Design a Grunge-Style Abstract Typography with Rusted Metal Texture in Photoshop

Posted on February 27th, 2009 under Abstracts, Text Effects, it has 43 Comments and 49,065 Views so far.

In this tutorial, I will show you the steps I took to make a Grungy-Style Abstract Typography using rusted metal texture in Photoshop. The inspiration of this tutorial came from a grungy metal image I came across on stockvault.net and thought I could have a play with it :)

Together we will explore some layer blending techniques, variuos filter effects, and an interesting method of making the text look 3D. Have a go!

Here is a preview of the final image: (click to enlarge)

grungy-poster-typo-final-2

OK let’s get started!

Step 1

Download a copy of this grungy image from stockvault.net and load it into Photoshop. We will use it as the background of this poster.

Rotate the canvas by 90 degree CW by going into Image > Rotate Canvas > 90 degree CW:

1-rotate-canvas

We can add a bit of noise on the background image and make it look more grungy. To do this, duplicate the background layer and go to Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratches and apply the following settings:

1-dust-and-scratch

Change the layer blending option to “Overlay” and you will have the following effect:

1-effect1

Step 2

Duplicate the “Background copy” layer once, go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen and apply the following settings:

2-sharpen

2-sha-shadow

2-highlight

Keep the layer blending mode as “overlay” and you will have the following effect:

2-effect5

Step 3

Duplicate the “Background copy 2″ layer once and go to Filter > Stylize > Glowing edge and apply the following settings:

3-glowing-edge

Keep the layer blending option as “overlay” and you will see the following effect:

3-effect5

Then hit Ctrl + Shift + Alt + B and bring up the Black and White adjustment Tool, apply the following settings:

3-bw1

And you will have the following effect:

3-effect-2

Step 4

Duplicate the “Background Copy 3″ layer once, change the blending option of the duplicated layer to “Screen” and you have the following effect:

4-blend

To create a bit of colour depth, we apply the Black and White adjustments to this layer (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B) with the following settings:

4-bw1

4-effect6

Step 5

Still on the previous layer, grab the Eraser Tool with a big soft round brush, erase the area where covering the yellow/golden part:

5-erase

Change the layer blending option to “Color” and you will have the following effect:

5-effect7

Go back to the “Background copy 3″ layer, again use the Eraser Tool with a big soft brush to erase the centre portion of the image:

5-erase-2

Step 6

Now let’s add some text onto the background texture. Download a copy of this font and type some text onto the canvas:

6-type

When you’re happy with the text, rasterize it and change its layer blending mode to “Hard Light”. Apply the following layer blending options:

Drop Shadow:

6-drop-shadow

Bevel and Emboss:

6-bevel

Texture

6-texture

Gradient Overlay:

6-gradient

And you will have the following effect:

6-effect5

Duplicate the text layer 7-8 times, keep the blending mode of each layer as “hard light”, and you will have a deeper text effect as a result:

6-effect-2

Merge those duplicated layers together and name the merge layer as “Text”.

Step 7

Change the blend mode of the text layer to “Hard light”, duplicate it once again and apply the following Gaussian Blur filter on the duplicated layer:

7-gau-blur

After applying the Blur filter, duplicate this layer once more. On the duplicated layer, add a White colour overlay blending option as shown below:

7-white-colour

Then on this layer, use the Eraser Tool to gently eraser some part of the text, by doing so you can create a uneven lighting effect and make the text look 3D:

7-effect5

Step 8

To a bit of extra flavor to the image, we can add a new layer called “cloud” in between the text and the background texture layer, use the Lasso Tool with 40px feather to make a selection around the text and render some cloud inside:

8-cloud1

To make the cloud look a bit uneven, we can simply duplicate the existing cloud layer once and set the blending mode of the duplicated layer to “hard light”.

Here is the effect so far:

8-effect3

Ok that’s it for this tutorial! You can of course add some of your own texture or filter effect and see what the end results are!

Here is my final result for this tutorial: (I add a bit of radial blur, and adjusted the colour balance a bit)

grungy-poster-typo-final-2

Hope you enjoy this tutorial, drop me a comment if you have any question, I will try my best to help you out.

Cheers and have a nice day!

Stewart Says:
I”m a fan of your work right now, good job on this tutorial. Can I ask you how you got the final image to look like that; with radial and color balance? Do i make a new layer or no? plz help :)
Stewart Says:
Are you sure the step 4 for the black and white adjustment is correct mine look a little darker, I think the yellow needs to be like 70?
hieronymus Says:
Again another amazing tutorial to get some insperation for some new art work. Cheers dude…
psaddict Says:
Added to Psaddict
Mabuc Says:
That is beautiful, very nice artwork. Thank you for sharing this one
joyoge designers' bookmark Says:
nice effect tut. thanks..
Escapade Says:
Heya. I’m really a fan of you and probably read most of your tuts, but I have a question… how much do you change the color to get it green and kinda spooky like that? Cheers.
Escapade Says:
Wait, think I fixed it.. would a new layer, with a radial gradient of dark green/blue, then overlay on the layer style work?
admin Says:
yeah, another method is to make a duplicate of the background layer, then use the colour balance adjustments on the duplicated layer, give it a dark blue/yellow adjustments, and change the blending mode to overlay.
logo design guru Says:
that looks very cool. thanks for the interesting tutorial. great background texture. thanks.
Nadia Says:
Wow, that’s a great effect! Thx! <3
Brochures Says:
That is soooo cool! Excellent texture and lighting effects! Your online tutorials are some of the most creative, useful, and really good ones I’ve come across. Great, great work! Congratulations!
james Says:
Can u please make me one because i need one for my banner website but i cannt do it as good….
my email is klankaos2k@yahoo.com
thanks
photo retouching Says:
Another really great tut. Please don`t stop submitting!
huwaw69 Says:
great effect, and great image output…
Piercezilla Says:
When adding the clouds how did you get the blacks. The clouds only come in as white and wash the whole background out.
minisite Design Says:
Nice tutorial man! thank you very much!

http://www.myminisitegraphic.com
Web Tasarım Grafik Tasarım Says:
this, very thank you..

Your site full professional and very beautiful…
oggi Says:
2 hours ..
finnally finish ^^
Webby Design Guru Says:
Interesting creative work! Great effects
reuben Says:
hee great tut man!
ive been following your tutorials lately and they are fantastic!
i have a question though which pattern do you use with the texture elements?(im a newbie in PS)

keep up the good work!
reuben Says:
forget the question i already figured it out LOL:P

Thankss Again
reuben Says:
@Piercezilla
check your foreground/background color
make the forground dark grey and background color black or something just fool around with it till you get something you like;)

greetz
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