Layout effect question

[shinjiteiru]

This effect is used often in layouts, but I've also seen it used in icons as well so I was wondering if there was anyone who could help me achieve this effect. Three example layouts that use this effect are here

Comments

[justforeverme]

Am I right in thinking that what you want to do is have your header fade into your background so that the page looks lilke you've designed the entire thing as one large picture?

If so, what I usually do if I'm going for this look is to design my header then open up a new page in photoshop (or whatever graphics prgramme you use) that is the width of my webpage, paste the header onto it and then design the background behind it so that the two fit together. I then open another page, same sizze and design the background without the header, making sire I mirror it vertically so that when it flips down the page it does so seamlessly and the rest is done through coding.

It's not a tutorial, but an example of one I've done is here.

[shinjiteiru]

Hmm...it's not so much anything to do with the images because I can do the image blending fine. It's more so much the "mystical" background part. It's the part with all of the brushes and textures. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but here's so more examples of it, if that helps;

http://ambrosial.nu/graphics/layouts/iframe/02/
http://ambrosial.nu/graphics/layouts/table/04/
http://www.ed.myprayerbeads.org/Lays/Divs/11.jpg
http://www.ed.myprayerbeads.org/Lays/Tables/21.jpg

[freelikebird]

1st, ur last 2 images are hotlinked and dont work ^^* u get a nasty message from the site owner >_<

and are u talking about the pattern background??? bcuz most of ur samples have patterns in the BG.

[shinjiteiru]

Haha, oops. XD

Nope, I'm talking about the actual layout itself- the "background" of where the main image and stuff is. All the pretty colors and stuff. Like where all the brushes and textures are, not the repeating background.

[akaich0u]

Filters and textures. And LOTS of 'em. It really is just experimentation (I had a hard time accepting this at first too; I'm too impatient XD). Whenever I do this effect (like these I assume: x, x, x and x), I always start with a subtle halftone and then a texture. Colorize with Hue/Saturation and adjust the Brightness/Contrast. Play with the blending modes. Duplicate and rotate. It's not just cloud brushes either, try some out-there filters like distorting and stylizing. I've tried writing tutorials on things like this but it ends up not working out for a lot of image types--it's just not being afraid to work with bolder blending modes like color burn and hard light, and a lot of duplicating and contrast fixes. Hope that's helped a little; and I'll give another go at a tutorial soon...

In the meantime, this one looks pretty good. The image links are down, but it gives good hints.

[shinjiteiru]

Thanks so much! I'll try to experiment some more. I think I've come pretty close sometimes to achieving these effects, but I guess I'm just not getting something that I'm happy with. I always use a lot of the filters, but I guess maybe I'm not using them correctly to get this style. I once found a similar tutorial on how to get this effect, but it was too vague and I wasn't sure where to go with it after the tutorial had ended.

Thanks so much for the link, though. I've actually seen that tutorial before and I think I had ment to try it out, but never go around to doing so.

I look forward to your tutorial. =]