Cracked Mud
 


1. The first thing to do is to open Photoshop and create a new document 512x512.

2. Next, you'll need either to download a grunge brush, or create one on your own. There are
about 377839887 different ways of making these types of brushes, or you can download
some from someone else.

3. Now you can get to work. Fill the first layer with white. Create a layer on top of that and using
your grunge brushes, paint with light gray, medium gray and black. Use many different brushes and
many different shades until you have something like this (obviously not too fancy...:))
4. Now run the Filters->Artistic->Palette Knife filter on this using setting similar to below
5. Run the Filters->Stylize->Find Edges so you get this
6. Merge the layers down and use Image->Adjustments->Brightness/Contrast to bring the
brightness down a bit to something like this

7. Go to Image->Adjustments->Hue/Saturation and use setting similar to this to achieve a nice muddy
color

Hue = 41, Sat = 27, Check 'Colorize'

8. Now make a duplicate of the blue channel. You will use that as a bump map when for the next
step

9. Run the Filter->Render->Lighting Effects filter with the settings below - note that in the
'Texture Channel' you are using your duplicate color channel.
10. Almost done... Now desaturate the image (Ctr+Shift+U) and use the Image->Adjustments->
Hue/Saturation to get back to a normal mud color.
And thats it. Of course, you'd want to fix it a bit so it tiles correctly and you may want to use
Image->Adjustments->Curves to make the image more vibrant, but then again, how vibrant
is dried mud? You can also overlay diffent colors, texture patterns, and so on till you get the
most awesome cracked mud in history:)
Feel free to send any questions or comments to devlyn@icosometricdesign.com