Peeling Paint Text Effect

This is a quick and easy way to create a "peeling or old paint" or rustic/grunge text effect in Photoshop CS3. This tutorial will work in earlier versions of Photoshop as well.

First off, create a new Photoshop file and fill the background with black. Create a new layer and select the Text Tool, change the color to white and type out the text you would like to add the effect to.

My text settings are shown below though this will work on several different font styles. Basically, you just want a nice wide/bold font.

Creating the Effect

After you have typed out the text, duplicate the layer that it is on and lock and make invisible the original text layer.

Select the duplicated text and go to Filter > Render > Fibers. When it asked if you would like the text rasterized, click OK.

Increase the Variance and Strength settings enough to produce a well contrasted look. (See below.)

Now, with the text still selected, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. This will help soften and spread out the edges.

Doesn't look like much yet does it? The next step will produce the effect we're looking for.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels. This new adjustment layer should be the uppermost layer.

Move both the far right and far left tabs towards each other to wash out all the "gray" areas of the text. Basically, you should end up with only white and black blotches on your text.

This is similar to what you should now have.

***To make the text more readable, turn on the visibility for the original text (which should be underneath the duplicated text) - this will help define the edges of the text better. And that's it!