Textures and Layers in Photoshop

One thing I always like to have on hand are textures. Most of the time I make my own using a combination of acrylics, watercolor, salt and a pallette knife. Textures come in really handy in the finishing stages of an illustration. It’s a great way to add depth to any drawing. I love layering them, recoloring them and using them as masks in Photoshop. My textures are rarely used as is. Photoshop is perfect for making all those final adjustments to the artwork. Here is a Valentine’s Day card I’m working on. I’ve been trying out different colors and textures to see what works. Also here is a screenshot of my Photoshop while I’m working. It gets pretty hairy sometimes! I like to have as much stuff open at the same time as possible though just in case I want to throw it in an illustration and see how it looks. If I close out a texture I could be losing out on something cool. I always like to experiment with random textures and see what happens! Here are color / texture studies of my cat card. I like the dark one the best.