Suggested ways for using patterns:
So you downloaded a bunch of patterns... now what?
Here's a few interesting things you can do:
We will use the following pattern to demonstrate:
The basics of patterns is filling - so you use the paintbucket tool:
And you choose "pattern" in the "fill" option in the top
bar:
In the top bar set "tolerance" to "255". This will enable
you to fill everything and not just bits here and there:
And now we begin -
First just open a new image and set the background colour to white, then, once
you have chosen your desired pattern, take your paint bucket and click once
to fill the new image with your pattern - this should be the result:
The next thing to do is use a pattern fill on a coloured background. Here's
the same pattern on different backgrounds:
Next thing we can do is play with the pattern blending modes. First you will
need to change the blending mode in the top bar:
And here's how the above pattern looks when using the same background but different
modes:
Another interesting option is using a pattern on a gradient- just create a
new file, make the background into a gradient, choose a pattern blending mode
and fill up the image. Here the blending mode is "overlay":
The next tutorial will be about patterns and brushes and using patterns for grunge effects. Check it out in the tutorials' sections.