Hey I just thought I’d ride the wave from my last Craftzine post and also post about how to easily create patterns in PS. Basically, the “Define Pattern” tool makes this very easy. Any image can repeated and adjusted easily in PS. However, I thought I’d go ahead and post about how to make a staggered pattern which is a bit more difficult (but not really). I also, thought I’d share some tips and tricks I’ve learned when working with patterns. Please feel free to add any and all feedback as I love all information regarding pattern/design etc.

Okay, so to begin:

Open a new file. 4 x 4 inches at 300 dpi is a good size. Working with a square is easier to begin with but it is not necessary.

Set the window so that you can see the grid. I leave my grid at default settings and view it by clicking View>Show>Grid. This grid helps you to be able to easily place and center objects in the space.

Place the image to be repeated. Open the image you want to repeat. Select the “Move Tool” and Drag and drop that image into your newly created file. **Make sure that the image is isolated from it’s back ground and sized properly before it is dragged-and-dropped. A good size image to work with is 2 x 2 inches for this project.

Make sure the “Show Bounding Box” tool is on. This is available at the top menu when you have the “Move Tool” selected. This allows you to easily see where the center and center edges of your design are.

Center the image. Use the “Move Tool” to drag the image in the center of the page by aligning the center mark with the center of the grid lines.

Make a copy of the image. It is easy to make a copy of the image by holding down the Alt-key while you drag the image (in the Move Tool).

Position the second image in one of the four corners. In order to make sure that the image is perfectly positioned in the corner. Place the center tick-mark directly in the corner and make sure the center-bottom and center-side tick marks are perfectly centered on the edge of the window. It’s a good idea to zoom in while you do this to make sure you get really accurate placement.

Repeat for the other 3 corners. Make 3 more copies and position them in the remaining 3 corners of the window.

Define this image as a pattern. Go to Edit>Define Pattern. Give it a name and click “OK”. **You may want to turn the background off so that this is not a visible in your pattern. Do this by clicking the eye next to the background layer in the layers palette.

**Now there are 2 ways to use the pattern you’ve created. You can use the pattern as a fill or use layer styles.

To use the pattern as fill simply open a new file (8 x 10 at 300 dpi is always a good size). And click Edit > Fill and select Pattern from the “Use” drop down menu and find and select your pattern in the “Custom Pattern” drop down menu.

Layer Styles gives you more control of the pattern, however. Open a new file (8 x 10 at 300 dpi works) and then go down to the layer palette and create a new layer by clicking on the new icon as you did before. Then fill that layer with a background color of your choosing. Then click the layer styles icon button at the bottom of the palette menu (it is the circle button with a symbol that kinda looks like an f). This causes another menu to pop-up. Select “Pattern Overlay” from this menu. This will open the Layer Styles window.

In the layer styles menu, you can select your pattern from the pattern drop-down menu. **Here’s the really cool thing: you can adjust the scale of your pattern, as well as the opacity so long as you have the “preview” box checked.

**You can also drag the layer styles window to side and click within your window drag and position the pattern to where you want it to be on the page. Cool huh?! Once you have set the pattern to your liking. Click “OK” in the layer styles window. **Note that in layer palette there is layer-style applied to that layer. Double-click on the layer-style icon under your layer to make changes to the pattern at any time.

So, there you have it. A pattern that is perfectly staggered and endlessly repeatable. You can easily apply your pattern to any size window/file. You can also easily change the background color and experiment with the scale of the pattern. Really, too much fun.