> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ APRIL 2020[ 96 ]
Step One: In this tutorial, I’m using a vector file I previously
purchased from Adobe Stock that contains quite a few retro
objects, but you can use your own from any stock site. You
just need a few objects to get you going. You can use vector
art for this tutorial, but I opened the Adobe Stock image in
Illustrator and exported each asset that I wanted to use as a
separate PNG. You can find the image I’m using here, but
there are plenty of other options available on Adobe Stock,
as well as other image sites.Step Two: We’ll select the images we want to use and then
compose them into a random tile pattern that will repeat
seamlessly. The first thing to do is gather all the images you
want to use into a single folder. This will make life easier in
the next step.Step Three: Create a new
document (File>New). Make it
3000 x 3000 px at 300 ppi, and
click Create. Select all the assets
in the folder you created in the
previous step, and drag them
onto the new canvas. After the
first image appears, press Enter,
and then the next image will
appear. Keep pressing Enter
after each image loads. When
done, each item will be on its
own layer and all the layers will
be smart objects, which means
you can repeatedly resize them
without affecting their quality.
You now have all your assets
ready to create your pattern.CREATING SEAMLESS REPEATING PATTERNS
DAV EC L AY TO N
Designing in Photoshop
As always, there are many features in Photoshop that you might forget about because you don’t use
them very often. One such tool that I think is very creative is the Offset filter for generating seamless
repeating patterns, which are great for textile designs or backgrounds. These patterns aren’t hard to
create once you know the couple of little gotchas that can arise, such as getting the offset correct.
That means should one object “fall off” on one side, it will reappear on the opposite side to keep the
pattern infinitely continuous.©Adobe Stock/blueringmedia