Author: Anonymous Source: Flying Fish’s Sonar
This tutorial will teach you how to design a background easily. Applying these techniques to your designs allows you to easily adjust the background color, size, and scalability. With just a little effort, you can have unprecedented control over your background.
Make the background simpler
Suppose you are making a drawing for your client (or for yourself) in which the colors occasionally change, or you need to try a few different colors. One way to accomplish this is to create several different documents, and in each document, manually adjust the colors, sizes, and placement of different elements in different locations.
We were curious to know, “Shouldn’t there be an easier way to do it?”
In fact, there is an easier way to create this document by using shape layers, blending modes, and adjustment layers. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a background that can be adjusted in just a few clicks.
What’s the difference?
To illustrate the point of this tutorial, we will be using a simple gradient background. Before you use your gradient tool, let’s talk about resizing and scaling.
When you use the gradient tool, you really only have one chance to calculate. A gradient mixes different colors and is applied from one point to another. Once applied, the data cannot be changed. In many cases this is fine, butwhat happens if we change the size of the image?
As you can see from the image above, when we change the original gradient, the colors stretch accordingly. Photoshop does not recalculate the gradient, but keeps the original data and processes it separately.
That’s why we need scalable backgrounds. If we resize an image, or if we wish to reposition and change the proportions of a background image, we want the image to be as smooth as possible. Using scalable backgrounds, we can achieve this.
Start
It is entirely possible to create a scalable background using ordinary layers. It’s best to use shape layers (especially if you’re creating a background made of multiple parts).
Let’s start with a basic document. Let’s use a solid color document with the text “Tutorial9” above it. To create a basic background, first create a rectangular shape layer using the Rectangle Tool. Make sure you select the shape layer when using the Rectangle Tool.
Drag a box on the canvas. This is what your background will be after, extending beyond the borders of the canvas.
The current background color doesn’t matter at all, since we’ll make adjustments elsewhere later, but if you want to know how to change the color of a shape layer, you can make the changes directly from the Layers panel.
Background blending options
Right-click on your new shape layer and select Blending Options.
Select Gradient Overlay. This is where we’re going to set up our gradient background. There is no place more difficult than this. Start by simply setting the gradient to your liking.
Here’s what I accomplished:
You may be thinking “Is this what we have to do?”
Enough, we’ve created the exact effect with a few simple clicks, but let’s see what happens when you resize and reposition the shape layer?
As the image above shows, the gradient will be recalculated every time you resize the image, so you don’t have to recreate the background again and again.
Quickly adjust background color
Using adjustment layers, we can quickly edit the background by simply jotting down clicks. In order to quickly edit hue, saturation and brightness, we need to create a new hue/saturation/luminance layer (layer> New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation/Brightness).
Tip: Be sure to only create this layer above the shape layer! This adjustment layer will affect all layers below it.
Adjust the sliders in the dialog box to get the effect you want. Then click OK to save. You can click the icon in the Layers panel at any time to open this dialog box and change the settings.
Summary
It’s really easy to create a background like this, and if you use it correctly, it can greatly improve your work efficiency. I recommend trying out other adjustment layers to see which one saves time in your work.
You can also use multiple adjustment layers on your image to achieve the effect you want.
If you would like to download the Photoshop file we used for this tutorial, click here.
Original text: Quick, Easy, and Scalable Photoshop Backgrounds
Author: Anonymous Source: Flying Fish’s Sonar
This tutorial will teach you how to design a background easily. Applying these techniques to your designs allows you to easily adjust the background color, size, and scalability. With just a little effort, you can have unprecedented control over your background.
Make the background simpler
Suppose you are making a drawing for your client (or for yourself) in which the colors occasionally change, or you need to try a few different colors. One way to accomplish this is to create several different documents, and in each document, manually adjust the colors, sizes, and placement of different elements in different locations.
We were curious to know, “Shouldn’t there be an easier way to do it?”
In fact, there is an easier way to create this document by using shape layers, blending modes, and adjustment layers. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a background that can be adjusted in just a few clicks.
What’s the difference?
To illustrate the point of this tutorial, we will be using a simple gradient background. Before you use your gradient tool, let’s talk about resizing and scaling.
When you use the gradient tool, you really only have one chance to calculate. A gradient mixes different colors and is applied from one point to another. Once applied, the data cannot be changed. In many cases this is fine, butwhat happens if we change the size of the image?
As you can see from the image above, when we change the original gradient, the colors stretch accordingly. Photoshop does not recalculate the gradient, but keeps the original data and processes it separately.
That’s why we need scalable backgrounds. If we resize an image, or if we wish to reposition and change the proportions of a background image, we want the image to be as smooth as possible. Using scalable backgrounds, we can achieve this.
Start
It is entirely possible to create a scalable background using ordinary layers. It’s best to use shape layers (especially if you’re creating a background made of multiple parts).
Let’s start with a basic document. Let’s use a solid color document with the text “Tutorial9” above it. To create a basic background, first create a rectangular shape layer using the Rectangle Tool. Make sure you select the shape layer when using the Rectangle Tool.
Drag a box on the canvas. This is what your background will be after, extending beyond the borders of the canvas.
The current background color is completely unimportant because we will�Make adjustments elsewhere, but if you want to know how to change the color of a shape layer, you can make the changes directly from the Layers panel.
Background blending options
Right-click on your new shape layer and select Blending Options.
Select Gradient Overlay. This is where we’re going to set up our gradient background. There is no place more difficult than this. Start by simply setting the gradient to your liking.
Here’s what I accomplished:
You may be thinking “Is this what we have to do?”
Enough, we’ve created the exact effect with a few simple clicks, but let’s see what happens when you resize and reposition the shape layer?
As the image above shows, the gradient will be recalculated every time you resize the image, so you don’t have to recreate the background again and again.
Quickly adjust background color
Using adjustment layers, we can quickly edit the background by simply jotting down clicks. In order to quickly edit hue, saturation and brightness, we need to create a new Hue/Saturation/Brightness layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation/Brightness).
Tip: Be sure to only create this layer above the shape layer! This adjustment layer will affect all layers below it.
Adjust the sliders in the dialog box to get the effect you want. Then click OK to save. You can click the icon in the Layers panel at any time to open this dialog box and change the settings.
Summary
It’s really easy to create a background like this, and if you use it correctly, it can greatly improve your work efficiency. I recommend trying out other adjustment layers to see which one saves time in your work.
You can also use multiple adjustment layers on your image to achieve the effect you want.
If you would like to download the Photoshop file we used for this tutorial, click here.
Original text: Quick, Easy, and Scalable Photoshop Backgrounds
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