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How to create random color grid in Photoshop tutorial

How to create a random color grid in Photoshop CC 2018 2017 2015 CS6 CS5 etc and can be filled with reds and greens and other colors and is made up of square tiles

Create random color grid

how to create grid in Photoshop random colors filled square tutorial

View menu for Photoshop
New guide layout and set to 5 x 5 etc (for creation of random color grid)
View menu and snap ON and snap to guides
Rectangle tool
Draw square in cells of the guide layout
Change color via properties to a random color
Repeat for each cell in the square grid

Video tutorial about the subject by graphicxtras.com (youtube)

Same sized cells : color In this tutorial I am using a layout of multiple same sized cells in a square but the same approach could be used to make all kinds of different layouts such as thin slivers or rectangles etc filled with the colors.

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Likewise, the layout can be 4 x 4, 200 x 20 or 10 x 30 etc. The basic approach is the same.

Use guides to help layout : guides The key thing is guides and setting the snap to ON. Go to the view menu in Photoshop and New guide layout. Create a basic columns 4 x rows 4 (or 5 x 5 etc) with no gutter etc and you will end up with a nice 4 x 4 set of lines which can be filled. View menu. Set "snap" to ON. Snap to only "guides".

Now you have your basic guides to work with and add the squares etc to the artwork

Using squares : images Use squares but it could as easily be rectangles. You could also fill it with stars or circles.

Also, you don't have to fill each and every square. You can also fill the square and then add an additional stamp (image) or another path etc.

Or fill some of the cells with colored squares and then fill alternate cells with images perhaps of a face and then perhaps to make the face more interesting add some rotation. You could also do the same with characters or perhaps different custom shape designs.

For example, select the rectangle tool in the Photoshop toolbar. Set to shape layer option. Go to the settings along the top option bar and set to square (instead of unconstrained) and view menu and use the new guide layout 6 x 6. View menu snap ON and snap to guides/ Draw square into one of the cells and then set the color for that square and then repeat but skip each cell in turn and add a new square to that cell and continue. Now go to an image and select and copy and paste into the document and convert the layer into a smart object and then re-size it to fit the cell and then copy it to all the other blank cells. You can then go to each and rotate by 90 degrees etc

Test : test The design can be added to and changed indefinitely. The key thing is to test it out and also just to check for any colors that just don't see right (such as the long blue line that stands out in my image). Just define it via the edit menu and use the new fill layer as you can then scale it to 25% or 50% to see any cells that just don't work.

For example in the image on the right, the orange is repeated at the top and bottom and will probably stand out when you come to use it as a seamless tile.

Stretched rectangles : thin For example, Go to the view menu and set the new guide layout and set columns to 20 and rows to 20 and set the view and snap ON and View and snap to guides ON.

Now go to the rectangle tool and select the shape layer option. Create a rectangle and stretch a number of cells down (keep it only one cell wide or one cell deep) Go to the properties panel (window / properties) and change the fill. Create another rectangle. Change the fill via properties. Repeat and fill the design by filling all the cells with colors

Adjustments : filled Changing the color of the artwork on mass is pretty easy as you can use an adjustment or adjustment layer and then tweak all the colors perhaps to make them all green or all blue or just different colors etc

Properties : change However, changing them individually means you have to select the path and then go to the properties panel and changing the fill there or go to to the layers panel and double click the entry and change the fill. In Illustrator it would be a lot simpler and just select via the swatches - not possible here.

Still, you can use the swatches panel by using it as a source for red and blues etc and then for those to be selected via the fill in the properties panel. It is not ideal but it can still be done fairly quickly. You can then set up a whole load of blues by selecting the blues from a swatch library and then adding them to the color picker and then selecting them via the fill.

Define : define Now save the artwork for use as a seamless tile for all your projects

Go to the edit menu and define pattern command.

Apply the new design : layer Add the fill via the edit menu command or the layer menu new fill content or via the layer styles etc

for example, go to the edit menu in Photoshop and use the define pattern with the current created artwork and then go to the layer menu and select the new fill layer option and set the tile to the generated artwork. You can then set the scale for that artwork to 50% etc as well as shift the content of the layer around as the dialog is visible. You can also go back to this layer at any time and double click it and then change the origin position as well as the scale. As it is a layer, you can also duplicate the artwork and then combine the layers using blending modes which works best if you shift the origins of the layers or perhaps use opacity setting at 50%

Variant tiles : pale You can create all kinds of variant tile artworks

You can re-fill the artwork by using adjustments such as photo filter or hue and saturation etc and the results will still be pattern (sometimes perhaps better than the original).

You can also use the Adobe color themes to help set up a nice set of swatches for your art. You can also add additional paths on top of the artwork.

You can duplicate the artwork and then scale the layer by 50% and then use blending modes via the layer panel to combine them to create ever more interesting tiles for use in PS. You can also use the results of any of the experiments as a possible brush via the edit menu define brush command (though the result will be grayscale).

Or save the result to a PSD file and then use the artwork as a source for displacement maps

Or you can just warp the resulting layer

For example, you can create the artwork as earlier and then go to the layer menu in Photoshop and create a new adjustment layer and select the Hue & Saturation and click OK and then go and change the adjustment in the properties panel

I have been mentioning Photoshop patterns but the same artworks can be used in Affinity Designer etc just by saving the item as a PNG and loading that via the various pattern / bitmap features in those apps.

Keywords : How to create random color grid in Photoshop tutorial