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Background without using images


Ekmeh

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Hey guys,

So I'm a rather new music producer and I make some wallpapers for my tracks using Photoshop and then put some effects in there using Adobe After Effects.
So I usually just use either a gradient or an image in there, but it's rather hard to find images without copyright that look good and fit the track title.
And gradients kinda look boring (just a few colors that overflow).

So I was wondering how people make these kind of backgrounds:


(quality kinda sucks because I had it on 480p by accident, but you get the point)
001.jpg

002.jpg

003.jpg


Or a bit different style like this:
004.jpg

Or this:
005.jpg


Thanks in advance!


EDIT: I know the "READ ME BEFORE POSTING" thread clearly said "rather use img tags instead of linking to external websites" but it kept saying that I exceeded my tags by 20. So yeah, changed it into this. If anyone wants me to upload it to Imgur or something instead I'll do that.
 
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IamSam

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EDIT: I know the "READ ME BEFORE POSTING" thread clearly said "rather use img tags instead of linking to external websites" but it kept saying that I exceeded my tags by 20. So yeah, changed it into this. If anyone wants me to upload it to Imgur or something instead I'll do that.
It would be nice if you uploaded them here on the forum. You may have to resize them. If you don't want to do this, I can do it for you. Thanks.
 

Ekmeh

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It would be nice if you uploaded them here on the forum. You may have to resize them. If you don't want to do this, I can do it for you. Thanks.

Yes, that's what I tried but it said I exceeded the tag limit? Might have been because the upload windows was a bit laggy and I clicked on "upload" multiple times.

Anyway, here is one example:

e542e988eb.jpg

Just a pattern like that! =)
 

IamSam

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They are called polygon backgrounds. There's not many Ps tutorials on them, but they can be done in Ps.

I'll see what I can come up with.
 

IamSam

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I guess if I were going to make one manually, I would use the Pen Tool. I would place each poly on it's own layer. Since they would be shapes, they would be super easy to edit later.

Here's one I was just messing with, it's been pretty easy to do and fast moving.
Screen Shot 2015-05-17 at 3.43.39 PM.png

I might change my technique a little after having made a couple.
 

Ekmeh

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I guess if I were going to make one manually, I would use the Pen Tool. I would place each poly on it's own layer. Since they would be shapes, they would be super easy to edit later.

Here's one I was just messing with, it's been pretty easy to do and fast moving.
View attachment 55790

I might change my technique a little after having made a couple.

Ohh, I didn't realize you were a moderator :redface:, so I didn't quite got what you meant with "or I can do it for you", but now I do. Thanks for that!

And yeah, that actually looks really good as a base. But I couldn't come up with the word "polygon" so thanks alot for that. Now I can search around on the internet on those keywords!

Also, I'll try to do it using the pen tool like you did tomorrow and see how it turns out.

Thanks a bunch :cheesygrin:
 

Tom Mann

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They also go by the name of "low poly art". Here are some other options:

1. Google {"low poly" generator online}

2. You can sorta-kinda simulate the look by taking essentially any image and running it through PS's "cutout" filter and cranking up the colors. The shapes won't all be triangles or quadrilaterals, but you can just select some smaller areas that look nice. Attached is an example of this. You would never know that I started with a picture of a truck on the street, LOL.

HTH,

Tom
 

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  • Simulate_low_poly_fx_with_PS_cutout_filter.jpg
    Simulate_low_poly_fx_with_PS_cutout_filter.jpg
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IamSam

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Ohh, I didn't realize you were a moderator :redface:, so I didn't quite got what you meant with "or I can do it for you", but now I do. Thanks for that!

And yeah, that actually looks really good as a base. But I couldn't come up with the word "polygon" so thanks alot for that. Now I can search around on the internet on those keywords!

Also, I'll try to do it using the pen tool like you did tomorrow and see how it turns out.

Thanks a bunch :cheesygrin:
No problem!

Yeah, as Tom says, another term is Low Poly. I've actually played with these quite a bit. Another method I have used is solid color layers with the polygons added using the Polygonal Lasso Tool (fitting) and layer masks.

Most tutorials on the subject use Adobe Illustrator.

Would love to see what you come up with, keep us informed!
 

IamSam

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Here's the poly BG using the Polygonal Lasso Tool and layer mask technique I mentioned.

The trick here is that with each new color layer, you must propagate the previous layers-layer mask (alt/option + drag mask to new layer)

Screen Shot 2015-05-17 at 5.49.59 PM.png

Screen Shot 2015-05-17 at 5.50.14 PM.png

Ps. I did this rather fast so there are a few mistakes.
 

Ekmeh

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Here's the poly BG using the Polygonal Lasso Tool and layer mask technique I mentioned.

The trick here is that with each new color layer, you must propagate the previous layers-layer mask (alt/option + drag mask to new layer)

View attachment 55793

View attachment 55794

Ps. I did this rather fast so there are a few mistakes.

Hey man, didn't even see your result yet, had a pretty crazy few weeks so didn't really have the time to check the forum out. Anyway, looks really good. Actually looks exactly what I meant. Good job on that. Though, I'm running a record label with a team (mixer&masterer, producers, web developers, etc) but I was the only one with some photoshop experience along with 1 web developer. But a more proffesional graphic designer joined our team and made real stunning wallpapers and stuff, so it isn't really of any need anymore. Though, I'm probably going to sololy make a brand new record label for tropical house in the near future. I will be doing everything on my own there (music and graphic wise) so you'll probably see some help threads from me in this section every now and then when I'm stuck :redface:

Anyway, thanks alot for the input/effort, you're awesome! :)
 

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