Artwork of Tobias White: Texture Hunter Act 1

One of the many techniques that digital painters employ is the use of texture overlays. Usually these textures are applied over a certain part of a digital painting with reduce opacity or using color blend modes such as multiply, overlay or soft light. The digital painter then paints over these textures to blend it even more into the painting.

You can find plenty of sites on-line that offer textures for sale or even for free. However, in these times of cell phones that can take quality photos and digital cameras that fit in your pocket, hunting your own textures is easy, rewarding (for uniqueness), and fun. If you pursue it everyday you will soon have a vast library of textures to use for your digital painting.

To be a successful texture hunter you need to actively be kept aware of your surroundings; look for differences in contrast; look for differences in color; and to think out side of the proverbial box. For instance the very first photo was from an ash tray at the Getty Museum, which was pretty funny to see someone taking a picture of at a museum. You can hunt for a lot of textures right in your own home; try looking in your refrigerator, garage and backyard if you own one. Things we take for granted like the fiz from a soda or the reflection of light in water can also make for great textures. Think beyond your ability to see and use your scanner (if you own one) because most scanners these days can scan at very high resolutions which make them almost like magnifying glass or a microscope. Using a scanner in this way can open up a world of textures we normally can't see. For example: tearing apart a Q-tip and scanning it or stretching a kneaded eraser. Lastly the best source for texture is mother nature because she can produce things that can't be produced anywhere else, so keep your eyes open and get to hunting.