Freebie :: Color Palette Template
Last Friday, I offered a free color palette template download (say that three times fast). Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested, but I’m so glad you are! The more, the merrier, I say, and I’m hoping you’ll take this and a) make them your own, b) start posting lots of palettes, and/or c) participate in the next Color Palette Blog Hop (details coming later – and yes, this is kind of a bribe to get you to participate).
My goal was to have a few templates for you to use and play with. But my weekend was so busy with the pending shop move, something had to give. After staring at the computer screen for hours on end for days on end, my left eye has developed a lovely twitch. Try as I might to get it all done, I couldn’t stand to sit in front of my laptop any longer. There goes my dream of being an Adobe Illustrator mega-wizard.
I will say that I learned something about myself – I tend to be kind of wordy with instructions. My thinking is, let me give you all of the information you could possibly need before you ask for it (if you’ve been a reader for any amount of time, you know this already)! But this compulsion means I stress out if I can’t do it exactly the way I want to. So, one download is all I’ve got for you. It also means that the Color Palette Blog Walk needs to wait till I clear some of these to-do items off my plate (but it will be coming!).
And also, this post proves my point exactly.
Anyway, the template. Click the first palette image above or click here to download. It’s a PSD file, so you’ll need Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to open and use it (or possibly GIMP – I haven’t tested it with that program). It’s yours to use however you like.
If you’ve never made one yourself, or aren’t super familiar with Photoshop, there are different layers that go into making a palette, so make sure that you click on the layer you’d like to use. I’ve already made a clipping mask layer for your photo; just resize it down a little (the photo area is 500px wide by 333px tall), then paste it on the indented, Clip Photo Here layer shown above.
Each color swatch is also on its own layer. Click the Foreground Color box to choose a color from your photo, then use the Paint Bucket tool and pour your color directly on top of the different aqua swatches I have on the template (make sure the layer you want is actually selected first).
If you’ve got a vertical photo instead of a horizontal one, do Image > Rotate > 90 degrees left to rotate the template.
When you’re done, make sure to Save As a JPEG or PNG file (both are photo files so that you can share them on your blog). I tend to save the PSD as one file (so I can easily make changes), then save it again as a photo file.
Want to try your hand at making your own color palette from scratch? I’ve got a Tip Share for that right here.
Have fun!
