Grunge City/Car – Miss Koppejan

Adjustment Layers

In Photoshop, create a new document (CTRL+N), set the canvas size to 800 x 800 px.

Solid Color

Add a Solid Color adjustment layer… set it to a light color (in my example #F3DAA2).

Pattern Fill

Add a new Pattern Fill adjustment layer… choose any of these Textures…

Lower the layer opacity to 25%

The first two patterns you can keep the scale amount at 100%, but the last two patterns should be lowered to 50%.

Gradient Fill

Set the colors back to default (‘D‘), and switch (‘X‘) so white is the foreground and black is the background.

Add another adjustment layer: Gradient Fill. Set it to white-to-black (under Basics)

Change the type to Radial and reverse if necessary (want white in the middle, black on the edges).

Reduce the layer opacity to about 20%.

Photo

You can find a photo of a city/landmark or a car (it doesn’t need to be really big, but at least 500px width), but make sure it has a solid background color (white/color)…

…or search for something with “transparent background” (or “cartoon sticker”).

You want the small squares showing on the preview, not the thumbnail…

If it has a solid white/black background, go to the Properties panel (beside History) and click on Remove Background.

It will add a mask around your object like this…

If it doesn’t work, looks weird…

… undo (CTRL+Z) and use the Wand tool to select the black/white/background area…

Delete and then Deselect (CTRL+D).

Then add a layer mask and clean up with a black Brush..

Your layers should look like this so far…

Filters

First right-click on your photo and Convert to Smart Object or select the layer and use the options button on the top right of the Layers panel…

Your layer thumbnail should now look like this…

Go to Filter>Filter Gallery… and choose one of the following:

Artistic: Dry Brush / Paint Daubs / Palette Knife / Poster Edges /Rough Pastels

Grunge Brushes

Spray Brush

Brush Tool and go to Grunge City Brushes folder and expand it.
Also expand the Spray folder.
Stretch out the size of the Brush panel and slide the thumbnail size bigger.
Set to show Brush Tip only.

Insert a new layer below the photo; rename it “spray”.
Make sure the foreground color is black.
Select one of the brushes
Click in the middle of your canvas – click 1 – 3 times (or make it bigger ~1200px).

Splatter or Overlapping Brushes

Choose either Solid or Overlapping brushes.

Paint at least 6 separate layers with brushes:

1-3 layers in front/above the city/car +
3-5 layers behind/below the city/car

Option #1:

Paint with black and then change colors using layer style Color Overlay…

Option #2:

Paint with different colors for each brush as you go…

Group Layers

Select the spray layer, hold SHIFT and click on the top splatter layer to select all the layers between…

Then group them (CTRL+G) and rename the folder “splatters”.

Text

Click in the empty area of the Layers panel so no layers are active/selected.

Then select the Text Tool.

Click and type out a the name of the city/car.
Use a thick font type.
Resize the text to go across the bottom of your canvas (CTRL+T).

Add 2-3 layers styles. Here are some to play with…
- Stroke
- Drop Shadow
- Gradient Overlay
Play with layer blend modes, Fill and/or opacity amounts. If you set the Fill to 0% there’s no color inside.