CoffeeShop Photoshop/PSE Tutorial: Creating Fine Art Textures using Public Domain Images!

I love making textures and have used many different techniques to create the ones I post here on my blog. Some I have photographed, others I have created using a painterly program like Topaz, many are combinations of several different of my own textures, and quite a few are created from public domain art images using Photoshop.

 

Today I want to walk you through how I created several of the texture in my Pissarro set. This tutorial was done in Photoshop as I use the Patch tool (which is not in PSE), but you can adapt it to PSE by using the Healing Brush.

 

These textures can be used alone as papers or layered on designs/photos/images. The sky is the limit! You can also make them to sell or share.

 

All of the original images I used in this tutorial are from Raw Pixel.

 

CoffeeShop Photoshop/PSE Tutorial: Creating Fine Art Textures from Public Domain Images

 

 

Download the original art piece.

 

Use the rectangular Marquee tool to crop out the area highlighted above.

 

 

In Photoshop, grab the Patch Tool and select the building on the left and then drag the selection to a clear pink area on top.

 

 

The building is gone and the new selection is perfectly blended in!

 

 

I love the Photoshop Patch tool, but if you are using PSE you can use the Healing Brush tool. Click to select it and then alt-click on the area you want to copy and then start painting over the building. Make sure to click on several different areas when selecting the pink background so it blends in well.

 

Repeat with the building on the right.

 

And it is already looking really good! But I want to turn this into a seamless pattern so I can make a large texture using this small piece.

 

Go to the top menubar and click Filter<Other<Offset.

 

Adjust the settings (if needed) until you see the lines in the texture, highlighted above. Make sure Wrap Around is checked.

 

Use the Patch or Healing Brush tool to remove any lines or strange texture.

 

This is looking pretty good.

 

Repeat the Offset Filter and make any needed patches.

 

Continue to apply the Offset Filter until the pattern is seamless and you are happy with the texture.

 

Save this pattern by clicking on Edit<Define Pattern.

 

Make a new document for the final texture. I make my textures 2500 x 1667, 300 px/in. This is a decent resolution to use them layered on images.

 

 Then apply the texture pattern, adjusting the Size and Angle to taste. I usually apply it around 60-130% so that I don't see a repeating pattern. If you make it too large it will lose resolution.

 

Once it is the size you like, then use the Patch/Healing tool to clean it up.

 

Now test it out on an image!

 

I added it twice in Soft Light blending mode and it looks gorgeous.

 

There are many ways to change the color and contrast of this texture.

 

Add a simple Levels adjustment later to add contrast.

 

Add a Hue/Saturation layer to change the color.

 

Make it B&W.

 

Or add a Color Fill layer in Hue or Color blending mode.

 

 

Let's do another one! Download the original art piece here. Select the grass and crop.

 

Start Patching to remove the people.

 

Apply the Offset Filter.

 

Patch/Heal the lines.

 

Apply to a large blank document.

 

Patch repeats/lines.

 

And it is done!

I used it on this butterfly images in Overlay blending mode, 65% opacity.

 

Don't go too crazy on patching the final texture. When you see the texture alone you might notice many repeats but once it is applied to an image it is not so noticeable. 

 

Want to do one more? Download the original art image here. Select the sky.

 

This is my finished pattern after Patching/Healing and apply the Offset Filter.

 

I think this is my favorite texture of the bunch!

 

Overlay blending mode, 84% Opacity.

Invert the texture. This is gorgeous!

 

Add the first pink texture in Exclusion blending mode on top of this last white one and you get a stunning moody blue texture.

 

Here it is applied to this butterfly image. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and if you have any questions please leave a comment below!

 

Do you want to download all of my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions (including exclusive ones not found anywhere for free), Textures, Papers, Design Elements, and Lightroom Presets in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my CoffeeShop Mega Download Pack!