Create a

Seamless,
Circular,
Geometric
Background
Pattern in
Photoshop
by Grant Friedman31 Mar 2014
Difficulty:BeginnerLength:ShortLanguages:
DesigningAdobe Photoshop
Seamless backgrounds can be used in just about
any type of project. You will commonly see them
used in fashion design, print design, web design,
and even architectural design. I've always
enjoyed creating seamless backgrounds, and in
this tutorial, I will show you how to create a
really interesting circular, geometric background
pattern using Photoshop's vector tools. Let's get
started!
1. Set Up Your Canvas
Before we get started, the first thing that you will
need to do is to set up your canvas. Setting
precise measurements for this pattern is
important, so in this tutorial, we will rely heavily
on grids.

Step 1
To set up your grid, browse
to Preferences > Guides, Grids & Slices.

Set a Gridline every 50 pixels, as shown below.

Step 2
Now that your grid is set, create a new document
that is 350 x 350 pixels in dimensions. Use the
settings below.

Once your document has been created, go ahead

and show your grid by going
to View > Show > Grid (Command/Ctrl-')
Your document should now look similar to the
image below with Gridlines placed
every 50 pixels.
2. Draw Shapes
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Step 1
Before you get started, make sure
that Snapping is enabled by going
to View > Snap. This will make sure your shapes
are placed properly.
Step 2
This pattern will be created using basic vector
shapes. Select the Ellipse Tool (U) and click
anywhere on the canvas. Create a circle that
is 200 x 200 pixels in dimensions.
Your circle should look similar to this shape. My
circle currently has no color applied to it.
Activate the Path Selection Tool (A), select the
circle shape that you just created, and change the
color to black, or any color you prefer.
Step 3
Place your first shape in the top left corner of
your canvas, as shown. It should snap in to place.
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Step 4
With the Path Selection Tool (A) selected, and
while pressing Alt on your keyboard, select the
circle shape and drag out a duplicate circle, as
shown.
With the new circle selected, select the Intersect
Shape Areas option from Path Operations, as
shown.
Your new shape should look like this.
To simplify things, select Merge Shape
Components, as shown. This will get rid of all
the excess paths.

Click Yes.

Your canvas should now look similar to this.

3. Build Pattern Shape
Step 1
With the Path Selection Tool (A) selected, select
the new shape, and with the Alt key pressed, drag
out a duplicate of the shape and place it, as
shown.

Select both shapes with the Path Selection Tool

(A) and make duplicates of them by Copying and
Pasting (Command/Ctrl-C and
Command/Ctrl-V). Then, rotate them and place
them, as shown, by Pressing Command/Ctrl-
T on your keyboard, using the
appropriate Transformation handles.

Step 2
Now we need to fill in the center of the pattern.
To do this, select the Rectangle Tool and click
directly onto the intersection of the two Gridlines
in the center.

Create a square shape that is 70 x 70 pixels in

dimensions. Make sure to enable the From
Center option.
Your shape should now look similar to this
image.
Now, let's Inflate the center shape a bit by going
to Edit > Transform Path > Warp.

Select Inflate from the Warp dropdown menu.

Set the Bend to 10%.
Press Yes.
Your shape should now look similar to this.
Step 3
Our pattern is almost complete. Before we move
on, take a look at your Layers panel. If your
paths are broken up onto several layers, like
mine, select all the shape layers and Merge them
by right-clicking on them and selecting Merge
Shapes. This will combine all your paths in to
one.
All shapes layers are now merged onto one layer.

Step 4
Now that we have simplified our layers a bit, we
can now start duplicating the shapes to fill the
screen. Select the Path Selection Tool (A) and
select the shapes, as shown. You can select
multiple shapes by shift-clicking on them. Don't
click the far left shape. It's not necessary.
With the four paths selected, press Alt on your
keyboard, drag out the duplicate shapes, and
place them, as shown.
Your canvas should now look similar to this.
Using the technique explained above, drag out
some more duplicates and place them, as shown.
Remember, you don't need to select the top two
shapes.
This is how your canvas should look now.

4. Make the Seamless

Pattern
At this point, we are pretty much done with the
tutorial. All we need to do now is turn it into a
pattern preset.

Step 1
Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and
draw a selection in the center of the canvas as
shown below. Your selection should be 150 x
150 pixels.
Now go to Edit > Define Pattern.
Name your pattern.
5. Apply the Pattern
Once you are done, the next step is to apply the
pattern to see how it looks and to make sure it
actually works.

Step 1
Create a new document in whatever size you like.
Mine is 2000 x 2000 pixels.

Step 2
Select the Background layer in the Layers panel.

Go to Edit > Fill (F5).

Select Pattern from the Use dropdown menu and

select the pattern that you just created from
the Custom Pattern dropdown. Click OK. Your
pattern will now be applied to
the Background layer. If you did everything
correctly, your pattern should be completely
seamless. If it is not seamless, you may need to
make some adjustments.

Conclusion
In this tutorial, I showed you how to quickly and
easily create a seamless, geometric, circular
pattern using Photoshop's vector tools. I hope that
you learned something from this tutorial and can
use these techniques to create your own beautiful
patterns in Photoshop.