Easy Art Grunge Effects Tutorial by SodaDog Make background grunge effects without it looking like a brush loop! Examples below; (Gekkomon art, Tecnik Cheetah Dweeb art and Count Maine art are shown for examples.) NOTE: This tutorial is primarily for any version of Paint.NET and Paint Tool SAI, but can be replicated with other programs, with similar features too. You will need the Grim Color Reaper Plug-in for Paint.NET. ============== Step 1 (Photo of the material, taken from the camera) Use a photo of a material, or landscape; For this tutorial I'm going with a concrete material I've taken with my iPhone, transferred to my computer via a USB stick. You can try other materials if you like, as I've already shown in the example images. The resolution for the photo is 3024x4032px, and I use an average of 2100x2100px for canvas sizing. The photo itself can be resized if you're using a larger canvas.
Step 2 Import the photo onto your computer (from the USB drive files) at maximum resolution to get all the details and open it up in Paint.NET. Also use this step to crop out any outer parts not needed, if desired. (Photo of the material on Paint.Net) Step 3 From the Adjustments bar, set the image to Black and White and use Brightness/Contrast (found in same bar) to balance whatever grunge detail you like. The colours can be inverted in Adjustments...Invert Colours. NOTE: You can still colour the grunge effects later on in this tutorial. (image of greyscale and brightness/contrast drop-down) It is important to change the Brightness/Contrast of the image, as that will also remove the "shakiness" close up, and binarize the material too. (comparison of unaltered and altered photo with brightness/contrast setting)
Step 4 Go to Effects../Color, Use the Grim Color Reaper to make it transparent. (Image of Grim Color Reaper drop-down and modified material with the tool active) You can choose either Black, White, or Primary Colour or Secondary Colour, depending on how much grunge you want. For this one, I'm going with Primary Colour. (Close-up of grunge.) If you go by that, recolour the image to black by going to Adjustments and Hue/Saturation and turning the Lightness down to -100 for clarity. Now that the image is transparent, the grunge material is ready to be used.
Save the Grunge "material" and use it in the art program of your choice, it MUST be saved as a PNG to preserve the transparency, and NOT downscaled in any form. Give it a distinct filename, too. In terms of the Save Configuration, that part is not really important. The lowest the Bit Depth can get is 8-bit, but I usually set it to Auto-Detect. (Images of grunge material being saved, and Save Configuration) Now to move onto the art program you use!
So for a change, I'll show you an art tutorial on how I do cool and practical grunge effects, it's that simple! (🧵 1/3) #tutorial #arttutorial #grunge #paintsplatter #artistonbluesky
