Tutorial: Create a grunge/retro poster

Inspiration smashed (lol) me in the face …  so I took matters in my own hands and did a little tutorial. Hope you will enjoy it.

1. Create a new document. Find yourself a nice grungy paper texture … I found mine HERE. Insert the picture in your new created document.

2. Rename this layer to: Texture.  Using Free Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd + T) adjust your texture until you get something like this, we don’t need the big darken area, right-click the Texture layer, go to Blending Options, use Color Overlay, set the color to #b38645 and the opacity to lets say about 50%. And the result should look like this:

3. Now at this point we should create our first block, i’ve could create the blocks in Illustrator (and save some time) but I want to stick only at Photoshop,  it’s quite simple but pay attention: Select Rectangle Tool draw a shape and fill it with black. Rename the shape layer to:  Block1. Now select  Move Tool (V), make sure that Block1 layer is selected, hold down the Alt key and press Down Arrow and Left Arrow on the keyboard. Every time you do this combination Alt + Down Arrow/Left Arrow a copy of the Block1 layer will be made but at 1px distance from the original layer. OK, do this about 20-30 times depending on your document size. And you should get 20+ copies of Block1 Layer and the image looks something like this:

4. Select all the copies, remeber only the copies, right-click them and select Merge Layers, now it should be only 1 layer, rename it to Block1-3D, and now move your original Block1 layer on top of  Block1-3D layer. The result looks like this:

5. On Block1-3D layer apply a gradient overlay (right-click layer, Blending Options, select Gradient Overlay, use colors #000000 to #323232) apply the settings shown in the next image:

6. On Block1 layer (original shape) apply a gradient overlay (right-click layer, Blending Options, select Gradient Overlay, use colors #000000 to #1c1c1c) apply the settings shown in the next image:

7. The block should be finished right now take a look at my result after rotating it (Transform Tool Ctrl + T ):

8. Duplicate the layers Block1 and Block1-3D (duplicate Ctrl+J) and rename the copies to Block2 and Block2-3D. After you duplicated the layers change the colors. For Block2 use a gradient with the following colors: #ff7400 to #ffa443 and for Block2-3D:  #ffa443 to #ff7400.  At last we FINISHED the blocks ! From now on just duplicate , rotate  and transform them as many times you want, and this is the moment to add some text; my result:

9. Add the poster’s title, I added the logo from Smashing Magazine,  add  to it Inner Shadow (right-click layer, Blending Options, Inner Shadow) use the following values:

10.  Well that’s about it. Your design should start looking better and better. Now it’s time to use your imagination. I’ve downloaded a pack of brushes from Brusheezy and I started painting them all over the document. Some brushes, some blending you should get an excelent design.

Until next time,

Thanks for watching,  (lol).

Best wishes,

Bogdan Pop

Tags: grunge, poster, retro, Tutorials