A couple of weeks ago I posted a set of free vector textures for Illustrator, so I thought I’d follow that up with some similar textures for Photoshop. This pack contains a range of subtle grainy textures made up of speckles of grit and grime to give your designs that aged and distressed appearance.
This free texture pack contains 12 individual files each with a subtle gritty/grainy appearance. In the past I’ve converted these subtle grunge textures into Photoshop brushes, but sometimes it’s handy to be able to work with the original file. Not only are these files much larger in size (3488x2616px), but you can also choose to clip out the texture or use the files with Photoshop’s blending modes.
Gritty/Grainy texture pack preview
How they’re made
Texture resources can come from all kinds of places in the real world, in this case I have a series of roof windows in our house that collect all kinds of dirt, grime and bird poop which make some awesome design resources!
I just have to wait for an overcast or foggy day so I have a plain grey backdrop behind the window, then I can get to work photographing the natural textures in macro mode.
How they can be used
Subtle grit and grain textures are super useful for creating that cool aged and weathered appearance in your designs. Pick a texture of your choice from the pack and paste it into your Photoshop document.
By default the images are white on black, so simply change the blending mode to Screen to render the black area transparent. Alternatively invert the image and change the blending mode to Multiply to render the white background transparent.
Just gimme the damn textures already!
Download the texture pack and feel free to use them in your commercial and personal designs.
I do believe this is the only place on the internet where we will find the words “design resources” and “bird poop” in the same sentence, so kudos to you, Mr. Spooner for such a unique achievement!
But seriously, thank you very much for the textures; they are simple, but oh-so-versatile.
Thanks Chris! These will come in handy.
I prefer the vector textures for logos but these ones are great for montage work.
You can always carefully live trace ’em.
you can never have to many texture packs, thank you for this.
Thanks dude. I run around like a nut taking photos of the ground or wood or anything with my iPhone. These’ll help too!
Great collection, thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing this texture pack. It’s really useful for me ;)
very nice work. Depth, with an artistic. liked it very much. olucaktır help me with my homework at the university project.
Thanks for sharing these, Chris. Like the idea of using the window as a resource for textures ;)
“Just gimme the damn textures already!” Haha! Nice download, Chris! I love me some gritty/grainy textures.
Thanks for collection, I like it.
Really interesting textures. Thanks
I appreciate the work you do, and the explanations provided. Tweeted about it for you :)
Nice blog with amazing illustrations. I love your blog. Keep it up!
Thanks Chris, this is going right in my resources folder. Be sure to thank the birds that crapped on your windows for me, too. :)
Saw that you had a resource file. You might want to check Out
Great textures, thanks for sharing
Thank you very much for all the generous tools you make and share.
So that means, you never clean up your window glasses :D