Brick Texture

Learn how to create an easy brick texture.

1. Open a new document, then set your foreground color to a bright red, and your background color to a dark red.
Once that's done, run the Filter>Render>Clouds filter.
After that, run the Filter>Brush Strokes>CrossHatch filter with these settings, 13 , 20, 1.
Next, use the Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen Edges filter twice.
Then, add a little noise by going Filter>Noise>Add Noise with Mono checked, 10 should be enough.

2. Create a new layer.
Set your foreground to a gray color.
Select the Line Tool. I'd suggest you turn on rulers, Ctrl+R (Mac: Command+R) will do the trick, for this.
Now decide the size you want each brick to be than draw your lines (hold Shift while drawing them to keep them straight).
Using guides will help in drawing the lines. You can bring in guides by clicking on the rules and dragging onto your image. I suggest you first place guides where you will draw your lines, and then draw in the lines.

3. Now on the layer with the lines, add some noise (Filter>Noise>Add Noise with Mono selected), an amount of 15 should suffice.
Then go to Filter>Texturize>Craquelure, with the settings of 11, 2, 0.
Now add some more noise, with mono clicked of course, use about 45.

4. Now create 2 new layers between the brick texture and your lines.
Hit 'D' to reset your colors.
Select one of the new layers.
Ctrl+click (Command+click) on the layer with the lines to make it a selection.
Now fill with black by hitting Alt+Backspace (Option+Delete), deselect your selection, then nudge up one pixel and left one pixel.
Set the Blending Mode to Opacity (it's the drop on the upper left of the Layers Palette).
Now select the other new layer.
Ctrl+click (Command+click) on the layer with the lines and fill with white this time.
Deselect your selection.
Now nudge one pixel down and one to the right.
Set the Blending Mode to Opacity.
Now your lines will look indented in the brick texture.

5. Now go back to your brick texture.
Run the Filter>Texture>Craquelure filter with 3, 2, 0.
Then run the Filter>Artistic>Plastic Wrap filter with 3, 10, 3.
Finally, run the Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen More filter.
And you're done.
You should now have a solid brick texture like this.