20 October 2011 ~ 0 Comments

Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

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I’m sure you’ve wanted to add a cool grungy effect to a text, but without using the all-known “28 days later” font, especially when you want to sell your product. So here’s a really fast and easy solution to obtain the same results, and all in less than two minutes.

Difficulty: Beginner
Completion time: 2 minutes
Resources: Cracks texture by Design TNT

Final Image Preview

final vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 1

In your current document, Grab the Horizontal Type Tool (T) and draw a type box, then type in your text and click the “OK” button. If you don’t have a document open, go to File > New.. and create a new one in RGB color mode.

1 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 2

Pick a decent resolution texture of concrete, rust, bark, wood, dirt, linen or whatever you have at hand and click-drag it into Photoshop to open it.

2 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 3

In the Layers palette (F7), double-click the lock near the layer thumb and hit OK in the pop-up window. There is now a “Layer 0” instead of “Background”.

3 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 4

Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (CTRL+SHIFT+U).

4 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 5

Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels (CTRL+L) and move the dark triangle to the right, the gray triangle to the left and the white triangle to the left. Adjust their position until the midtones in the image are almost gone. Hit OK.

5 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 6

Go to Image > Mode > Indexed Color and hit OK in the pop-up window. Now go to the Channels window, select the “Index” channel, hit CTRL+A, then copy it (CTRL+C).

6 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 7

Go back to our document (CTRL+Tab), select the text and click the “Add Vector Mask” button in the Layers palette (F7).

7 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 8

Switch to the “Channels” window, select the bottom-most channel (it has a “Mask” in the name) and make it visible (click the empty box near the thumb).

8 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 9

Hit CTRL+V to paste in the grunge and make the channel invisible again. Hit CTRL+D to deselect.

9 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop

STEP 10

Switch to the Layers palette and click the chain between the layer and the layer mask. Select the layer mask and move/resize it until it is scaled to your text size.

10 vectorious net grunges on masks quick tip Quick tip: How to Add Grunges to Layer Masks in Photoshop