Step 1 – Setting Up the Parchment
Open a new document 500x600px. Create a new group (Layer > New > Group) and label it Parchment. Create a new layer and place it inside the group. Place guides horizontally and vertically centered in the document. Make a selection 400x490px using the rectangular marquee tool and fill it using the color #e9dbba.
Groups and Guides
When a layer is placed inside a group it will become tabbed to the right, this way you know it is in the group!
To center the guides, select the entire document (Ctrl+A) and contract it by any amount (Select > Modify > Contract). Enable your rulers (Ctrl+R) and drag guides out until they snap in the center of the selection.
Step 2 – Dirtying the Parchment
In order to continue with this tutorial, you’re going to need some Grunge Brushes. Grunge brushes can be used to imitate dirt and decay. To learn how to install brushes.
On a new layer inside your Parchment group, use a dark brown color like #735c27 to dirty the parchment. Don’t overdue it!
Then create another new layer and use a lighter brown color like #ab8e4a to create some more dirt.
Step 3 – Adding Texture and Color
Create a new layer and fill it with a dark brown color like #5f470d. Then set the blending mode of the layer to Vivid Light and set the opacity to 30%. This will help give our parchment a nice brown weathered color.
Now we need some paper texture. There are some great ones in the post here on Tutorial9. I chose the . By placing it on a new layer, resizing it (Ctrl+T), desaturating it (Ctrl+Shift+U), and setting the layer to multiply, I can give my parchment a more realistic look.
Step 4 – Creating the Edges
Right now, all of our layers are placed inside of the Parchment group. This will allow us to easily mask all of the layers to the parchment using just one group mask.
Using the, make a selection around the inside of the parchment that will give it jagged edges. Then apply the selection as a group mask. To do this, click on the Parchment group icon, then click the Add Layer Mask at the bottom of the layer pallete.
