tips and tricks to your own programs and/or processes if you work with something else.

Onwards!

Editing the Pattern

Here'southward the original blueprint swatch I'm going to exist rejigging. Don't let the square outline fool you lot, this tiles as a filthy, filthy rectangle.

Relaxolotl Pattern
I didn't hateful that #AllParallelogramsAreValid

When I open the pattern to edit information technology I get this:

Edit pattern view in Adobe Illustrator
NB: The teal background isn't actually a part of the pattern itself and then information technology doesn't get carried over into the blueprint edit interface

My current pattern settings are over here on the correct:

Screen shot of my current pattern settings

We'll be fucking with the following:

  • Tile Type: Hex by Row
  • Width: 2368.2656 px
  • Height: 1841.4199 px
  • Dim copies to: 100%
  • Show Tile Border (currently unselected)

First things first, I'm gonna downwardly that "Dim copies to" setting. This'll let me see what elements are actually editable.

Screen shot with copies dimmed to 20%
Gang'southward all here!

My usual process for creating my patterns is to freehand fuck effectually until I have a limerick that I similar. Since we're working to a specific tile shape correct now I'll hit that "show tile border" selection.

Screen shot with the tile edge visible

Yes, that own't a square. Let's change that Tile Type to "grid".

Screen shot after tile type changed to grid

Meliorate, but still not a foursquare. Time to fuck with the width and top settings. I'm gonna change it to:

Screen shot of height and width set to 2000px

Save yourself a headache and make sure your "Maintain Width and Height Proportions" is off. You too need to have "Size Tile to Art" unchecked to be able to manually alter your height and width.

Screen shot with tile set as a square

At present to rejig your elements to tile nicer with the current settings. Here're my dudes after I've done that.

Screen shot of new square tile friendly pattern

I'm non worried almost some of my bros sitting across the edge of the tile because when positioned adjacent, the tiling outcome will piece them back together seamlessly.

Here'southward my terminal pattern applied to a shape in Illustrator:

Final pattern applied to a shape in illustrator

Lookin' adept. Now to export the foursquare tile itself.

Isolating the Blueprint Tile in Illustrator

This is actually the same procedure I use to isolate the tile of any pattern. It'due south helpful when setting upward Redbubble products considering they requite you the option to tile your artwork (functionality Society6 could stand to implement as well honestly). It's also helpful for platforms like Spoonflower which require yous to upload a seamless pattern tile.

Dorsum to Illustrator. With the blueprint filled shape selected, go to Object > Expand…

Screen shot of the expand options

The resulting popup should give yous the option to expand the "fill". Brand sure that'southward selected and hit okay.

Then right click your shape and select "ungroup".

Screen shot of right clicking and selecting ungroup

Right click again and select "release clipping mask".

Screen shot of right clicking and selecting Release Clipping Mask

This'll requite yous something similar this:

Screen shot of the expanded pattern without its clipping mask

From there I can select i of my square tiles and fuck off the residuum (including the mask outline because we keep our fine art files tidy, children).

Final square pattern tile

Tada!

Exporting the Tile

There're a few ways to position your tile on an artboard for consign. My personal fave is to drag a rough artboard outline, select the artwork itself, and and then get Object > Artboards > Fit to Selected Art.

Before:

Artboard and art before command

Subsequently:

Artboard and art after command

Then comes the export.

I use the Consign for Screens choice in Illustrator. Society6'south wallpaper dimensions are 3600px 10 3600px. I'g going to match that exactly because if I upload something larger I risk their interface doing this:

Society6 art upload tool auto-zooming my pattern

Their calibration tool is an inexact science. And inexact doesn't fly with repeating patterns. One or two pixels out and the wallpaper is gonna wait sloppy as balls.

And so I'm exporting my square tile at EXACTLY 3600px x 3600px:

Screen shot of export settings and dimensions

And because this just tripped me upward – if your consign is saving at 3601px x 3601px, look to your artboard reference points to get rid of that rogue pixel.

Uploading to Society6

Here we go. Nosotros're uploading this sucker to Society6. I am a genius. I am god. I am-

Screen shot of my final pattern but it's zoomed out crappily

WHAT THE FUCK SOCIETY6 WAHT-

Okay, if this happens to you, elevate that scale all the way upward to 100% and and so — this is very important — hit "cancel" at the elevation right of the edit screen. When yous click back into edit the wallpaper it will have aligned itself properly because this is a totally rational way to pattern this process.

Screen shot of my final pattern properly aligned
The spider web dev in me BLEEDS

Hit "Salvage and Enable" and and then have a fucking beer because you lot earned it.

Here'southward my finished Relaxolotl wallpaper. Only 17 more products to go.

In the spirit of transparency, this mail service does include a few affiliate links to Society6 (non those that point to my own products though). If you click through them and buy something within the side by side 30 days I become a kickback. But hey, you might get to own a butthole tapestry. This is win/win, honestly.