Okay! Here goes! LOL I have a lot to share with you all today! I have my house to myself, again, since my daughter moved out. I’m trying to keep so busy that I don’t miss the children as much! It’s hard!
I was spending my QUIET afternoon, searching around the net, looking for techniques, particularly with brushes. I saw a thread where the author was inquiring as to the location of the ‘Textures Panel/Palette’ and I had to chuckle. I swear I recall one of the real early editions of Photoshop having one, a panel, like the others, where a texture could be applied. Realizing that, if I wasn’t the only one who spent a ton of time, looking for the darned thing in more recent editions, then, there might be others who are confused on this issue, as well. I have a little tutorial for you all that will hopefully explain texturing a little better for you – complete with examples! LOL
Did You Know…?
PS does have a place where you can add texture to a layout/document. A couple, in fact. Under ‘Layer Styles’, grouped with ‘Bevel and Emboss’, there is a Texture feature.
Tip: You can save a favorite texture as a Pattern to use for this feature. Notice the word ‘Pattern’ to the immediate left of the selection window. Save it full size – 3600pxs. if you want! You can ‘Select’>’All’ if you like, first, but, a full page will save full. Go to ‘Edit’>’Define Pattern’ and click it. A little window will pop up where you can change the name, then, save it. Since it will be the most recent Pattern made, it will be the last ‘Pattern’ in your Patterns Panel. It may start out a texture, but, once you do this, it will become a Pattern, too! Save it!
Here are my results:
Texture I am using is from Jack “Wow” Davis’ on Facebook! (Click on ‘Freebies’ tab)
or….
There is a ‘Texture’ feature in the ‘Filters’ Panel. First, though, if you have a recent version of Photoshop, you may not be seeing all of your ‘Filters’! OMG! LOL
Now, to the ‘Filters’ panel!
This list of Filters is the complete list, by the way, as I checked the box to enable me to view them all. If you don’t have all of these, you need to check your box. This includes from ‘Artistic’ down to ‘Other’ – not AVBros or Digimarc)
Another window will open.
Now, here’s the thing! A window will open up when you click on “Load Texture” where you can select an image/texture from your hard drive. It must be in .PSD format! So, if you have a cool texture you want to use, take it in to PS first and save it as a .PSD file, then, close it so you can select it here.
I am able to view my .PSD files in Windows with the Tuma’s marvelous program, “Argus” – http://www.tumasoft.com/argus/index.html – or click image.
The texture I will be using is highlighted in blue. Then, I click ‘Open’. Here is what I got:
As you can see, there are several settings you can tinker with. The ‘Scaling’ is the size of the pattern/texture. ’Relief’ refers to the depth of the texture. You can change the lighting angle and ‘Invert’ that, too, if you like! Then, click “Okay”.
These settings are about the same as when I used the Texture feature in Layer Styles. The problem with both of these methods is there is so little you can adjust! There aren’t any Blending Modes!
Now, I want to just show you how different this page will turn out if you simply open a texture in PS, drag it onto your layout and change the Blending Mode to ‘Multiply’ or ‘Overlay’ or whatever – play around with them. This is the same exact texture that I used for the other two methods, just in .JPG format.
The difference is obvious! The PS-generated Texturing is ‘sterile-looking’, if you know what I mean. Not real! But, the texture we just dragged in and Blended has texture AND character, as well! You can lower the ‘Opacity’, if need be, too!
Just one last tip and then I have something for ya’ll! There are Textures and there are Overlays. The difference is that a Texture is usually a .JPG and may be a photo or any image with an interesting texture to it. An Overlay is ‘transparent’ and comes in .PNG format, as a rule. If either is in a color you don’t like, or, in Grayscale, you can change the colors first, before blending them, to get better coloring.
For months now I have been yammering about my experiment and research and the ‘hand-made’ look and all that jazz. I am finally to a point where I can start putting it out for ya’ll. I was considering making it all into a kit, but, I think, instead, I will give the stuff away by type of resources they are. Like, the goodies I have for you today are some ‘painted-looking’ background papers/textures. They were some I had made a while back and didn’t much like. So, I really switched them around! I used an ‘under-painting’ technique. (This is pretty common when painting with oils or acrylics. It gives the work an interesting backdrop or blendable texture as well as a stronger foundation. Try using ‘complementary’ colors – opposite each other on a color wheel – one on each of two separate layers. Adjust blending modes or whatever else. Note the green and purple texture in the preview.) That’s why they are titled “Recycled”. There will be elements and stamps and some presets, too! Click on the image to collect these!
I put this set in Dropbox. Let me know if you have any problems? I am not sure what is going on with my host. I definitely have more time to get all of this out to you all! So, I shall see you soon!
Until, next time…
Hugs,
Su