How to create this effect in photoshop CS5

Question

First let me start off by saying that I'm a programmer and have very little experience with Photoshop, so thanks for helping me out! I'm trying to create a background for my main view, but I'm not sure exactly how to go about doing it.

I'd like there to be vertical black stripes tilted 30 degrees clockwise on a yellow background. However, instead of the black lines I'd like stripes randomly spread about the image but with the same slant. For the stripes, I'd like them to give a sense of movement with sharp ends and be a little thinner than the stripes in this picture. Is this possible? How would I go about doing this with Photoshop CS5?

Answer 1

You can draw the diagonal lines on a logarithmic scale to get that effect. It would be both symmetric and varied.

Answer 2

You could create the initial vector paths in Illustrator, then bring them into Photoshop to style and colour them.

I'd start by drawing a rectangle, then rotate it to the angle you want. From there, dupe it up many times — enough to cover your entire area and then some. You can do this by dragging the first rectangle and holding the option key down (in Illustrator). That will dupe one copy. Keep hitting command-D to Transform Again.

You should now have a bunch of parallel lines.

You can now use Object → Transform → Transform Each to randomize their positions (and or rotation and size). Turn on Random and Preview, and edit the Move values.

Once you're happy with the lines, you can select them all and copy. Paste them into Photoshop as a Shape Layer. You'll now have what you want, in Photoshop, and ready to style as suitable.

It should be possible to get a wide range of effects by varying the source rectangle or Transform Each.