Best software/app to create super high definition desktop wallpaper designs....?

[Turnpike]

So I am going to have to learn to use something... Photoshop, Affinity, whatever the others are out there... I'm fine if it will be a Mac or iPad app, and here is what I want to do:

I want to be able to make desktop wallpapers, usually repeating patterns, but from images or designs taken from anywhere, and shrink them very small but keep them sharp and in very very high definition, so that I can use very very small images or designs as prints, so where something might look like a wallpaper design, I want to make the print/design super small to make it almost like a complicated texture. Or a super-fine-detailed wallpaper.

Anyway, normally I'd have someone on Fiverr do something like this for me, but there are ideas and looks that make me want to do it myself... and to be able to make versions of things I come across, as I come across them.

Anyway, what app/software would the professionals recommend I get and learn to make the most of repeating patterns, seem-less-ness, and super high resolutions and shrinking existing designs with minimal distortion and all of that?

Any input from those that know would be appreciated, also I don't care what the apps/software cost. If I'm going to spend my time learning it, I want the most capable /best one available. Also I've attached some of the patterns I've seen that I like, to give you an idea what I'm thinking of shrinking and duplicating many times over a single image.

Thank you!

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

My first choice for all of your examples would be creating a vector in Adobe Illustrator. You could (and some would) use Photoshop to do this, but I believe Illustrator is a better tool for such designs.

 

[Turnpike]

And that would be capable of super high resolution, shrinking and enlarging saved designs from online and blending them together in a huge file?

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Illustrator would create vector graphics which could be blown up to the size of the moon and hold their sharpness. One could argue that it would be easier to take designs from the internet and blend them in Photoshop, but the better end result, in my opinion, is going to be in Illustrator. You can take those rasterized images you pull from the internet and use Live Trace to make them into the vectors that would be best for this application.

 

[Slartibart]

Affinity Designer or Vectornator let create you such designs pretty easily too. And choosing a vector-based drawing program offers advantages when it comes down to scaling as @tobefirst ⚽️ already pointed out.

 

[MacGizmo]

Go with Affinity Designer AND Affinity Photo, that way you get both vector and raster art capability. The cost is so nominal compared to Adobe's products for starting out.

If you're making money on these designs, you can always switch to Adobe's products in the future if you want/need increased capabilities.

That being said, I would go with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for reasons too numerous to list. But then, I make a living using those products and the yearly Adobe Creative Cloud subscription cost is paid for in a day. You can, however, subscribe to just Photoshop and/or Illustrator (I believe they're $20 per month, each).

 

[wonderings]

I doubt you will want to pay for the monthly Adobe CC fee as this does not seem like it is something you are going to be making money with. As MacGizmo recommended and I would agree, check out Affinity Designer. What you are wanting to do is vector graphics. With raster graphics you can't just make something small and also super high res to be blown up. You may want to work with raster graphics as well and Affinity has you covered for that as well with Affinity Photos. Both Affinity Design and Affinity Photo are very reasonably priced and feature rich. They are their versions of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Hundreds if not thousands of damask patterns out there already. Again I would say vector is the way to go, gives you complete control with ease and also as tobefirst said, you can enlarge infinitely without losing resolution as it is vector and not raster, so resolution is not really a thing with that.

 

[Turnpike]

"...Hundreds if not thousands of damask patterns...." Ha ha ha.... I'm so embarrassed, I had no idea these designs had a name or what it was. I never even gave it a thought. This helps a thousand times more than even the software suggestions. Thanks so much!

 

[wonderings]

"...Hundreds if not thousands of damask patterns...." Ha ha ha.... I'm so embarrassed, I had no idea these designs had a name or what it was. I never even gave it a thought. This helps a thousand times more than even the software suggestions. Thanks so much!

I only know it because I work in print and design and we go through seasons of using variations of them for wedding invitations and other things. Don't think I would have a clue what they were called if I did not do what I was doing.

 

[lostPod]

I personally like Affinity Designer's pen tool better than illustrator.

 

[JahBoolean]

Affinity Designer (vector based) / Photoshop (raster based) / Blender (render based)

Pick your poison.

The learning curve in blender is quite steep although the ceiling of what can be achieved with it is out of sight.

 

[Slartibart]

Affinity Designer (vector based) / Photoshop (raster based) / Blender (render based)

Pick your poison.

The learning curve in blender is quite steep although the ceiling of what can be achieved with it is out of sight.

Blender to create damask pattern is a little bit like suggesting to use Acrobat Pro for your weekly shopping list, isn’t it? 🤓
For 3D design, 3D- and even 2D-animation, certain effects, procedural creation - Blender for sure isn’t a bad choice, but as a solution to the OP question, slightly overkill… YMMV 😃

 

[JahBoolean]

Blender to create damask pattern is a little bit like suggesting to use Acrobat Pro for your weekly shopping list, isn’t it? 🤓
For 3D design, 3D- and even 2D-animation, certain effects, procedural creation - Blender for sure isn’t a bad choice, but as a solution to the OP question, slightly overkill… YMMV 😃

You are completely right ! But on the off chance that OP uses this experience to whet it's apetite, why not point towards decent tools .

 

[lostPod]

I have heard good things about Amadine. Mac and iPad