Honeycomb pattern

INTRODUCTION

Textures play an important role when creating various types of artwork. A well placed texture or a pattern can complete the composition and fill the otherwise empty space. Create a honeycomb pattern in seven simple steps.

The Gradient Tool, Effects and other features of Pixelmator are used in this tutorial.

RESOURCES
 
PXM File

STEP 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. The image size used in this tutorial is 900×600 pixels. Select the Paint Bucket Tool (N) and fill the “Background Layer” with a dark orange color (color code – #875b1e).

STEP 2

Next, create a new layer and name it “Clouds”. Then, choose View > Show Effects to open the Effects Browser. Choose the Generator group in the Effects Browser and double-click the Clouds thumbnail. Click OK. Now, choose the Other group in the Effects Browser and double-click the Solarize thumbnail. Set Levels to 7 and click OK. Finally, invert the colors of the layer. Choose the Color Adjustments group in the Effects Browser and double-click the Invert thumbnail.

STEP 3

Now, reduce the contrast of the “Clouds” layer. Choose the Color Adjustments group in the Effects Browser and double-click the Brightness thumbnail. Set Contrast to -100% and click OK. The result should look similar to the image below. Next, choose the Stylize group in the Effects Browser. Double-click the Noise thumbnail and set the Amount to 2%. Click OK. Finally, change the “Clouds” layer’s Blending to Soft Light.

STEP 4

Now, let’s start working on the honeycomb cells pattern. First, select the Gradient Tool (G) and open the Gradients Palette. Choose View > Show Gradients. Then, click the Action button in the palette and choose New Gradient from the shortcut menu. Double-click the new gradient and make sure that the left color stop is set to black and the right one – white. Then, change the Gradient Type to Linear. Finally, create a new layer named “Gradient” and fill it with the new gradient. The result should look similar to the image below.

STEP 5

Next, choose the Stylize group in the Effects Browser and double-click the Honeycomb thumbnail. Use the rope to point to the center of the canvas. Then, set the Scale to 40 px and click OK. Finally, choose Edit > Transform and increase the size to 110%.

STEP 6

Add a vignette effect to frame the composition. First, create a new layer and name it “Vignette”. Select the Paint Bucket Tool (N) and fill the layer with black. Then, use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the center part of the image as in the example below. Next, choose Edit > Refine Selection. Set Feather to 50% and click OK. Delete the selected area by pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.

STEP 7

Apply a blur effect to smoothen, the vignetting. Choose the Blur group in the Effect Browser and double-click the Zoom thumbnail. Use the rope to point to centre of the canvas and set the Amount to 20 px. Click OK. Finally, reduce the layer’s Opacity to 70%.

CONCLUSION

Congratulations, you’re done! Pixelmator comes equipped with many effects that can be used to create highly detailed textures. Once it is created, the texture can be incorporated into different types of artwork as shown in the image below.