I'm planning to start using my blog for my Photoshop group's weekend challenge. That way I don't have to be at my desktop to get it done. I can upload the challenge from anywhere that I can get a connection. So without further blabbering from me, here's the Weekend Challenge:
This week's challenge is a simple one. Patterns, patterns, and more patterns!!! You can do many things with patterns. The challenge is, simply create something using a pattern! That's all! Simple enough, eh? Here are a few sites where you can find FREE PATTERN DOWNLOADS:
http://www.brusheezy.com/patterns
http://search.deviantart.com/?section=browse&qh=boost%3Apopular+age_sigma%3A24h+age_scale%3A5&q=photoshop+patterns
Once you download the pattern of your choice and save it to a location where you will remember, you will have to copy the pattern (.pat) file to C>Program Files>Adobe>Photoshop>Presets>Patterns You will need to close Photoshop if you have it open and then re-open it back up. Your pattern should now be ready to load. When you go to the paint bucket tool, you should see a menu at the top beside the bucket that says either PATTERN or FOREGROUND. Click on PATTERN. Then you must load the pattern from the folder where you saved it. Do you see the box beside the Pattern/Foreground option? When you hover over it you'll see it says PATTERN PICKER. Click that drop down menu. Now do you see the tiny arrow at the top right corner? Click that and go to LOAD. It should open up directly to that folder. Then you choose the pattern you downloaded from that list. It will now be with all the other patterns loaded in your pattern picker menu.
Here is what I have done with the SpiderMan pattern that I downloaded from the first linked site above:
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I added a new layer over the background layer, filled it with the Spiderman pattern, changed the blending mode to OVERLAY, and lowered the opacity to 50%. Then I added some brushes and text. The brushes were a bit much, so I changed them to overlay, as well. I really was just playing around to see if the pattern would work from the site so I'd be sure before posting the challenge. The whole thing isn't very pretty, but it served it's purpose. lol
Here are some tutorial sites to help you with using patterns in PS:
http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/patterns/patterns.htm
http://www.shapeshed.com/journal/using_patterns_in_photoshop/
http://inobscuro.com/tutorials/read/10/
http://www.hcgs.net/abweb/tutorial003.html
I hope you enjoy your challenge! Have fun!