Create A Watercolour Background On Photoshop

Recently I have seen a lot of banners, headers and quotation pictures using watercolour backgrounds. Looking around for tutorials on how to create this look in photoshop, I couldn't find a tutorial that was simple (I'm still learning the basics of photoshop). So I had a play around with photoshop and got some new brushes and figured out an easy way to make watercolour pictures.



Step 1 - Open a new document in photoshop and create a new layer, rename this layer to the first colour you will be using. 
Now you will need to get some watercolour paint brushes (these are the ones I downloaded). Unzip the file and click install, they will automatically appear in your photoshop brushes. 

New Document > New Layer.





Step 2 - Select the brush tool and then brush presets, the paint brushes that you have downloaded are in the shape of a paint splat. Choose the style of the paint brush, select the size and colour. Once you have chosen these you will need to set opacity to 25% and flow to 50%. Click on the document and a watercolour paint splat will appear on the document, the more times you click on the image the darker the paint will become (the one below was four clicks).

Brush Tool [1] > Brush Presets [2] > Size [3] > Colour [4] > Opacity 25% [5] > Flow 50% [6].

Step 3 - Create a new layer and rename this layer to the colour that you will be using. Choose a new colour and if you want to change your brush preset (use the ones you installed before) and change the size if needed. Repeat this step for every colour you want to use in the background.

New Layer [1] > Choose Colour [2] > Brush Preset [3].

Step 4 - Add a new layer and rename it text. Select horizontal type tool, choose your font (i chose lemon tuesday, which you can download from here). Choose your font size and colour and type your text. Make sure you set opacity and flow back to 100%.

New Layer [1] > Horizontal Type Tool [2] > Font > Size > Colour [3]. 

Step 5 - This step is optional, I decided to add a border to the text. For this, I downloaded a new brush tool which had two grunge type frames (found here). 

Create a new layer and rename it frame. Select the brush tool, then select the brush presets and the frames will be at the bottom of the list. Select a size and colour then place it on your document. If you decide to change the size of the frame select edit then free transform and change the size.

New Layer [1] > Brush Tool [2] > Brush Presets [3] > Size > Colour.

Finished, you can add as many different colour or layers as you like.

I love the watercolour design, so if you make any feel free to tag me on Instagram (@samweatheritt), I would love to see the different designs. Any questions you can ask me below or catch me on twitter. Have a good day.

Sam.