Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop | Vandelay Design Blog

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Published October 27th, 2010 in Design

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Textures are commonly used in web design and other types of graphic design, and fortunately they are relatively easy to work with. You can use a photograph to create texture, but Photoshop brushes also present a simple way to add texture to your work.

While there are a lot of Photoshop brushes available for creating texture, there will be times when you’ll want to create your own. By creating your own brushes you’ll have more control over the final outcome and once you have the brushes completed you will be able to re-use them whenever you want to quickly add texture.

We recently released a set of 25 grunge texture brushes for Vandelay Premier members and in this tutorial I will go through the same process that was used to create those brushes.

What you will need to follow the tutorial:

  • A few textured images (preferrably at least 2500 pixels by 2500 pixels).
  • Photoshop

The process we’ll be using will combine a few images with minor adjustments to create our brush. The images I’m using are from the Pavement Textures – Part I and Concrete Textures sets at Vandelay Premier. If you’re not a Vandelay Premier member you can substitute other images that you have available and the process will be very similar.

Here are the images we’re using:

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Ok, let’s get started.

Step 1: Creating the File

Go to File – New and create a new file that is 2500 pixels by 2500 pixels. This is the maximum size of Photoshop brushes, so that is what we will start with. All of our images are 4000 pixels by 3000 pixels, so we have plenty to work with. We’ll create the brush in the maximum size, because it can always be easily reduced to a smaller size whenever needed.

Step 2: Add the First Image

Now that we have our photos and our new file opened, we can get started creating something useful. Start by desaturating the image (go to Image – Adjustments – Desaturate) to take the color out of the photo. After being desaturated it will look like this.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Now we want to add the image to our new file, so go to Select – All, and the Edit – Copy and you’ll have the image on your clipboard. Then go to the new file that you just created and go to Edit – Paste. That places the image in a new layer, but we will want to position it. Go to Edit – Free Transform and drag the image to reposition it. I want to get rid of the edges so we’re working mostly with the middle of the photo. After re-positioning it looks like this.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Step 3: Add the Second Image

Now take the next image, desaturate it, copy and paste it on top of the layer we just edited. Again, use free transform to position it how you want it. My image now looks like this.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

The second image that we pasted in is now covering up the first one, so we’ll want to change the blend mode. Double click on the second image’s layer in the layer’s palette to bring up the layer style options.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

You can experiment with some different blend modes, but I am going to be using Soft Light at 100% opacity.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

The image now looks like this.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

It’s not a huge change from the image with just one layer, but when viewed at full size the second image does add some additional texture.

Step 4: Add the Third Image

Next, desaturate the third image, copy it and paste it on top of the other two images. Use free transform to align it, then double click on the layer in the layer’s palette to open the layer style options. On this layer I am setting the blend mode to overlay at 100% opacity. The image now looks like this.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Again, this image also adds a subtle change. The first image is the most noticeable, the other two just add some additional texture and character.

Step 5: Adjustments

We’ll now make some adjustments to the image that will improve the outcome of our brush. Right now the image is rather light and there are only a few dark spots. We’ll darken it up a bit and the brush will still be very versatile, it will just be easier to use with darker colors and shades.

There are a few different ways to darken an image. I often use levels, but on the grunge texture brush set I used brightness and contrast instead. So go to Image – Adjustments – Brightness/Contrast. I’m going to set the brightness at -150 and the contrast at 100. Note: if you are using different images you will need to experiment because these specific numbers will not be relevant to you.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

That is really the only adjustment we are going to make to our image. You can also experiment with other adjustments or filters if you like. This is how our final image looks.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Step 6: Create the Brush

Now that we have our image ready it is very easy to turn it into a brush. Go to Edit – Define Brush Preset and you will be able to name your brush.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

You can now use your brush! Here are some examples of how it will look when simply applied with color.

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

Create a Grunge Texture Brush in Photoshop

To download the full set of 25 grunge texture brushes please visit Vandelay Premier.

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