You see them everywhere. That old, worn, distressed print and you wonder “How is it Done”? Well here is a quick run down of how to make your own distressed patterns in minutes.
Step one, grab your trusty iphone or similar and find a texture you like. It could be concrete, wood, fabric, heck this one is wallpaper. Next you will need to import in photoshop. Once in photoshop you will want to convert image mode to greyscale. Now you will need to open the Curves adjustment tool and adjust the image to the amount of darkness you are wanting. The next step is to make the image mode a bitmap and voila, usable distressed pattern. Now all you have to do is drag the bitmap on top of your illustrator graphic, select the same fill color as your background and you are done. So next time you see some really cool texture while walking around, snap a picture. You never know when it will come in handy.
