Making metal! Realistic metal textures have long been an exciting challenge for the Photoshop artist. For this tutorial, we’ll make an oily, scratched metal plate. If you want a newer plate, stop sooner than I do.
I’m beginning with an image size of 1000 x 1000. You can use any size you wish, but be sure to view it at the size you’ll be saving it, so that you’ll be able to see your effects accurately.
Create a New Layer by clicking the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette. Fill this with a light gray. I chose #b5b5b5
Fill your layer with this gray. I like Alt-Backspace for this.
Now make some noise! 😛 Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Here are my settings.
When sheets of metal go through the press, lines are created. Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. I used 90° and a distance of 43.
If you want a crosshatch press pattern, follow this:
Duplicate the layer by dragging to the New Layer Icon.
Rotate the Layer 90° with Edit > Transform > Rotate.
Now put this Layer into Multiply Blending Mode at the top of the Layers Palette. (See image above right.)
This is a clipping of my metal at this point. It’s a bit too perfect for my needs, though. I want it oily and scratched.
This is one of those (many) times when you can let your creativity go a little mad. White scratches, black scratches, rusty scratches, rust blotches, oil smears… it’s all you.
Always do new things onto a new layer. By doing this, you can change opacity to lessen an effect, erase, or just start over.
Oh, and do save your file. To the left is how my metal looks after applying some brush stroked scratches, a bit of eraser, and a little smudge.
Oil! Let’s just paint some on. Oil will let the texture of the metal show through, so make a new layer and put it into Multiply Blending Mode. Reduce the opacity of this layer to about 25%. I used a round very soft brush with Flow of 45% for my effect.
Because of the Motion Blur we used in the beginning, you will want to crop away the edges of your metal. Here I’ve added a little Drop Shadow to mine:
