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Photoshop Elements: Multicolor Textured Paper

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Adobe^® Photoshop^® Elements 6

August 14, 2008

In this lesson, learn how to make a multicolor textured paper. You can create galaxies of unique color combinations by using the Clouds and Difference Clouds filters. This paper is a variation of the paper created in the Aged Textured Paper lesson.

For more textured papers, see the following lessons:

Aged Textured Paper
Embossed Textured Paper
Patterned Textured Paper

Before Coloring - Aged Paper	After Coloring - Multicolor Paper

To make multicolor textured paper:

1. Make an aged textured paper as described in the Aged Textured Paper lesson. The layers palette of the completed texture should have five layers:

   

2. Create a new blank layer above the pattern fill layer and below the top layer. In the Layers palette, select the pattern fill layer, then click the Create a new layer icon.

   

3. In the new layer, create a cloud pattern:

   1. Press D to set the foreground and background colors to the default of black foreground and white background.
   2. From the Filter menu, select Render, then Clouds. Press Ctrl+F to run the filter again until you get a cloud pattern you like.

4. In the Layers palette, set the blend mode of the new cloud layer to Overlay. When you apply the Difference clouds filter in the next step, you will be able to see how the colors interact with the background layer.

5. Using the Difference Clouds filter, add colors to the cloud pattern:

   1. Change the foreground color to a dark color, such as dark red or dark green. Set the background color to a lighter shade of the same color. Experiment with colors until you find a combination you like that blends well with the background color.
   2. From the Filter menu, select Render, then Difference Clouds. Press Ctrl+F to run the filter again until you get a cloud of colors you like.
   3. Try experimenting with different colors before applying the filter again. To darken the clouds, keep the same foreground color and change the background color to black. To lighten the clouds, change the background color to white.

6. From the Filter menu, select Blur, then Gaussian Blur. Apply a radius of 2-3px and click OK. The following image shows a sample completed cloud layer:

   

7. In the Layers palette, set the opacity of the cloud layer as desired. In this example, the opacity was set to 65%. The final result is shown below:

   

Updated on August 17, 2008