vrijdag 18 februari 2011

Making of the Background, Part I

Al lot of you guys have reacted on my request for feedback on my new design. First, thank you so much!!! Really appreciate it, even the negative feedback. It's still usefull.

PART   I - In the beginning.
PART  II - Masks!
PART III - Stripe on strip action.
PART IV - Putting it to work.

I decided te make a tutorial about how to make a background. It will be based on the current one, but feel free to modify it how you see fit.
Also please note that this tutorial will be catered to beginners. Advanced Photoshop users will still be able to learn something from this however!

First, we need a general idea of what to do. I wanted a stripy background that fades to black with a possible cross hatch like pattern on it.

First thing I did was google some reference.

I Googled colorfull.

The second image suited my needs perfectly


I did not make this image!!!

Now we got some reference, lets op up Phtotoshop!!!

First of, lets make a new document!




Got to: File - new (ctrl-O), and make it 3000 pixels long, and around 200 wide. 

This will be the background. The idea is to have it tiles across the entire width of the screen, and have it fade to back, or the colour that you want.

Now import the colorfull picture to your canvas.
You can just drag it on Photoshop, and then drag the picture's layer onto your background canvas, or you can copy it from your browser, and then simply paste it onto your canvas in photoshop.
Now that we have that setup, lets get going with the cool stuff!

 Select the Rectengular Marquee Tool (M) and drag a narrow strip over an area you like. Then hit Layer - New - Layer via Copy (Ctrl-J) in order to copy your selection to a new layer.

 If you dragged it horizontal, just use Free Transform (Ctrl-T) to rotate it vertically. If you hold  shift while you rotate it will snap at 45 degree angles, making sure you dont skew it. (Or just go Edit - Transform - Rotate 90°.)

Now use the Free Transform (Ctrl-t) to stretch the new layer waaaaaaay out. Make sure you at least cover the entire width of you canvas. 
 This will give you a lot of stripes!! repeat the proces a couple of times to get more variety. Import some more pictures and get samples from them.

Fill the entire height of the canvas with stripes. When satisfied, select all the layers that make up the stripes and click Layer - Merge Down (Ctrl-E).

This will merge all the loose layers to one. Now we will change the colours up a bit.

Copy (Ctrl-J) the stripes layer, and flip it. Either with the Free Transform tool, or by going to Edit - Transform - Flip Vertical. Now set the layer blending options to Multiply.

Feel free to change it up here. If you want to modify some stuff or don't be afraid to experiment around!!


That was all for now, join me again next time for Part 2 of this tutorial where we will make the background fade and add a nifty pattern to it!!

See you next time, and as always, leave your comment, feedback and critics in the comments.

Love you guys!!!!!

44 opmerkingen:

  1. I like it, I will make use of it sometime.

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  2. Somehow your blog's subtitle matches this remix quite well. This is a nifty way to create new backgrounds, and even to play around with paths and tools being applied along paths. I shall follow you to get more inspiration for my own projects!

    Best,

    Padd.

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  3. Looks like a lot of work, but its definitely worth it! I'm gonna try making one.

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  4. That's really cool. I wish I had fiddled with photoshop and other creative programs on computer when I was in highschool and had it free everyday haha.

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  5. That is a really trippy base image. I really enjoyed reading about the process.

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  6. do you plan on posting more creative photoshop tutorials?

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  7. Nice tutorial, thanks dude love the background!

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  8. Thats so cool, looking forward to part 2

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  9. great article. sadly I still cant draw a stick figure w/o a ruler :x

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  10. i never have patience for ps, ill stick to my ms paint :/

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  11. I've got a pirated PS, so I'm always looking for more ways to utilize it. Looking forward to more.

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  12. good tutorial. had no idea it was this complicated. everyone makes it look so easy

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  13. Interesting little tutorial, I tend to use more real life pictures when I make my backgrounds, but this ones a nice sort of psychedelic one.

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  14. good tutorial! im not a big fan of the colors but that can be easily changed :)

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  15. thanks for the tut, I'll be sure to try it out soon

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  16. Nice guide. You've definitely got some skill.

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  17. i just started learning photoshop, great info!

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  18. Super useful, thanks for the tutorial!

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  19. Actaully prefer the brighter colours. ...that would look terrible though haha.

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  20. Cool tutorial I needed one.
    On my blog i got a simple minecraft header which I like allot.

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  21. Very creative, the time you put in to make it definitely paid off. Congrats!

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  22. This actually looks pretty interesting, but I never would have thought to try this technique

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  23. Nice man, my blog layout needed some work, I'll look into this!

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  24. You should have incorporated the above picture in your background in some form or fashion Maybe do it to the style of a flag?

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  25. Photoshop and all of its wonders. Isn't it amazing and awesome?

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  26. Looks dope. Will definitely give this a go. I have never really gotten great at Photoshop though :-)

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  27. Love it, Gonna try this. I don't have Photoshop tho, maybe if you could make a tut with Paint.NET?

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