art print backgrounds

[Former_Member]

ive noticed many peoples illustrations have neat backgrounds that look like old, distressed paper. Does anyone know how to do this? I dont have photoshop, i do have Gimp

[Former_Member]

Hi cranewife,

Scan in a real piece of crumpled and stained paper you distress yourself, then adjust the levels, color etc. in gimp.

Is that what you mean, or do you mean "how" to use Gimp to adjust the scan?

Ann

[Former_Member]

Or do you mean those that are done on old dictionary or book pages?

[Former_Member]

Hi Ann
thanks so much for your help! any ideas how i would go about distressing the paper?

[Former_Member]

Some people do tea staining to give it that aged look - a wash over with black tea. You'll have to experiment -- maybe a few big drops to cover the whole page and then wipe it away. If you do that after you've folded it, the creases should take up a hair more of the tea stain then the background.

One could do the same kind of wash with a dilute water color, or even very dilute food coloring, too.

I'd have to see what you were referring to, tho.

[secondarycreations]

If you enjoy playing around with Gimp, you could probably find some ways to add distressed effects digitally.

[Former_Member]

agreeing with what runz and secondary said...

I'm digitally based and my daughter is hands on.
She did this to get a good pattern to use in adobe for her backgrounds:

She tore a few edges and burnt a hole or two in crumpled and then flattened piece of old plain papers and printed pages. Taped them on a cookie sheet in the sink, then just experimented with drips, rings and washes, using everything from peroxide and bleach to watercolor and coffee.

Some she rinsed after it set for awhile, (the peroxcide and bleach), others she just let dry as is.

The torn edges really took on a good darkened 'grunge' look with the water color washes.

The type of paper will make a difference and you can play around with it and get some interesting results.

[Former_Member]

thank you for all of your ideas! i know have some experimenting to do :)