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Five Ways to Create Textures Completely in Photoshop by, Dani Jones

I like creating new textures, and I’ve written about how to use them in digital paintings before. Most of the time, making textures involves getting out some scrap mat board or bits of paper, and just going to town with some acrylic paint, gesso, and modeling paste.

I think of it as play time, because anything goes. You can spray, drip, or even fingerpaint. You’re not worried about creating anything concrete or beautiful; you’re just setting out to find what kinds of things you can do with your tools and to stretch your limits a bit.

This can be a really useful exercise for traditional painters, because 1) you can use whatever textures and effects you create for future paintings, and 2) you learn a lot about the materials you are working with.

Well, I think digital painters need a little play time too.

So, here are five exercises I’ve come up with to help inspire you to play with your digital paint. And the best part is you don’t have to worry about cleaning up the mess afterwards.

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