Adding and Using Textures

[RosemaryDarling]

525230
Hello. I use blocks of colour in my illustrations, but I'd like to start using textures to add visual interest. This is my attempt.
525232
I created various bush patterns and used a multiply layer. But I don't think it looks quite right. I think it might be the textures I'm using or that I'm using too much.

Any suggestions on technique or application?

[Jeff_hritz]

I like the style. Not exactly cartoonish, but bold, and fun to look at.

[bluefooted]

What program are you using? Photoshop, I assume...

I would cut out the texture brushes and use a 'real' texture instead. Just google 'free texture library' and a bunch of sites come up. I prefer bare metal or painted metal textures, but there are tons of choices. Put the texture on a separate layer and set it to 'overlay' - I think it looks better than 'multiply'.

You can mess around with the hue, saturation, contrast of your texture. If you want a different texture for different parts of your pic, I'd just erase the parts of the layer that fall outside the area you want to cover. There's probably a fancy way to dictate which layers your 'overlay' layer interacts with, but I don't know what it is.

Just a preference, I guess, but I like the variation in real textures more than sampled brushes. It's less work, too.

eta: I should also add that you should check out Steph Laberis's work (in the top gallery) - her work is very like what you're trying to do, and it's spectacular.

[Clochette]

Agreed, I use overlay mode on a separated layer too. Old paper textures are also nice to use.