Hayden Books: Creative Techniques

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Painting:

Textures on Layers

Art by Michael J. Partington

Comments:
As you create an image, you often make changes and modifications as your concept develops. Designing textures can be a particularly challenging task--often you'll want to try out many ideas before applying the texture and making the changes permanent. Putting textures on separate layers provides an unlimited number of "undos," allowing you the freedom to change your mind until you get the exact effect you want.

Studio Usage:
Using layers lets you combine different filters and techniques without affecting the original image. When you're done making changes to a specific texture, you can merge the layers to save disk space and decrease the file size. Be sure you save the final version of the image before you flatten all the layers.

1. Create and Name the Layers
Open an image that has only a Background layer. If necessary, save the document in Photoshop 3.0 format, so that you can work with layers. Because you want to place the texture layer behind (under) the Background layer, you must first convert the Background layer to a standard layer. (Layers named Background are always the bottom layer.) To convert the Background layer, double-click the Background layer in the Layers palette, enter a new layer name, and click OK. Then click the page icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new layer and name it Texture Layer.

2. Create the Texture
With the Texture Layer selected, choose Edit-->Fill. In the Fill dialog box, choose Black from the Use menu and enter 80% for the Opacity. Make sure that the mode is set to Normal and that Preserve Transparency is not selected. Click OK to fill the layer. To add texture, choose Filter-->Noise-->Add Noise. In the Add Noise dialog box, enter 80 for the Amount, check that Uniform is selected, and then click OK. To enhance the texture, choose Filter-->Stylize-->Emboss. Select the Preview box. Try out various settings in the Emboss dialog box until you've created a texture you like. Click OK.

3. Applying the Texture to the Overlying Image
Drag the Texture Layer down in the Layers palette until it's below the image layer. Click the Face layer (the top layer) and adjust the Opacity to allow the texture to show through. Now experiment by selecting different layer modes. Keep the top layer selected and choose Multiply from the Mode menu. Multiply combines the pixels in the two layers to make a darker image. Choose Screen from the Mode pop-up menu. Screen lightens the image and produces a washed-out effect. Vary the modes and opacities for both layers. To hide or display individual layers, click the eye icon to the left of the layer name.

4. Clearing Portions of the Original Image
To allow the texture to show through parts of the image, select the image layer in the Layers palette, select the desired areas, and then choose Edit-->Clear. Unlike pressing the Delete key (which fills a selection with the background color) or pressing Option-Delete (which fills a selection with the foreground color), the Clear command deletes the selected pixels in the target layer. This allows the pixels in the underlying Texture Layer to show through completely.