DSDLAB | Project: Creating Cherry Blossoms Gift Wrap Paper

I recently wrote about my love of cherry blossoms in a previous post on cherry blossoms. I loved the cherry blossoms image so much that I decided to work it in PhotoShop and turn it into a gift wrap paper!  

My idea was that a line drawing of the cherry blossoms would give me an image that was light, airy and very stylish.

I then used Photoshop to convert the image into a gift wrap pattern that I uploaded and repeated in my account in Spoonflower. See how I went from the above image to these repeat patterns - 

PHOTOSHOP | Digitizing Weaved Textures

While taking a break from creating my 2016 digital collection of surface designs, I've been playing around with digitizing weaved textures in Photoshop. This weave is from a "cardboard" loom that I made. I weaved purple, green, and aqua blue yarns together to get an attractive weave pattern.  (Please check out the yarns at the bottom of this post.)

PHOTOSHOP | Creative Brushstrokes from Found Patterns

I love observing patterns around the house. I noticed this one of the sunlight on my studio window. When I turned it horizontally, I noticed the "squiggly lines" that are seen in many designs.

I took the left side of the image into Photoshop Elements. I chose a small brush from the calligraphy brush set.  The calligraphy brushes have a hard edge and the brushstrokes can be created with a thin, angled edge that goes into a wide one.

PHOTOSHOP | 3 Photoshop Features for Surface Designers

Adobe Photoshop is one of the essential tools in any designers toolbox. It is a fully-loaded graphics editing program that works primarily with pixel-based images and photos. For surface designers, Photoshop has a collection of features that are must-haves in that they make life easy everyday. 

Photoshop features that I use in my surface designs: