This is a good tutorial for Photoshop users who know their way around a bit already. You don’t have to be an expert in Photoshop, but you should know some of the basics before you try this tutorial out.

This tutorial takes you from a rather normal image (a picture of an eye; you’ll find all the links to the source files in the tutorial) to implementing more pictures, like a rock wall and a butterfly, to merging them into the final version you see below.

The reason we only recommend this tutorial to somewhat experienced Photoshop users is that while every step is explained quite well, the author uses language like “…lighten the top of your rock with the dodge tool and darken the bottom with the burn tool.”

If you have no idea what he’s talking about, you might want to try some easier tutorials first. If you’re familiar with these tools, and you don’t need them explained, this tutorial is for you!

This is the final image you get after completing this tutorial:

…and here’s the link to this tutorial. Enjoy and beeex happpy!

This is another tutorial about creating patterns in Photoshop. It includes a download of the pattern kit. It is the last part of this series, the other parts are:

The differences between brushes and patterns in Photoshop,
Photoshop Brushes: install and create,
Photoshop Patterns: install, create #1 and #2.

How to create Photoshop Patterns #2

This simple tutorial shows you how easy it is to play around with Photoshop patterns. In our previous post about creating Photoshop patterns, we featured two tutorials on creating stripes and grids in Photoshop. Here, you’ll find out how to vary your settings to get thicker or thinner stripes, and what to pay attention to when you do this.

In case you prefer easy street, you can also download the pattern kit and use it directly with Photoshop!

You can go to this tutorial here! The download link with the .pat file is right below the tutorial.

In this post, we have a great tutorial for you about how to create your own brushes in Photoshop. It is a part of a series, the other parts are:

The differences between brushes and patterns in Photoshop,
Photoshop Brushes: install and create,
Photoshop Patterns: install, create #1 and #2.

How to create your own Photoshop brushes

In this part, we cover the basics of creating your own, custom Photoshop brushes from a pre-existing photograph or image. The tutorial by Bittbox covery not only the basics, but also gets into details about using the right settings and parameters, and also which common mistakes to avoid.

This tutorial is very well written detailed and enough to give you the knowledge you need to make your own brushes. Take a look at all of the possibilities you’ve got with custom brushes!

You can view this tutorial here. You can also find the other parts of this series on Photoshop brushes and patterns at the top of this post. Enjoy!

In this post, we cover the basics about installing patterns in Photoshop. It is a part of a series, the other parts are:

The differences between brushes and patterns in Photoshop,
Photoshop Brushes: install and create,
Photoshop Patterns: install, create #1 and #2.

This is the 4th post in the series. The next two posts will be pusblished over the next 2 days. To stay tuned about new posts, subscribe to our RSS Feed.

How to install patterns in Photoshop

A pattern is a style you can apply to content. It’s usually a small image that can be tiled seamlessly to create a pattern. Once you’ve downloaded a pattern, you will find it on your hard drive in your specified download folder. What’s next?

If your new pattern file is zipped, you have to unzip it first. You then have a .pat file that looks something like this. Now, you have to install it in Photoshop in order to use it on your artwork.

1. Navigate to your Photoshop/Presets/Patterns folder and copy the .pat file to that folder.
2. In Photoshop,
   • double click on the layer you want to apply the pattern to, or
   • activate the ‘Pattern’ checkbox in your Brushes palette (Window/Brushes), if you want to apply the pattern to a brush
3. Click on the dropdown bar in the small pattern preview box, click on the arrow to the upper right, and select ‘Load Pattern’
4. Find the .pat file you just copied to the Patterns folder in step 1, and hit ‘open’.
5. Select ‘Add’ from the popup box to add your new patterns to the existing ones in your palette.

That’s it! Your new pattern is now loaded and ready to use. You may have to scroll down in the pattern list to find your new brushes, as they have been added to the existing ones. The next time you open Photoshop, the new patterns will be in the pattern library already.

Beeex happy!

This post covers the basics and differences about brushes and patterns in Adobe Photoshop. It is a part of a series, the other parts are:

The differences between brushes and patterns in Photoshop,
Photoshop Brushes: install and create,
Photoshop Patterns: install, create #1 and #2.

This is the 3rd post in the series. The next three posts will be pusblished over the next three days. To stay tuned about new posts, subscribe to our RSS Feed.

