Challenge - Digital Challenges : Be inspired by pop art -- use halftones!

 This week's digital challenge is to take some inspiration from the swinging sixties art scene -- use halftones, just like many pop art painters did!

Halftones are the fill patterns made of tiny dots.  You can see them in many of the comic-styled paintings by Roy Lichtenstein, and you can create them easily in Photoshop.

To start, choose a word and a nice chunky font (this is Rosewood Standard Fill) and type the word you want to fill with a halftone.  I've started with 'snow' in a light grey.

Use the stroke feature to add an outline and a shadow or glow.  I used a few pixels of white outline and an outer glow in black for my shadow.

Now open a new file to create the halftone.  We'll go back to the image with our word in just a minute.

In the new image, create a new fill layer and select Gradient.  Select a black to white gradient so you have an image that fades from light to dark.  Flatten the image so everything is in one layer.

Make sure your image is in greyscale. This is in image --> mode.

Also in image --> mode, select bitmap.

Keep your resolution at 300dpi and below that, select halftone screen.

The next box lets you play with the size and spacing of the dots in your halftone.  I used 50 lines per inch with round dots at a 45 degree angle.  You can adjust these settings for various looks!

Click okay and your gradient will change to a screen of dots that will make your eyes twitch a bit if you look at the screen too long!  Select all (ctrl+a) and copy (ctrl+c).

Now go back to the file with your typed word.  Paste (ctrl+v) your halftone so it makes a new layer on top of your word.

Right click on this new layer in the layer palette and select 'Create Clipping Mask' (some versions of PS/PSE call this 'group with previous').  

Still in the layers palette, change the blend mode to multiply and bring the opacity down to around the 30% point.

Now your letters are filled with a halftone of fading dots instead of a plain pattern!  Use them however you would like on your layout!

If you're not a Photoshop user or don't fancy following this short tutorial, you can still participate in this week's challenge without following these exact steps.  Your challenge is to take inspiration from Pop Art, and how you interpret that is up to you!

Be sure to check the box for this week's digital challenge when you upload your page to the gallery, and stop by for our chat on Tuesday at 10am CST!