We’re working on a project for a band that has a retro-ish kind of feel. What better way to help create that feeling than some gaudy patterns used as backgrounds. They seem to have that old school tackiness to them. Here’s what we did:

1. Download some free Patterns from Squid Fingers

Squidfinger’s pattern library is a famous site for designers. We started by downloading a pattern and unzipping it somewhere on our harddrive. With over 150 patterns, you can spend a fair amount of time finding just the right one.

2. Defining the pattern for Photoshop

After you’ve got the Pattern downloaded and unzipped, just open up the file in Photoshop. We’re using CS5.5 and CS4, any further back than that, you’ll have to do a little Googling around. Once you’ve got it opened head up to the Edit menu and choose Define Pattern… Enter some nifty name that’ll help you remember the pattern name.

3. Using the Pattern

Now that the pattern is defined, we’re gonna put it into motion. Create a new blank layer. Then choose your fill/paintbucket tool. From the options menu at top switch from Foreground to Pattern. You’ll notice the box next to this drop down showing a thumbnail of some pattern. Click the pattern and find your newly defined pattern. Now simply use the fill or paintbucket tool to fill up your layer.

4. Fitting it into your context

We put our new layer that we filled with the pattern on top of another layer that had a solid color. We then went to the pattern layer and used a Multiply Blend Mode. This gave us the color we wanted. With a little bit of Opacity adjustment, we were happy with the final result. Here’s a screenshot of what we came up with. Leave us a comment and show us what you come up with.