Making Grungy Paper

Nice clean paper is nice, but it's a little too nice. Sometimes you just want a grungy looking paper instead of something pristine. Grunge adds depth, texture and interest to nice paper. And you can make it as abstract as you want. This is a quick little way to make a grungy look without masks and overlays. It's all brush work.

Personally, I like the watercolor look. So I pick a nice floral and use the watercolor filter in GIMP under 'artistic | water pixels' and play with the sliders until I get something I really like. Like this.

Then I enlarge it, duplicate it, flip it, rotate it and put it around the edges of the paper. 

You can put layers of other colors underneath the floral layer. I usually put all my flowers on one layer after I get them the way I want them so I can start erasing them with a big brush and set it large. I used the 'Stone Work 01' brush with about a 700 size setting to start erasing the flowers with it so the color underneath can show through. It gives it a "painterly" effect.

I use the same brush in different sizes to add texture with a darker color on the background layer.

I can adjust the color of the layer at any time by putting a white layer underneath and adjusting the transparency of the purple.

And then we keep hitting the layers with the brushes and adjusting the opacity of each layer until we get something we like. You really have to play around with it and experiment to get something like this. There is no one setting that fits all.

You can also add other layers of colors and textures and use them to make compatible papers. You can even pick up colors from the flowers and put them down on the background papers using the clone brush. It helps to tie all the colors together.

You could even add a light brown border around the edges with your textured brushes to give the paper an antique look but personally, if you take it a little too far the paper can go from grungy to dirty looking real quick. It's a preference. And that's how you make grungy paper without using masks and overlays.

Every now and then I surprise myself with something that turns out better than I even imagined it. This is one of those times.