Designing textiles with Adobe Photoshop for beginners

About this course

Participants learn Photoshop techniques for turning drawings, scanned artwork and photographs into textile designs. Demonstrations, practical exercises, presentations, one-to-one tutorials and hand-outs cover image cleaning, digital drawing, photomontage, scale, composition, colour and pattern structure. The course explores placement designs, half drops and seamless repeats, with participants developing a project based on their own work or chosen theme. Designs are prepared for textile printing, including sublimation and heat-press processes, and the course concludes with a small collection of designs printed on paper or fabric.

What you'll learn

• Use a range of Photoshop tools and techniques for textile design.
• Clean and develop scanned artwork, drawings and photographic images.
• Construct placement, half-drop and seamless repeat patterns.
• Manage colour and save colour swatches for digital design work.
• Prepare and save textile designs for future development and printing.

Is this course right for you?

The course is intended for beginners at an introductory level, including learners who have some Photoshop knowledge and want to work at their own pace. Participants should be able to follow written and verbal instructions, take part in group discussion, and complete simple measurements and calculations. Preparation and homework outside class are encouraged.

• Beginners are welcome.
• Learners with some existing Photoshop knowledge can take on additional tasks.
• The teaching includes demonstrations, practical exercises and one-to-one tutorials.
• Participants develop a project connected to their own work or chosen theme.

Before you go

• Basic materials and resources are available as part of the course.
• Participants need a memory stick with sufficient storage for their files; 4 to 8GB is recommended.
• Participants should bring examples of their work, preferably in a portfolio, printed samples or products.
• An A4 notebook and folder are needed for notes, samples and hand-outs.
• Participants should bring source images, photographs, drawings, artworks, fabric samples, colours, textures or patterns for development.
• Basic drawing tools, such as black pens of different thicknesses, are advisable.
• Participants need to log in to Google Classroom before the sessions to access course materials.
• Participants are entitled to a student discount on Adobe Creative Cloud and need to create an Adobe account using their City Lit email address.