How to use this Page

The other day, I created this little dotty pattern in Photoshop for a background for my website. I used to struggle to create seamless patterns but I've since learned a quick and easy way to create them in Photoshop that thought it might be a useful technique for others. It works for creating all sorts of repeating patterns of all different sizes.

The dot pattern above is created by repeating this little file over and over again...




To make it, I created a new photoshop file. Mine was 30 pixels high and 30 pixels wide. You can make larger patterns. Just make sure you make it square and that you use an even number of pixels.

Then I changed the background to a medium blue color. So I have a small blue square.



Next I use the brush tool to draw a darker blue dot in the center of the blue box. You can draw something other than a dot, just make sure it doesn't touch the edges of the square.



Then you select Filter->Other->Offset. In the offset dialog box, enter +15 pixels right and +15 pixels down (half of the total height and width of my image) and select the "Wrap Around" option. Hit okay and your dot should have moved to the corners like so...



All that's left to do is make one more dark blue dot in the center. Now you have a repeating pattern. You can save it as a .jpg and use it as the background on your website, like I did.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via WikipediaHere's the 2nd week of the Photoshop course, eight more weeks to come. Feel free to download it (click on the Scribd button then use the Download link at the top of the following page) and if you find it useful leave me a comment.

Image via WikipediaI'm running a Photoshop for Beginners course at the moment, here's the first handout. Feel free to download it (click on the Scribd button then use the Download link at the top of the following page) and if you find it useful leave me a comment.

"A woman can never be too packed with shopping bags!". Laugh. Well that's kind of absurd, and not very deep. But hey it fit's with today's Illustration Friday theme "packed"! For all fashionistas out there, the stylish fashion blog www.almostpacked.com also inspired me to post this inspiration card for this week's Illustration Friday theme.

I created this illustration for German magazine LISA, to an article that was wondering if shopping is in a woman's genes. How superficial. Of ourse it's not. Right?

Laugh. Have a great, happy weekend everyone!

I was having trouble thinking of something for 100% but I started doodling and I came up with this character that is 100% evil. This is not at all typical of what I draw. But I saw Sweeney Todd and Batman Begins this week. I guess it has got me in a creepy, dark mood.

Well, we're working on a Pop review of HP7. In the meantime, please entertain & edify yourselves with the following:

• Emmy nominations: yeah, we're about a week late with these. Display & DVD selection time! Also, set your TiVos and/or plan an Emmy party for Sunday, September 16th.
• Interesting retrospective critical analysis of the American romantic comedy, from the New Yorker's David Denby. Those libraries with film view & discuss groups, take note!
• Rolling Stone's 40 Essential Albums of 1967. If you're looking to flesh out your Seminal Classic Rock CD collection, this is a great place to start. The entire issue is full of fascinating articles covering the many scenes during 1967 -- Memphis, London, San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles all get their due.

For those librarians & their patrons who are Austen fanatics, I present Adrienne Furness's excellent round-up of resources for the Austen-deprived. I'm so glad she included Clueless, one of my favorite movies (and richest sources of slang) of all time.

Two things to add to Adrienne's list:

Persuasion: this is possibly my favorite film adaptation of any Austen novel, maybe because it's my favorite Austen novel. It's beautiful, spare, autumnal, and stars the mousy-to-radiant Amanda Root and the smoldering Ciaran Hinds (probably better known now for his role as Caesar in HBO's series Rome) as true lovers thwarted, then reunited. The book is, of course, richer, but that doesn't detract from the wonderfulness of the film.

The Republic of Pemberley: Home of JA-related discussion boards, fanfic, and a database of Austen-related recommended reading, organized by genre & age group. Impressive! I'm glad the ROP is still around, as I wrote a paper on it for a Reading Communities course I took in library school.