About the Grunge Effect in Photoshop
"Grunge" is a style that adds visual "noise" to an otherwise clean design. It is used by graphic artists in a variety of ways, ranging from making something look old to simply making it look more interesting texturally. Photoshop is a great software package to use for adding grunge to an image, either directly with its effects, filters and tools, or by using some of the many plug-ins that have been developed for it.
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Grunge Style
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Grunge style Grunge style highlights textures and contrast that make surfaces seem gritty and dirty. Sometimes, it even looks like something was spilled onto the surface. Photoshop's ability to combine different layers and layer masks at varying opacities, combined with the selected use of gradients, gives a designer an unlimited palate and range of effects. Depending on the combination of images and their densities, the grunge effect can appear subtle or severe. Tutorials on how to achieve a basic grunge effect in Photoshop are available (see Resources section).
Retro Designs
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A retro 1950s motorcycle A "retro design" is the recreation of an earlier style, most typically from the 1940s and 1950s. It can be achieved through the use of an extensive combination of Photoshop tools and filters, or it can be more easily replicated by using some Photoshop plug-ins, specifically "Washing Machine" filters and a filter called "Permanent Press" (see Resources section).
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Distressed Type
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Grunge type One of the most popular uses for a grunge effect is to create what's called "distressed type," or type that looks worn, dirty, partially disintegrated or simply textured. Making a distressed-looking type is a fairly simple and straightforward process of rasterizing type, then using Photoshop's layering tools. If you add a texture to the rasterized type, it will look gritty or dirty, as in the example here. But if you subtract a texture from the type, is will look worn and disintegrated.
Borders
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A photo with a grunge border and texture Sometimes you may want to add an interesting border to a photo or design. Grunge borders are extremely popular for this purpose and are easy to create. Photoshop offers a wide variety of brushes that can be used to make unique borders, and there are hundreds of third-party brushes specifically for this purpose (see Resources section).
Worn and Weathered
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Worn flag Perhaps the most frequent use of grunge style is to make an object look worn or weathered. A worn look can be quickly and easily achieved using just three basic Photoshop tools: brushes, erasers and burning. It can also be done using Photoshop's native filters, such as Gaussian Blur. And as with most other grunge uses, there are many third-party applications available for quick and easy weathering effects. Tutorials for creating worn and weathered grunge effects are available (see Resources section).
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Yuliya Libkina Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Dave McKeague Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Pablo Villa Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Steve Wilson Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Mark Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Beverly
