Creating Weathered Designs For Your Website Using Photoshop

[Heather Quick]

This article is designed to help you create old-looking textile or
paper buttons, backgrounds, or blog spaces for your website. You will
need a copy of Adobe Photoshop (the newer the version, the better, I
will be using Photoshop CS2), some downloadable grunge brushes, and a
good idea of how you want your buttons/etc. to look.
For the brushes, you will need to download some grunge-style brushes,
as the standard brushes included with Photoshop just won't cut it (or,
you could make your own grunge brushes, but that's another article).
These brushes are available freely on the internet, but since I do not
have permission to link to any of them, you will have to be a bit
resourceful and find them on your own. I like to use the "recifedirty"
brush packs, numbers 1-3.
First, you will need to create a new image, about 400x400pxs. Fill
this in with a dark, gloomy color, like a dark grey or very drab
green. Create a new layer, and use the rectangular marquee tool to
create a rectangle the size of your desired object. Fill this
rectangle with a dark parchment color, such as #e3e3d7.
Now, we need to age this "paper" a bit. First, apply a noise filter by
going to Filter>Noise>Add Noise, and add about 1% Gaussian,
monochromatic noise. Then, using a soft round 85 pt. burn tool set at
30% exposure and highlight range, we will burn the corners and edges
of the paper, making it look worn and handled. Run the tool lightly
(one pass) over all four edges of the paper, and then go back to the
corners and burn these a bit more (three or four clicks each). Don't
go too heavy, we just want a subtle darkening of the edges and
corners.
Next, double click on the top layer in the layers box, and add some
"Outer Glow" from the outer glow style menu. Add a normal blend mode,
75% opacity solid black glow. Then, we will wear down the sheet of
paper by using our new grunge brushes with the eraser tool. Click on
the eraser tool, and from the brush menu, choose your desired brush. I
chose an assortment form the "recifedirty3" brush pack. Now, using
these brushes sparingly, click on the edges of your paper, once or
twice at the most, going around the edges making wear spots on your
paper. Don't overdo this either, and put some extra emphasis on the
wear at the corners of your paper. This will lend a touch of realism.
Change the brushes up, don't use one brush too many times, or it won't
look natural.
Now, using our burn tool again (with the same settings), choose
another brush. We will use this tool to "stain" the paper, giving it a
final, used appearance. The larger the brush, the better for this
application. Now, find a good area for the brush, and click once or
twice. Don't burn too much, or the subtlety will be lost. Again,
experiment with different brushes, until you are satisfied with the
look.
Now, stand back and take a look at your finished project. This can be
scaled up for backgrounds, down for buttons, or left alone for photo
matte applications. This is an easy introduction to Photoshop art, so
fun with it, and feel free to play around!