So the first thing we will do is define a fill pattern to create that grid you see in the background. To do this, make a new transparent canvas 36X36 pixels. Now select the pencil tool (right click on the brush tool if it is not already selected).
| Here is my third tutorial! This will run through several very handy features of Photoshop (Using Photoshop 7.0) - how to define fill patterns, how to feather selections/deletions, how to change opacity, and a basic introduction to the pen tool. I hope this is of some use, and please do send me your comments! |
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First off, this is what you will be making:
So the first thing we will do is define a fill pattern to create that grid you see in the background. To do this, make a new transparent canvas 36X36 pixels. Now select the pencil tool (right click on the brush tool if it is not already selected). |
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With the pencil tool set to 1 pixel, draw down the left edge of the canvas and along the bottom (You're going to have to zoom in to at least 1200% to draw the lines acurately - hold ctrl and tap + to zoom in, ctrl and - to zoom out). I have the color set to gray so you can see the line, for your actual grid you can make it whatever color you want - in this tutorial please set the color to white. Once you have your lines along the left and bottom click the selection tool and select the entire canvas. Now go to Edit --> Define Pattern... and name your new pattern. |
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Now on your canvas (Mine was 900 x 500 pixels with a background color #2d2d2d) select the paint bucket tool. Near the top is a tool options bar - select Fill: -->Pattern (it should be on Foreground color by default). Now to the right of that is the Pattern: drop down. Click that menu. When you scroll to the bottom you should find your newly defined fill pattern. Click it and go to your canvas. Now just click on the canvas and you should have a big white grid. Just a note, always make sure to make EVERY new detail of your images on new layers, this make your life much easier when you want to edit small details. Also, if you want to make your grid bigger/smaller, simply make your original grid canvas bigger/smaller, perhaps 12 x 12 for a really small grid or 72 x 72 pixels for a larger one. |
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For some cool added effect I then took the paint bucket (back on Fill: Foreground) and filled some of the squares with various shades of gray. Once you do this, Go to the Layers tool bar (if you do not have this go to Window --> Layers), select your grid layer, and click on the Opacity: option. You can either use the slider or simply enter a percentage. |
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We can fade the edges out very easily by using the feather function of the selection tool. Click the selection tool and select the left edge of the canvas, making sure you have the grid layer selected. Click Select --> Feather... and enter 50 pixels. Once you have done this, simply press the Delete key and the grid should fade out to the left. You can repeat this step for the top, bottom and right edges of the canvas. |
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Now we make the x and y axis for our sine curve stick out. Simply click the line tool, put it on 1 pixel, and make two lines that line up with your grid. Once you have them the right size and position, rasterize the layers by Layers --> Rasterize --> Shape. Once the layers are rasterized you can fade them out the same way we faded the grid. Now we are ready to use the pen tool! |
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