The difference between brushes and patterns in Photoshop

• As we explained earlier, a brush in Photoshop is like a ‘real’ brush – you can use it to paint stuff (right!). Photoshop offers a lot of options and settings for your brush, like form, spread, edges, and more. The best part is that you can create your own brushes from any image and save them for future use.

• Patterns, on the other hand, are seamless images which you can apply to an artwork using layer styles. Not only that; you can also apply them to a brush! Sounds confusing? Not really, if you consider what a pattern actually is. A pattern is a style you apply to an existing image or brush. It basically consists of a single smaller image which has been designed to be tiled on both its x and y axis.

In essence, a brush is a tool to apply content. A pattern is a style you add to content.

Photoshop offers various pre-installed brushes and patterns. To fully discover and use the beautiful power of Photoshop though, you have to use custom brushes and patterns. There is a nice collection of brushes and patterns on Beeex.net. We add more every day, so be sure to check in often!

So there you have it, the basic difference between brushes and patterns. Quite easy, right? The good thing is that you can use almost every image or photograph to create your own brushes and patterns. The possiblities are truly endless.

We would like to know if this post answered your questions about brushes and patterns. Is anything left unclear? Do you have a question you would like answered? Leave us a note! Comment, and thou shall be heard

It’s still January, but you know what, we don’t care! Neither does Bittbox: after a 2-day server downtime due to a senescent hard drive (honestly!), they reward us with three very ’summerish’ vector sunflowers for Adobe Illustrator!

As you may have noticed……Beeex.net featured quite a few things from Bittbox in the past. Now, to be honest, this kit isn’t one of their best ones, but we still decided to feature it. Although it only contains three sunflowers, they are not bad at all, and they can be quite useful indeed.

These sunflowers come as EPS vector files, you can use them with either Illustrator 10 and up or with another vector graphics editor like Inkscape. Alternatively, you can also download the SVG version of the sunflowers.

You can download this .zip file right here. Enjoy!

Your girlfriend has brown hair. You’d absolutely like her to try dyeing her hair blonde, but she won’t do it because she is afraid of the results? Here comes a marvellous solution for your problem: show her how she looks with blonde hair in Photoshop! Like this:

This is Kristin Kreuk from the TV series Smallville before and after tweaking her hair with Adobe Photoshop. Do the same with a picture of your girlfriend – or boyfriend, of course! – with this 8-step tutorial!

This is a very good tutorial on changing hair color in a photograph. The technique you learn is almost essential knowledge and a must-be for Photoshop artists. Here is another example using a photograph of Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives).

Oh, and don’t take our little story too seriously… As a matter of fact, I myself prefer brunettes

You can view this tutorial here!

Pixel fonts are becoming more and more popular. While Adobe Flash developers know and use them for some time now, pixel fonts find their way into static design more and more. Here are our 10 favorite free pixel fonts for free download!

Usually, pixel fonts are for use with a setting of 8 points, or a multiple of 8 (16, 24, …). Some fonts in this list use a setting of 10 points – you can see this in the readme file.

• When you use pixel fonts, you should position the text on whole x and y values, otherwise it will appear blurry!

All typefaces come with a free license, so you can use them for your designs, as long as you don’t sell them. For more information about a font’s license, you can go to the source page listed with each font.

You can download a typeface (.zip) directly by simply clicking on ‘Download’.

Enjoy!

Did you notice our new, cute little button at the bottom of Beeex.net? It’s right under the Firefox 2 Badge and it says “We love Beeex”. Do you know how we made it? Here goes:

You might already have come across these buttons or badges while surfing the web. They are usually used for displaying meta and stats content. Now, you can easily make your own – using this free online button generator!

Of course, you could use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, or another graphic program to design your own button. But this is a quick and easy way to generate them in just a minute. You simply fill in your preferred text, define border and background colors, and the button generator creates a badge for you to download and use on your site.

You can go to the Online Button/Badge Generator here.

We’ve talked about tracing a photo in Illustrator and creating an illustration using simple gradients in this post: How to Trace a Photo in Illustrator. What if you have a sketch or a hand drawing you’d like to trace and enhance?

This time, we use Photoshop. This is a good, very extensive tutorial on how to do just that. It’s not the shortest one, so be sure to take some time to complete it

You can view this tutorial here.