Textures

Don’t we all strive to add a sense of ourselves into the work we do? Don’t we all live to leave our own imprints on the world? If that’s the case, textures have your back. The use of textures not only allows us to personalise our designs but they also give us a medium to freely express ourselves in any way imaginable. Textures are a very powerful source in any form of design, as they add a whole lotta visual interest into your work. For example one can use certain textures to invoke emotion into the work at hand; it can be used to manipulate not only the eye of the viewer but the heart as well. Things that seem more ‘real’ tend to result in a more emotional response from the viewer, and in turn makes the artwork more memorable. Basically, it brings your work to life.

There are many ways to craft your own textures but I’m going to touch on two specifically:

  1.  Photographing your own textures and
  2. Hand-crafting them yourself.

The process of both are very simple; when photographing your textures all you need to do is find organic materials (for example stone, fibres, wood, metals, water), especially ones that interact with light differently. It‘s always best to look for subject material that has a strong difference between lights and darks. Once you have found yourself some textures, scan them into your computer and let your creativity go crazy. The same process goes for creating your own textures; except replace your camera with a multitude of pens and pencils. From thick to thin, smooth to rough, a large assortment of these will do. Let out the inner child in you and scribble all over the page. Scan them into your computer and turn them into their own brushes in Photoshop and poof! You got some pretty sweet hand-crafted textures to use in your work. Manufacturing your own textures come with many design benefits, for example: textures can be reused at any time in the future; you own the copyright to your own textures and lastly you never have to worry about pixilation in the images. I mean, you really can’t get more bad-ass than that.

Here is an example of the process of using both the techniques mentioned above:

 

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Here is an example of the process of using both the techniques mentioned above:

I really do hope, for whoever is reading this post, that it has inspired you in some way or another to enjoy the use of textures in your work and the goodness it brings with it.

 

Written by Jo – graphic designer

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