Grunge Brush

step 1

Grunge patterns are useful to give your work in photoshop some texture. This tutorial shows you how to make a grunge background. The pattern created in this tutorial should be bigger in reality.

step 2

First, find an image of something with a lot of detail. I chose a tree I found from www.cs.virginia.edu.

step 3

Now, make sure it's on a new layer and press CTRL+U. Set the saturation to -100 so it is black and white. Next goto Image>Adjustments>Auto Contrast.

step 4

Next, goto Image>Adjustments>Levels. Move the black and white tabs near each other in an area where your picture looks crisp and has a lot of texture. Basically, all you want to do is play around with it.

step 5

Now goto your Rectangular Marquee Tool and Click+Drag an area on the image that you would like to make a brush out of. I chose an area purely of branches and leaves since it looks like good texture. Once select press CTRL+C to copy the selection. Make a new layer and press CTRL+V to paste it on.

step 6

CTRL+Click this new layer to get the selection and then goto EDIT>Define Pattern. You now have a new pattern! You can use it on any image to give it that old/grunge look. You can also easily apply filters to your new brush/pattern to give it a nice effect. Note:I made the pattern pretty small for viewing purposes, but in reality it should have been much bigger.

step 7

Now make a new document. Make the background color a light color. I chose a light yellow. Make a new layer and press CTRL+A to select all. Now goto EDIT>FILL and select your pattern and rpess Okay. Change the blending mode on this layer to Linear Dodge.

final image

Final Result