Last Updated: February 25, 2016
·
14.65K
· mitchellpash

Creating A Pixelated Background in Photoshop CS6

Step 1:
Start by creating a new Photoshop document with the following specs:
Size: 1920x1080
Resolution: 300ppi
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Step 2:
Select 2 blueish colors from the pallet, oone light and one darker tone. I chose #2dadfc for my light (see Figure 1) and #1a628e for my dark (see Figure 2).
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Figure 1
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Figure 2

Step 3:
Now select: Filer > Render > Clouds.
Your document will now look like this:
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Step 4:
To pixelate the clouds, do Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic.
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Step 5:
Once you have pixelated the clouds, you can add a special cloud effect to really contrast the pixelation. Start by creating a new layer and renaming it to "Clouds".

Step 6:
Head over to my dropbox and pickup these brushes by Blazter [JavierZhX]:

http://db.tt/S0zgjRXb

Once you've downloaded them, just double click the file and you'll be able to select them in your brush pallet.

Step 7:
Select the 5th cloud brush who's native size is 854px.
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Step 8:
Resize the brush to 3000px and select a slightly lighter color of blue from the color pallet. I chose #55aadd for my lighter color.

Step 9:
Click once in the bottom right corner of your working area to create a side cloud, or where along the edge you like. Once you have put your cloud where you want it, change the layer blending mode to Hard Light. This will make the cloud blend with your pixelation nicely.
Here is what your file should look like:
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Step 10:
Spruce things up by adding some more clouds and change the opacity value of the layer to give it a nice and well blended look.
Here was my final product:
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Thanks for reading my tutorial and I hope you enjoyed making a really cool wallpaper or website background for yourself!