Hi! I’m Jillian

Designer. Storyteller. Reluctant trend-chaser turned meaning-maker. Lol.

I created From Motif to Magic because, for a long time, I knew how to make patterns - but I didn’t know who I was trying to talk to or what I wanted to say with them.

I could follow trends. I could fill a canvas with florals or geometrics. I knew how to make things look “right.”
But my work didn’t feel like me. It didn’t connect. And honestly? It kind of disappeared in the scroll.

Sound familiar?

What I wanted was to make patterns that felt rich with meaning. Personal. Emotional. Memorable.
I wanted to create designs that people didn’t just like — they felt something from.

So I stopped trying to fit in, and started figuring out what made my work matter.

Now, I help surface pattern designers do the same.

From Motif to Magic is the course I wish I’d had back when I was second-guessing every design, chasing trends I didn’t even like, and wondering if I had a “style” at all. And I realized, I wasn't the only one.

Through my work supporting hundreds of surface pattern designers inside some of the top industry memberships and courses, I’ve seen the same thing again and again: technically skilled designers struggling to make their work stand out. This course is my answer to that.

In this course, I’ll teach you how to:

• Find the stories inside you and translate them into designs

• Create patterns that have mood, movement, and meaning

• Build a story-driven mini collection that finally feels like you

This isn’t about doing more. It’s about saying more.

A little about me (beyond the art stuff):

• I’m obsessed with nature - like snakes, fungi, weird insects... all the funky little things that make earth what it is.

• I design with Procreate and Adobe Illustrator, mainly.

• I live in Rhode Island, USA, with Kaleb, my scientist husband (he's a physicist - yes, like Sheldon Cooper) and our 10 year-old daughter, Riley.

• I believe that anyone anywhere can be an artist

If you’re ready to move beyond ‘just pretty’...

And start creating patterns that actually mean something?
I’d love to guide you through it.

Because your art deserves to say something real.
And your story? It’s already worth telling.