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Let There Be Lines 4: PhotoShop Quick Grids

Grid as defined at right, with Fade Fill 25%.

Grid as defined with Fade Fill 50%, Mode Dissolve.

Grid as defined, but with fountain fill as grid color.

Grid as defined, but texture filter added to fill.

Grid as defined, but fill with texture filter, colored background (color on delete) and 2 pt grid lines.

Let's make a grid. Do you have a minute? That's all it takes. We are going to create half of a grid cell and define it as a fill pattern. The fill pattern will create our grid automatically.

Create a fixed sized marquee of 20 px by 20 px (see page 2). Fill with your grid color.

With the Marquee Tool selected, use your arrow keys to move the selection down by one pixel and one pixel to the right. Your sample will look like this.

Delete. The sample now looks like this.

Use your arrow keys to move the selection back to the original position, up one pixel and one pixel to the left.

This is your grid pattern. Choose Edit>Define Pattern from the main menu.

You can now define an area and fill with your grid pattern (Edit>Fill>Pattern). Note: Pattern fills start from the top left hand corner of the document, so for a complete grid, start the selected area there. You can move the selection once it is filled without affecting the position of the grid.

Often, you want a less defined grid. Immediately after filling, choose Filter>Fade Fill from the main menu and reduce the opacity as desired. If you want a broken grid, try using the dissolve mode in the Fade Fill window.

To save this grid pattern, copy the selection at the point where you defined your pattern. Choose File>New from the main menu. The exact size of your copy will be presented in the New window. Accept this size, paste the selection and save the file. You can open this file at any time. Select>Select All from the main menu, then Edit>Define Pattern. The pattern will be retained when you return to your document. Fill as above.

That's it. Have some fun filling any shape with your own grid.

Next page

Let There Be Lines Tutorial Index

Let There Be Lines Start
PhotoShop Lines
PhotoShop Lines (part 2)
PhotoShop Quick Grids
PhotoShop Scan Lines
PaintShop Pro Lines
PaintShop Pro Grid/Scan/Dots
CorelDraw and Freehand Lines
CorelDraw Grid Tool
Gallery and Resources