The other day while watching ESPN, I noticed one of the advertisements for their NBA broadcasts titled “Destination NBA”. At the tail end of the spot they show an image of street signs with the upcoming games and times, with a cool worn/grunge effect to them (here’s a screenshot). Since it seems that I’ve developed a flair for creating graphics with the same grungy look, I decided to try my hand at recreating the signs and at the same time write a tutorial on how I did it. My overall purpose of this tutorial is to show you how you can create the effect on a street sign, not to duplicate the fine work by the ESPN graphics team.

I have included a resources file at the end of the tutorial for you to download if you like. Included in the resources file are a few of the textures that I use along with a few brush sets used in the tutorial. The font used for the tutorial was purchased by me and I cannot share it with anyone, as it would be against the usage policy. With all of the fine details out of the way…let’s get started.

STEP ONE: Setup Your Document

Start with an 800×800 canvas. Position guides at 400×400 and reset the center point at the cross. From there drag out guides to +/- 350px on the x-axis and +/- 150px on the y-axis. Reset your fill colors to Black and White (hit D on your keyboard). I realize that setting up all of these guides may seem like overkill, but I feel that it allows me to visualize the size of the final product and make sure everything fits properly.

STEP TWO: Draw Your Base Shape

With the rounded-rectangle tool selected set the option to ’shape layers’ and the corner radius to 15px. Draw out your shape to fit within the outer guides. Right now, the color of the shape isn’t a big deal, we are going to be working on that soon. We will use this base layer as a building block for the remainder of the tutorial. Once you’re done rename the layer “Base Shape”…and now might be a good time to save your progress. You should have something similar to the screenshot provided after this step is completed.

STEP THREE: Layout the Inside White Stripe

Change your fill color to white…if you have left your colors reset from step one, just hit X on the keyboard. Otherwise, hit D to reset the colors and X to swap to white. Drag new guides to +/- 340px x-axis and +/-140px y-axis. Then grab your rounded-rectangle tool again and set your corner radius to 10px and draw out your shape to the new guides. ReName this layer “Stripe”.

Now setup another set of guides at +/-335px x-axis and +/-135px y-axis. I know this seems like a lot of guides, but trust me they help out when you’re trying to position the line precisely. Grab your rounded-rectangle shape tool again and this time set the corner radius to 7px and set it to ’subtract from shape layer’ (see screenshot). Drag out your shape inside the new guides. When you’re done you will have a thick rounded corner stripe instead of a white box. This is our entire base shape. From here we will change everything to make it whatever color we want. I’m going with blue to match the sample image

SIDE NOTE!

I don’t like to work on my shape layers, so I generally just use them as guides for the other layers and creating masks for textures. I find that by using them as a base (or template) I can do more on new layers and group them together than trying to build onto the shape layer. If you follow this method you can resize your base layers, and apply a new layer mask to the other layers…and you don’t have to edit the entire document. So you can hide the base images and keep them separate put them into a group and rename them “Base Layers”. Select both layers (hold shift and click) then drag them to the bottom of the layers palette to the folder icon (screenshot).

STEP FOUR: Time for Some Color

From here create a new layer above the folder labeled “Base Layers”. I’m going to choose a light blue color and a darker blue and make a radial gradient for the base color. I will just choose the colors from the sample image.

• Light Blue: #0066ff
• Dark Blue: #0e2d8a

Grab your gradient tool (G), set it to foreground to background and set the mode to radial gradient. From just inside the upper left set of guides drag out the gradient tool up and to the right (just outside the top guides).

STEP FIVE: Start Adding in Some Texture

This is a favorite technique of mine, because it’s simple and does an excellent job of creating a really cool weathered look. We don’t want our final artwork to be an exact duplicate of the sample, so I’m going to use some other textures to create an original piece. I’m going to start by adding in a texture from some leaking rust. Open the file in Photoshop and get rid of the color by using Desaturate (CMD/CTRL-Shift-U or Image > Adjustments > Desaturate). Then fix the levels and contrast by doing Auto Levels (CMD/CTRL-Shift-L) and Auto Contrast (CMD/CTRL-Alt-Shift-L). After you’ve made your adjustments drag the texture over to your canvas. Resize (CMD/CTRL-T) as needed, I made mine 70% of the original image and moved it just to the top of the guides. After you’re happy with the placement change the blend mode to Overlay and leave the Opacity at 50%.

