To Infinity!

There are a couple of techniques in Photoshop that I use regularly, to achieve certain effects. For now, I’m walking you through smooth grain texture, sharper brush tool and simple grunge effect. All tips require basic Photoshop knowledge.

a) Simple grunge effect

This tip is based on scratches.jpg, a texture have completely forgotten where came from, but which has been useful more times than I can recall. So you’re going to need that one - click the link above, download it, and open it in Photoshop.

Paste it onto a new layer in the document you’re working on. Put the texture on top of everything else, and resize to your preferences. Open the Channels palette (Windows > Channels), and click on the RBG thumbnail while holding CTRL down (Command if you’re on Mac). Hide the layer with the scratches. You now have a selection of everything white on the image - what you choose to do from here is up to you. In the image below, I’ve simply used the eraser tool on low opacity over some parts of the rasterized text.

b) Smooth grain texture

This technique is great for making a solid color more interesting, or more realistic. Start off by finding the surface you want to add the grain to. In my case, this is a solid blue color. The effect is achieved by using first the Noise effect, then Surface Blur to smooth it out.

The Noise effect can be found under Filter > Noise > Add Noise. While the exact Amount depends on what the effect is applied to, Distribution should be Uniform, and the noise Monochromatic for the intended results. Play around with Amount until you find something suitable - you can always go back and do it over again, if you’re unsatisfied later.

Surface Blur is located under Filter > Blur > Surface Blur. The threshold option here should reflect the amount of noise used. Even results are most easily achieved using a high radius.

Ta-da! The image above illustrates all three steps. The end result is slightly textured, while still looking nice and smooth. Looks great when used together with other textures, gradients, or etcetera.

c) Sharper brush tool

When drawing with the brush tool, the brush often get’s a rather blurry appearance - while the pencil tool is all too pixel-y. For a nice middle ground, there are a couple of tweaks you can do in the Brushes panel. (Window > Brushes)

While the Brush Tool is in use, click the Brush Tip Shape option in the Brushes panel. Set Spacing to 1%. Then, click the Texture option, and duplicate the settings in the screenshot below. Congratulations, your brush is now sharp and pretty.

Tags: photoshop, tutorial