Ohbehave's Junk Trunk: How I Create Textures

I have been asked how I make my textures for the objects I recolor and I figured it might be a good idea to make a photo tutorial hoping it might help someone out there with their recoloring/texture making. This is nothing fancy but it works well for me. It is a basic way to make textures.

Step 1:

Find a website with free textures. I will use Google Images for this tutorial.

Step 2:

Search for the texture you are looking for. I will search for a crochet texture.

Step 3:

Search through the patterns until you find one you like and will suit your need, click on it.

Step 4:

Right click on the image and click on “View Image”.

Step 5:

Right click again and click “Save Image As”.

Step 6:

Save the image to your computer.

Now the fun begins!

Step 7:

Open up your photo editing program. I use Corel Paintshop Photo Pro X3.

Step 8:

Open the image in your photo editing program.

Step 9:

Remove the outer edges if needed. I do this by selecting the selection tool and going around the area I want to use. I then copy it and past it as a new image. This will help it look more seamless later.

Step 10:

We need to see how seamless it already is so make a new image (File – New). The one I made was 500x500 px but it just needs to be large enough for the texture to repeat when applied.

Step 11:

Now it's time to check the seams of the texture. In PSPPX3 you can do this by clicking on the tab under the color selector on the right hand side and picking the pattern option.

Step 12:

Click on the Crochet Texture.

Step 13:

Now use the Flood Fill Tool to fill in the empty image.

Step 14:

As you can see it isn't quite seamless. Now it is time to touch it up until it looks semi decent. I will do this by removing some of the edges until it looks more seamless. Then follow Steps 12 and 13 to test your new texture.

As you can see it looks a bit better. It isn't 100% perfect and you can play with it more if you want it to look better. I am happy with this. Now that I am happy with the seams I will make it into a transparent PNG image.

Step 15:

Take your improved texture and change it's color to white. In PSPPX3 you can do this by clicking on the arrow next to the Flood Fill Tool and selecting the Color Change option.

Step 16:

Then select white on your color pallet (make sure you change it back to Color from Pattern using the same technique listed in Step 11 but selecting the Color tab instead) and fill in the texture.

Now it is time to make it transparent. This is how I do this. If any one has another way please let me know.

Step 17:

Click on the brush option.

Step 18:

Click on the Choice A Brush option and on the lower right hand side you will see the button called “Create brush tip from selection”, click on it.(This might be different in other photo editing programs).

Step 19:

After clicking on the “Create brush tip from selection” button you will need to fill out the fields given.

Step 20:

Make a new image, with the same diminutions as the texture, using a transparent background.

Step 21:

Now select the brush you just created and use it in the empty image using the color black.

Now you have your transparent PNG. Make sure to save it so you can use it again later. Now lets see it in action.

Step 22:

Find a image that you would like to add this texture to. I will use it on a fabric (which I used in my Yepsen set with a knit texture) and a solid color.