As with any profession, illustration is an endless journey of discovery and learning. Two years ago I discovered pattern design and adored it. Then, not long after that I found out about mock-ups and honestly I probably got a bit over enthusiastic. I just loved it. It gives patterns a context and a reason. Also, making something look different by applying your own design and colours is just really appealing to me. Recently I've been using card and tea-towel mock-ups to show over illustrations in my shop.

Learning how to Mock-up

I started off following classes on Skillshare. People like Maja Faber and Sue Gibbins apply their teaching to pattern design. I've also used Unsplash to find cute images of animals and kids. They have a particular aesthetic to their pictures that works really well for the purpose of mock-ups, possibly because of the light and contrast. I don't know, I just find myself returning to them and finding good images easily. That is a harder way to do it though, a demands a pretty technical knowledge of photoshop. By far the most professional look has been achieved by buying mock-up sets on Creative Market. More often than not they'll have detailed instructions and the effect is very convincing. Then sometimes you stumble across a free resource like setting up a creative account on NoIssue. They're a very cool company that supply custom designed, environmentally friendly sticker, tape and tissue paper, and with a creative account you have access to free mock-up sets which are beautiful.