Weathered Signage

By Rick Wetzel

On a recent trip to Savannah, Georgia, I fell in love with the old weatherd brick walls. What really caught my eye was the hand painted signage that gave Savannah's alleys a historic charm. In this tutorial, I've set out to duplicate that look in Photoshop 7. This is NOT a type tutorial.

Note: The following images have been enlarged and the full image cropped.

Step 1

Open a brick wall file in Photoshop. I've selected one where the grout color was fairly consistent.

STEP 2

Create your type - Bend it, color it and have it right before proceeding to Step 3. If neccessary, merge your type layers.

STEP 3

Choose Layer>Rasterize>Type and convert your type to pixels. Now duplicate the image.

STEP 4

Turn off the type layers and with the Magic Wand, select the grout. Now choose Select>feather.., and enter 2 and press OK.

STEP 5

Turn the top type layer on (the copy).
With the mortar is selected, press the delete key.

STEP 6

Turn the bottom type layer on (the original)and select a 40% opacity. You have now stained the mortar and lett some brick defination.

STEP 7

Merge Down the two "rasterized type" levels.

In Photoshop 7, select the eraser tool. Open the Brush Preset Picker. It's the icon just to the right of the word brush in the toolbar. In the upper right hand corner of the brush pallete window click the right triangle and pull down the menu to Faux Finish Brushes. Choose the 4th brush down on the list, the one that looks like a square spatter brush.

Now check the scale of the brush, by moving the cursor over a brick. Ideally, the brush should be the same height as a brick. Adjust the size if necessary. Now with the opacity set to 30, start removing some of the "paint" that mother nature would have removed. Good Luck!
©2003, Wetzel & Company, Inc.