Tutorials::Faint Lines Across Your Image

Intro

This is a tutorial for getting faint lines across your graphic, like this:

Or any other way you want. (Vertical lines, grids, thicker lines, diagonal lines, etc.)

Step 1

First, hit Ctrl+N to create a new image. Enter the dimensions as follows:

Step 2

Once you create the new canvas, select the zoom tool and zoom as much as you can.

Step 3

Select the pencil tool. Make sure the pencil color is set to black, and then select the one pixel brush. Fill one pixel on the canvas with the pencil.

Step 4

What you need to do now is make it into a pattern. Go to edit>define pattern at the top.

Step 5

A window should pop up. This part is basically naming your pattern. I named mine "horizontal_lines".

Step 6

Now open the image you want to apply the lines to. This is what I will be using:

Step 7

Create a new layer on top of the layer with your image.

Step 8

Go to edit>fill at the top. This is what you do to "fill" the layer with the pattern you just made.

Step 9

A window should pop up. Where it says "Use:", click on the drop down arrow and select "pattern."

Step 10

Click on the drop down arrow next to "Custom Pattern" and you should be able to see the pattern you just made. Click on that, and then click "OK".

Step 11

Since the lines are on 100% opacity and are a little too dark, you may want to change the opacity. I have mine set to 19%, but you can set it to whatever you want.
You're done! :) Hope this tutorial helps!

Other

Can you use patterns to add diagonal lines, vertical lines, etc.? Yeah! Here are a few examples.

What if I want to make the faint lines a different color, other than black? Well, since you are supposed to have put the pattern on a seperate layer, you can do anything you want with the pattern itself... including changing its color (by double clicking on the pattern layer and applying a 'Color Overlay'), layer mode (screen, color dodge, color burn, etc.), and other things as well.

Can you make fancier patterns? Yeah! Actually, some graphics websites offer pattern sets. Here are a few: The Magic Box, Fractured Sanity, The Butterfly, and Innovation.

E-mail me if you have any questions or comments.
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