Huewalker's Tutorials |NEW Gif Process - Pg 37| - Page 9

Texture Tutorial - Part I

So we're going to talk about textures. And to be honest I have no idea what I should say because I feel there is too much. Hence I'm trying. 😳

I'm also breaking this tutorial into two parts. This is part one and we'll just talk about the basics. I'll also put up a post with links to some textures I use a lot. In part two, I'll explain the layering process, and some of my edits in detail, i.e, the step by step procedure.

So yeah this  part is going to be your boring theory class. 

 EXPERTS - Feel free to SKIP this one.

 P.S you don't have to follow all the junk I've said.  This is to give you guys a basic idea.

Textures:

What are textures?

Textures are images which give a certain depth to images. Often people tend to confuse between stock and textures. Photographs are called stock, while textures are more than simple photographs. For instance this and this are stock images. You can see there are no crazy effects or anything happening in stock, they're just plain photos.

How many types of textures are there?

A LOT. There are a lot of types that it's impossible to break them down into categories. It all started with basic types like paper, grunge etc but soon thanks to tumblr and DA new types like anaglyph textures are being invented as we talk. So yeah, we're gonna stick with the basic categories. Some textures might fit into more than one category.

The Three Ls.

There are three things which you need to take care of while using textures. Once you understand them textures use will be easy like never before. The first two are understandable but the third and most important one is all up to you.

Layer Modes aka Blending Modes:

There are 27 layer modes in Photoshop including normal. Sometimes when I use a texture I exactly know which layer mode I should go for. Like if it's a black and white texture and I only need the white part I'll put it to screen. But when I'm unsure I try out many layer modes. The Shift + plus key and Shift plus minus key come in handy when you want to go through layer modes quickly.

If you need a detailed guide on layer modes go here

Layer Mask:

For the blending textures with perfection use layer masks and keep on playing with the opacity of your brush. Soft Brushes are more advisable but it depends on your type of edit. Eraser tool is a pain in the ass when it comes to texture blending.

After completion, the edit should look like it is one picture. It should come together. That is the whole purpose of blending.

Layering:

This refers to the process of combining different types of textures, i.e, deciding which and how many textures to use. Sometimes using one or two textures will be enough but sometimes I use 10+ textures for a single edit. I'll talk about some layering tips in detail in the next part. Let's get through with the basics first. 

Some Basic Types Of Textures & Tips To Use Them

Paper Textures:

No explanation necessary here. They resemble paper.

(credit: Northerndrawn@DA)

They come in various shades and feels though. Some are a bit grungy, then there is vignette type, some have slight patterns on them.

I usually don't use paper textures on Lighten and Screen blending modes because it makes it look whitewashed.

Mind you I even lowered the opacity to 30%. Still it looks whitewashed. Sometimes people intentionally use it because they think it is a cool effect. And sometimes, in case of some single picture edits and all that, it works. But most of the time, PAPER TEXTURE + SCREEN MODE = DISASTER. So I stay away from screen especially since there are a lot of cool stuff you can do.

Overlay and Multiply are my personal favorites while working with paper textures.

Light Textures

I am not talking about bokeh textures.

These are Black and white textures which are used to give lighting effect to edits. Soft Light is the most common blending mode they are used in. Sometimes Hard Light also comes into play.

I know they look a bit ugly at first glance but once you begin using them, they tend to be kinda addictive.

Overlay textures

They're also black and white. They're usually used in Screen/Lighten/ Softlight / Overlay.

I've mostly used such textures in this edit

p.s sometimes these textures are also used as bases.

Bokeh & Lightleak Textures

They are usually used in Lighten // Screen.

Scenery // Tumblr

These kinda textures are mostly found/used in tumblr hence the name.

 All the Rest!

Here comes the textures I can't even categorize. There are so many types. Sigh.

So I'll just share some tips/tricks I commonly use. 

When using textures as background

• When using textures as background, make sure you blend similar type of textures together. DO NOT force textures which don't complement each other.

(^Cool isn't it)

Now I'm gonna show you how you can perfectly screw up the same. 😆

In the first one all the textures go along together. In the second one there's a dark texture in the background + bright flowers + buildings + water. Like whut?! 

• Do not stretch your textures. If you want to fill a bigger canvas with smaller textures flip, rotate. Sometimes when I need to make my textures smaller I always press Shift key while using transform tool.

Miscellaneous Tips

• Make sure that the texture you use doesn't distort your image.

• Play around with blending modes. It is advisable not to use screen mode with textures which are whitish//cream is color and multiply with textures which are almost black.

• Sometimes, when a texture is too strong , you'll have to mask them. Hide the part of textures you don't need. Use layer masks for the same, because they are editable.

• You can find textures with shapes like circles, squares etc. Make use of such shapes. Cut them out into a new layer and clip an image into them. That's what I've done here. It's all about being creative.

Texture used:

(^Texture is from thousandsofwords@DA)

My edit:

• If a texture doesn't feel right, try inverting it with Ctrl+I. It comes in handy at times.

• Do not delete any textures from texture packs you download. Sometimes you'll feel that you won't need a texture but there's no saying if it'll prove useful in the future or not.