How to Create a Custom Pattern Background

We’ll start by creating a new blank document. The dimensions do not matter for now, but I used 538x414px. Then, we need a new layer, which we’ll get by clicking on the New Layer icon in the bottom of the layers palette.

With the new layer selected, use the Rectangular Marquee tool to make a selection and then fill it with black. You should hold down Shift while making the selection in order to get a symmetrical square. It should look something like this:

Now you need to bring up the rulers (Ctrl+R) if they aren’t already visible. Now by clicking and dragging on the rulers, we need to place guides at each side of our selection. The guides should snap to the edges, but if they don’t, go to View > Snap to enable this option. Furthermore, bring up two guides to the center of the selection. They should snap at the center point, too. Your project at this stage should look like this

Now we no longer need the selection, so we can delete it. We are now left by four squares within a large square made up by the guides that we inserted. We no longer need the ruler, as well.

We now need to select the Custom Shape Tool. Make sure you select the “Fill Pixels” option and that your foreground color is set to Black. Select the desired custom shape and, while holding down Shift, draw the shape within one of the small squares:

Now move the shape to match its left side with the left guide and to snap the middle of the shape to the center, horizontal guide. I other words, move it and position it like this:

Now duplicate the layer and name it ‘right’. Click and drag it along the guide until its middle fits onto the horizontal guide and its right corner aligns with the right guide:

Then select both layers and duplicate them. Then select the duplicate layers and go to Edit > Transform > Rotate 90OCCW.

This is it! Now, we no longer need the guides, so, you can remove them and prepare for the tricky part.

Make a square selection of the middle of our pattern using the Rectangular Marquee Tool and holding down the Shift key. You should zoom in on the selection in order to select the middle precisely. Bear in mind that where you end the selection of the pattern, the opposite side of the pattern should align there to make the whole original shape used in the pattern.

Take your time with making and transforming your selection, because this is the most important part of the process. If your shapes are symmetrical, your selection should look like this:

With the selection ON, delete the white background layer and you should be left with Photoshop’s default checkerboard background which means that the background of our pattern will be transparent. Then go to Image > Crop and you should end up with this:

Now, deselect the selection and go to Edit > Define Pattern. Name your pattern and store it. Generally, you no longer need this file, but keep it just in case, until you test your pattern, which is exactly what we’re going to do next.

Open up a new document in Photoshop with sufficient dimensions and a blank background. Add a new layer and go to Edit > Fill and in the contents area choose Pattern and from the custom patterns choose your newly created one.

If your pattern tiles properly, you’re good!

So, with your pattern ready to go, we’re now going to create a background with that design.

Set up a new, large document in Photoshop. Then use the gradient tool on the background. From the gradient options, select Radial. The colors for the gradient here were #209e67and #096c2c, but of course, you should use the ones that you find suitable for your work.

When you set the colors, click and drag the gradient tool on the background.

Next unlock the background layer by double-clicking on it and selecting OK, so that we can freely go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending options.

In the Blending options, select Pattern overlay and choose our new pattern. This is a much more convenient way than just filling in the pattern like we did when we checked the functionality of our creation. We can now choose the blending mode of the pattern, the opacity and fill, etc. Here, I used the following values, but do not hesitate to experiment with the options until you’re happy with the result.

A tutorial by Bonifacio Cruz