Burnt Paper

Burnt Paper Effect Skill level: Basic Programs used: Photoshop 6
Ever wanted to know how to make your paper look like those old, decrepit treasure maps? Here's a simple way to do it: Before you start, make sure your colors are reset to pure black and white by pressing "D" on the keyboard.
1. Create a new canvas, 200 x 200 pixels with a white background. Using the rectangular marquee tool select a portion of the center of the canvas, about 160 x 160 pixels. Create a new layer, by clicking on the new layer button . Select the paint bucket tool and fill this section with black. Deselect by pressing "CTRL+D".
2. Make sure the black square is your active layer, then select the "Filter>Brush Strokes>Spatter" menu command and use a "Spray Radius" value of 12 and a "Smoothness" value of 5.
3. Select the magic wand tool and click in the middle of the black square. Press "SHIFT+CTRL+I" to inverse the selection, then hit delete to clear the unwanted portions of the layer. Deselect.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3, but in step 2, use a "Spray Radius" value of 20 and a "Smoothness" value of 15.
5. Now hold down "CTRL" and click on the layer with the black square in the layers palette to make a perfect selection. Choose a nice beige as your foreground color (I used a hex value of #FFFFCC) and press "ALT+BACKSPACE" to fill your selection with this color. Deselect.
6. Now create a new layer above the beige square. Select the airbrush tool and select a brush size of "27/feathered" and make the pressure 10%. Select a brown as your foreground color (I used a hex value of #330000) and make some "burn-marks" around the outside of the paper, and add some to the middle as well, using a pressure of 5%.
7. Now make a perfect selection of the beige square ( by CTRL+clicking on the layer in the layers palette) and press "SHIFT+CTRL+I" to inverse the selection. Make sure the burn-marks are your active layer and then hit delete to clear the unwanted burn-marks.
8. Last of all, just add a drop shadow to the beige square layer, and some text between the beige square and burn-marks to finish it off!

Burnt Paper Effect Skill level: Basic Programs used: Photoshop 6

Burnt Paper Effect
Skill level: Basic
Programs used: Photoshop 6