How to Create a Graffiti Effect in Adobe Photoshop
In this tutorial, we'll teach you how to do graffiti art from your photos in Adobe Photoshop, using filters and adjustments.
Follow along with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel or watch our tutorial on "How to Do Graffiti Art & Effects in Adobe Photoshop" below:
If you want to save some time, you can find great graffiti actions and effects for Photoshop from Envato Elements. Looking for a graffiti font to complement your custom graffiti art and designs? Check out our recommended graffiti fonts:
Graffiti Tutorial Assets
The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial on how to do graffiti art:
1. How to Create the Brick Wall Background
The first step in making your own graffiti picture is to create an 850 x 630 px New Document. You can, of course, use another size for your PSD file, but you have to proportionally adjust all the sizes used in this tutorial.
Add the Brick Wall on a New Layer. Resize the image if needed, according to your canvas size.
2. How to Add the Graffiti Art
Step 1
In a New Layer, add your Graffiti Patterns or art texture. Resize the image if needed, according to your canvas size.
Step 2
Click the second icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a Layer Mask to the Graffiti Wall layer.
Set the Foreground Color to #000000
and pick the Brush Tool. Use the Grunge Brush to paint inside the mask to hide some of the graffiti effects and reveal the brick wall.
3. How to Create Graffiti Portrait Effect
Step 1
Add the Man Portrait on a New Layer. Use the Magic Wand Tool to select the background of this image. Set the Tolerance to 10 and check Contiguous. Keep the Shift key pressed to make multiple selections. Press Delete to remove the selected background.
Press Control-D to deselect.
Step 2
Press Control-J to Duplicate the Man Portrait layer twice, and call the new layers Man Portrait 1 and Man Portrait 2. Hide the two newly created layers. Clicking the eye icon next to any layer on the Layers panel will hide/show the layer.
Step 3
Return to the Man Portrait layer and add a Stroke layer style of 4 px, Position center, Color #000000
.
Step 4
Go to Filter > Artistic > Cutout and choose the Number of Levels 8, Edge Simplicity 0, and Edge Fidelity 3.
Step 5
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Posterize and set the Levels to 5. Click on the third button from the left to add this adjustment as a Clipping Mask for the layer below.
Step 6
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast and set the Brightness to 117 and the Contrast to -50. Click on the third button from the left to add this adjustment as a Clipping Mask for the layer below.
Step 7
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation and set the Hue to 129 and the Saturation to 100. Click on the third button from the left to add this adjustment as a Clipping Mask for the layer below.
Pick the Brush Tool and use the Grunge Brush to paint inside the Hue/Saturation Mask using the color #000000
to reveal the original color below.
Step 8
Create a New Layer. Copy and paste the Graffiti Wall image on this layer. Right-click on the layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.
Change the Blend Mode of the Graffiti Effect layer to Lighter Color.
Click the second icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a Layer Mask to the Graffiti Effect layer. Pick the Brush Tool and use the Grunge Brush to paint inside the Layer Mask using the color #000000
to hide some details.
Step 9
Click on the eye icon next to the Man Portrait 1 layer to show the layer. Set the Foreground Color to #000000
and the Background Color to #ffffff
.
Step 10
Go to Filter > Sketch > Photocopy and set the Detail to 3 and the Darkness to 50.
Step 11
Go to Filter > Artistic > Cutout and set the Number of Levels to 3, Edge Simplicity to 3, and Edge Fidelity to 3.
Step 12
Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and set the Input Levels.
Step 13
Set the Blend Mode of the Man Portrait 1 to Multiply.
If you want, you can repeat the same process but with different settings for the Man Portrait 2 layer, but this step is optional.
4. How to Create the Brick Effect
Step 1
Press Shift-Control-N to create a New Layer above all the other layers.
Press Shift-Control-Alt-E to Merge all the visible layers. Call this layer Brick Effect.
Step 2
Add a Layer Mask to the Brick Effect layer.
Step 3
Go to Image > Trim and trim the canvas based on transparent pixels.
Step 4
Go to the Brick Wall layer and make a selection using the Rectangular Marquee Tool. Press Control-C to make a Copy of the selection.
Step 5
Go back to the Brick Effect layer and, on the Channels tab, click on the eye icon next to the Brick Effect Mask to make it visible. Press Control-V to Paste the selection in this mask.
Step 6
Return to the Layers tab and press Control-D to Deselect. Also click on the Brick Effect Layer Thumbnail.
Step 7
Open the Layer Style Window of the Brick Effect layer and add a Bevel and Emboss.
Congratulations! You're Done With Our Graffiti Tutorial!
In this tutorial, you've learned how to create graffiti effects in Photoshop from scratch using brushes and textures. Graffiti drawing is easy—all you need is practice.
And check out the final result below!
And if you're looking for cool spray paint graffiti fonts check out this article:
More Awesome Graffiti Effects From Envato Elements
Looking for street art effects, graffiti actions, or graffiti Photoshop brushes? Envato Elements has a few options that might pique your interest. If you don't know how to do graffiti art from scratch, we've found some of the service's best effects below.
1. Spray Paint Effect for Photoshop (ABR, ATN, PAT)
With this spray paint effect for Photoshop, all you have to do is start with a photo, and apply this look for quality results. The effect is applied in layers, allowing you to stay in control of the final product. If you've wondered how to make graffiti on a computer, this action is your answer.
2. 101 Spray Graffiti Photoshop Brushes (ABR)
The details of graffiti effects are what will make your creative project stand out. These graffiti Photoshop brushes include 100 unique spot and blob sprays. These work for any graffiti Photoshop project you're working on. The high quality makes these a must-have in your asset library.
3. Street Art Photoshop Graffiti Action (ABR, ATN, PAT)
Graffiti drawing is an easy thing to do with this Photoshop action. Featured above, these graffiti patterns for Photoshop add a cool street style to your work. This bundle of graffiti effects includes 11 tags, five wall styles, and ten color effects.
4. Stroke Spray Graffiti Brush for Photoshop (ABR)
Here's another graffiti brush Photoshop pack. While the first bundle featured on this list was for spots and blobs, this pack is for strokes. The 69 included brushes offer photorealistic graffiti effects. Use them to create interesting graffiti patterns or custom graffiti art.
5. Graffiti Text Effects Vol 2 (ASL, PSD, PDF)
We round out our list with these cool graffiti text effects. The included files are incredibly easy to use. Just drop your design into the Smart Object layer, and you're done. The files are fully editable, and the help document makes creating with this item even easier.
Conclusion
Want to learn more graffiti effects? Check out the following articles:
- How to Make a Graffiti Text Effect With Photoshop Layer StylesJan Stverak12 Sep 2023
- 35 Best Graffiti FontsMelody Nieves21 Apr 2023
- 25+ Free Graffiti Fonts (Dope Font Styles to Download Now)Nona Blackman21 Jul 2020
- Create a Wild, Graffiti-Style Arrow Design in Adobe IllustratorSergey Kandakov20 Feb 2014
- How to Create a Set of Graffiti-Inspired Line Icons Using Adobe IllustratorAndrei Stefan09 Jun 2015
- How to Create a Graffiti Text Effect in IllustratorAndrei Marius11 Aug 2022
- How to Create a GTA Photo Effect Action in Adobe PhotoshopMarko Kožokar22 Dec 2023
- How to Create a GTA Text Effect Action in Adobe PhotoshopMarko Kožokar23 Nov 2017