With your texture layer selected, click through the blending modes until you find one you like. The layer blending mode that will work best for you will depend on the colors of your illustration, your texture contrast, and the effect you want. When the arrow appears, click in between the two layers to clip the top layer to the bottom layer. Clip the texture layer to the layer below by holding down the Option/Alt key and hovering in between the two layers.Make sure your texture layer is directly above the layer you want it applied to.Resize by hitting Command/Control +T and scale the texture to cover the portion of the illustration you want it applied to.Open your Photoshop illustration and select the layer that you want to add the texture to.Select all or a portion of your texture with the Rectangle Selection Tool.To bring texture to an illustration, follow these steps: Then, merge the layers by selecting them all and hitting Command/Control + E. Keep duplicating the Multiply layer until the texture is dark enough. To do this, duplicate the layer and set the top layer blending mode to Multiply. If your texture isn’t high-contrast enough (like the gouache image above), multiply the texture on top of itself to darken it. To adjust your texture, open it in Photoshop and turn it to grayscale by going to Image > Mode > Grayscale. Textures are most effective when they’re used as a high contrast black and white image.

For example, the green texture below is hand painted gouache. Be sure to read the terms and conditions before using a texture (or any image!) in your projects to ensure you have the rights to use them.Ĭan’t find a texture you love? Create your own by taking photos or scanning textures you’d like to use. There are many sources of textures online, such as, which offers both free and paid stock options. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through exactly how to do it, using this cute pup in a sweater as an example. Adding textures to your Photoshop illustrations is an easy way to take them from good to great.

Photoshop paint texture