Next I’m going to take a grungy paper texture (vintage-grunge-textures: #2) and do the same thing as the rusty leak, but this time when you resize it rotate it 90 degrees. After you have it in position modify the brightness/contrast (Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast) to Brightness: -71 / Contrast: +31. Change the blend mode to Overlay and leave the Opacity at 35%.

Duplicate the paper texture layer and change the blend mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 35%. By the time you’re finished you should have something relatively similar to this image.

STEP SIX: Add in Some Shading

From here we have put together a pretty good looking texture for the sign. There are paint blots, the paint dripping from weather and numerous scratches from flying debris. Now we need to work on adding in some shading and making the outside portion of the sign a little darker to add some contrast. Pick out some of the grunge brushes supplied in the resources.zip file and start dropping in some black around the edges. I find it’s best to just stamp in color (one-click).

I don’t ever drag them out (or paint in strokes), because it doesn’t look right to me. This is the part of the tutorial where you can experiment as much as you want. Change brushes around as you go, so you don’t end up with the same shape all over, and try to overlap them. After you’ve got a decent border built up change the blend mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 65%.

It’s still a little too bright for my taste in the center area. From here make a new layer directly above the gradient layer. With your brushes set on a grunge brush and the foreground still set to black make a few clicks over the light portion of the canvas. Then set your blend mode on that layer to Color Burn and the Opacity to 45%.

STEP SEVEN: Adding in Highlights

Highlights are tricky and you have to follow the old “Less is More” rule. If you put too many highlights into the image it will look like garbage, not enough and it doesn’t look right. You need to use your judgement, but try not to over do it. Create a new layer and using the eyedropper tool (I) select a lighter blue (or light version of the color you chose) from your canvas.

Then using some of the Angry Blue brushes (included) position some spatters around the palette within the guides. After you have something you are happy with set the blend mode to Color Dodge and the Opacity to 28%.

STEP EIGHT: Adding in Text

If you look at the reference image the texture from the wear and tear is on top of the text, so we’re going to set our text up the same way. Highlight the gradient layer and then grab your text tool. The font we are using is the standard for all street signs called Interstate by FontBureau. I’m going to use Interstate Bold for the main text and the Regular weight for the other text.

Reset your colors (D) and Change your fill color to white (X) and type out your first word (for the larger text I set my type at 80pts). Once you setup your first piece of text you’re going to want to adjust the tracking and bring the characters closer together. To do this open your Character Palette and adjust the tracking to around -25 to -50. See this screenshot for reference.

Add in text as you see fit. I’m just making something similar to the sample image and changing up the information. After I’ve setup the heading text and the sub-text I’ve readjusted everything to be centered in the frame.

STEP NINE: Where’s the White Stripe?

You thought I forgot didn’t you? Well, to be honest…I almost did. Let’s start by creating a new layer just above the gradient layer. Remember when we saved the stripe layer in the folder? Good! Expand the folder and we’re going to make a selection of that stripe layer. Hold down Command (Mac) or Control (PC) and click the vector mask on the stripe layer.

You’ll now see the selection on your canvas. We want to fill this with white. If your fill color is not set to white, reset the colors (D) and swap to white (X). Now fill it! You can either do the quick key command (alt-delete/backspace) or Edit > Fill. It’s up to you…both methods work exactly the same. Now it looks like we have something decent on screen, but it’s a tad bit messy…let’s clean it up.

STEP TEN: Create a Layer Mask and Finish Up

Now that we have the sign almost complete all we need to do is cutout the color and texture on the outside of the guides. To do this it is very simple. Select all of your layers and drag them to the folder icon to create a new group. Then just as we made the layer selection of the stripe we will make a selection of the “Base” layer.

After you’ve made your selection click the “add layer mask icon” in the layers palette (two left from the group icon). After you’re done with the layer mask, you can crop down the image and save it for the web or any other application you need. Obviously, this image is fairly large for most uses, but if you want to shrink it down you can. Remember the shape layers we created? By using the direct selection tool (hit A on the keyboard or select the white-arrow tool just below the text tool on your toolbar. It’s best to select one side of the shape and either shrink or enlarge it. then you can do the other sides.

That’s it for this tutorial! I have included a zipped file for the resources and a copy of the final Photoshop file for your reference. Remember, the key to creating great artwork is experimenting…you don’t always have to follow the rules. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.

~ GrandmasterB

RESOURCE FILES
Photoshop File: grunge_sign.psd (3.7 MB)
Resource File – Includes Textures and Grunge Brushes: grunge_sign_resources.zip (8.3 MB)

Check out my other Tutorials as well!