Using Repeat Patterns in Photoshop

Posted by Patternhead on August 13, 2007.

Adobe Photoshop loves repeat patterns and repeat patterns love Adobe Photoshop. Love is a wonderful thing :)

This tutorial is going to show you how easy it is to fill custom shapes with repeating patterns in Adobe Photoshop CS2.

1. OPEN YOUR PATTERN FILE

For this tutorial I’m using one of these free patterns but you can use any pattern as long as it repeats on all sides.

In Photoshop, Click the File menu and choose Open.

Find the pattern file you want to use and open it.

2. DEFINE A CUSTOM PATTERN

Click the Edit menu and choose Define Pattern

Give your pattern a name and click ok

You’ve now defined a pattern that you can open and use in any image you create. How cool is that?

3. CREATE A SHAPE TO FILL

Click the File menu and choose New

Choose a file size (I’m using 400px by 200px but you can choose any size.)

Use the elliptical marquee tool to drag a circular selection like this…

4. FILL THE SHAPE WITH THE PATTERN

Click the Edit menu and choose Fill

In the first dropdown box choose Pattern

In the second dropdown box select the pattern you want to use. It will probably be right at the bottom of the list. When you’re done, the option window should look like this…

Click the Ok button and your shape will fill with the pattern. I repeated the selection a couple of times and here’s mine…

CONCLUSION

This tutorial has only just scratched the surface. You can do so many things with patterns in Photoshop. For maximum effect I use the pen tool to create custom shapes then use layers, masks and blend modes to get impressive effects. Have fun.