Resources

Creating Vibrant Hand-Drawn Texture in Photoshop

In this tutorial we will explore a technique to use hand-drawn textures in digital illustration. This method is quick, and simple to use. However, it requires that you take some time to understand the application before getting started. The first part of this tutorial is about making textures and preparing them for digital art. The second part will demonstrate a method to paint with texture and apply some color theory. This will all be created using Photoshop CS3, and should take anywhere from 1-3 hours, depending on the textures you make.

The basics of opacity masks in Adobe Illustrator

Masking is an incredibly powerful tool for making textures and fades in the Creative Suite. Both Photoshop and Illustrator can create these effects, but there are pros and cons to using each. Making textures in Photoshop can often become cumbersome and tedious, due to both the interface and the nature of its graphics. In Illustrator however, textures are a breeze to make and edit, as well as being highly flexible vector graphics. In this tutorial I will show you how to use opacity masks in illustrator to create textured effects with ease.

Resources

Hand-Drawn Texture 101

Creating Vibrant Hand-Drawn Texture in Photoshop

Vector Textures Made Simple

The basics of opacity masks in Adobe Illustrator