Step 1.
Create a new document of any size, the document I"m using here is 550 x 200 and fill the background with black. Press 'D' on your keyboard to reset your colors to black (#000000) and white (#FFFFFF):
Go to Filter->Render->Difference Clouds.
Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard three times to repeat this process three times, Result:
Step 2.
Create a new layer, fill the background with black and go to:
Go to Filter->Render->Difference Clouds.
Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard three times to repeat this process three times.
Press Ctrl + I on your keyboard to invert the colors.
Change the blending option of this layer to 'Overlay':
Result:
Step 3.
Create a new layer, fill the background with black and go to:
Go to Filter->Render->Difference Clouds.
Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard three times to repeat this process three times.
Change the blending option of this layer to 'Screen':
Result:
Step 4.
Now we'll add some color to the effect:
Click on the bottom most/first layer to select it.
Go to: Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Color Balance.
Press Okay, check the 'Highlights' box and enter the following settings:
Press Okay.
Click on the middle layer to select it.
Go to: Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Color Balance.
Press Okay, check the 'Highlights' box and enter the following settings:
Press Okay.
Click on the top layer to select it.
Go to: Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Color Balance.
Press Okay, check the 'Midtones' box and enter the following settings:
Press Okay.
Result:
Step 5.
With the top most layer still active press Ctrl + A to highlight all, then press Ctrl + Shift + C to copy all.
Now press Ctrl + V to paste all. This will make a copy of all three layers for us to create some further effects.
Go to Filter->Stylize->Extrude and enter these settings:
Go to Filter->Sharpen->Sharpen.
Press Ctrl + F on your keyboard three times to repeat the sharpen three more times.
Change the blending mode of this layer to 'Overlay' and drop the opacity down to 57 percent:
Result:
Continue on to part 2 Grunge Borders.
Here is my my final result after adding a grunge border, some text, and a game render:
That completes the grunge background tutorial. If you would also like to learn how to create a grunge border please view our Grunge Border tutorial that compliments this tutorial.
