Web Development: How to Create Photoshop Brushes From an Old Newspaper

Friday, January 31, 2020

How to Create Photoshop Brushes From an Old Newspaper

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial, we will create a set of Photoshop brushes from an old newspaper, and then we will create a vintage paper texture using this set.

If you want to learn these techniques via video, check out our lesson on the Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel:

If you want to learn more about creating brushes or how to install Photoshop brushes, check out these tutorials:

How to Create Realistic Watercolor Photoshop Brushes From Scratch

In this tutorial I will show you how to create watercolor brushes for photoshop from scratch.

Ivan Gromov
06 Oct 2017

Watercolor
How to Install Brushes in Photoshop

In this quick video from our Photoshop in 60 seconds series, learn how to install and load custom brushes to use for your designs and digital paintings.

Melody Nieves
13 Nov 2019

Brushes

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used in the production of this tutorial:

Scanned Newspaper

1. How to Prepare the Document

Step 1

Press Control-O and then select the scanned image.

Step 2

After that, we need to create a new document. Hit Control-N to create a new document and use the following settings:

1500 x 1000 px
300 dpi
Color Mode: RGB

2. How to Create Photoshop Brushes From a Paper Texture

Step 1

Click M and select the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Then select an area in the bottom left corner of the document while holding Shift.

Step 2

Hit Control-C to copy that part of the texture, and then go to the tab with the document we've created and hit Control-V.

pasting the part of the texture to a new document

Step 3

Select another area in the right part of the document and create a copy of it as we did before.

Step 4

And for the last element, let's take a part of the illustration.

Step 5

Now we can start to create the brushes. Select the first copy and convert the layer to black and white by pressing Alt-Control-Shift-B. Hit OK.

adding black and white filter to the layer

Step 6

After that, we need to add Auto Contrast to the layer by pressing Alt-Control-Shift-L.

Step 7

Then go to Select > Color Range and use the following settings:

Select: Shadows
Fuzziness: 15%
Range: 65

Step 8

Create a copy of the selection by pressing Control-C and then Control-V, and then delete the first layer.

creating a copy of the color range selection

Step 9

Now we need to add a Black and White Filter and Auto Contrast to the second layer, as we did before with the first layer.

Step 10

Go to Image > Adjustments > Threshold and set the Threshold Level to 120.

Step 11

Let’s create a selection using a color range again. Go to Select > Color Range and use the following settings:

Select: Highlights
Fuzziness: 0%
Range: 190

Step 12

Hit the Delete button to remove the selection from the layer.

Step 13

Now we need to convert the last layer to black and white and then go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and use the following settings:

Brightness: 150
Contrast: 100

Step 14

Go to Select > Color Range and use the following settings:

Select: Highlights
Fuzziness: 5%
Range: 190

Then remove the selected area using the Delete button.

selecting and removing white color from the layer

Step 15

Now we are ready to create the brush presets. Make all layers invisible except the first and go to Edit > Define Brush Preset, select any name you want to use for your brush, and hit the OK button. Then Define the second and the third brush presets the same way.

Step 16

Select the Brush Instrument and then select your first brush. After that, hit the Brush Settings icon.

Step 17

Put ticks on Shape Dynamics, Scattering, and Transfer, and use the following settings:

Shape Dynamics: Angle Jitter: 100%
Scattering: Both Axes: On; Scatter: 390%; Count: 12
Transfer: Opacity Jitter: 100%; Flow Jitter: 100%

Step 18

Create a new layer using Shift-Control-N and draw a texture with the brush using #ffbe88 for the color.

Step 19

Select the second brush and put ticks on Shape Dynamics and Scattering, and then use the following settings:

Shape Dynamics: Size Jitter: 100%; Angle Jitter: 100%
Scattering: Both Axes: On; Scatter: 1000%; Count: 1

Step 20

Create a new layer and change the Blending Mode of this layer to Soft Light, and then draw a texture with the brush we've created using black as the color.

creating the second layer of the texture

Step 21

And for the last brush, let's use the following settings:

Shape Dynamics: Size Jitter: 100%; Angle Jitter: 100%
Scattering: Scatter: 425%; Count: 3

Step 22

And for the last part of the texture, create a new layer and change the Blending Mode to Overlay. Then draw a texture on the layer with the last brush in black.

Awesome Work, You're Now Done!

Congratulations! You have created a grunge brush Photoshop set from an old scanned newspaper and made a vintage paper texture with this set of Photoshop brushes.

Here is our final result:

Now you can easily make textures using these brushes to create a vintage Photoshop effect or to add some final touches to your projects. If you're looking for some more Photoshop brushes, then check out these amazing products on GraphicRiver:

Coffee and Paper Handcrafted Pack Volume 03

If you want to add some more grunge elements to your texture or create overlays for your image, then try this pack of 25 coffee stain brushes. This is a great tool to create a vintage Photoshop effect and make your artwork look grungy in a few simple clicks.