Sometimes we all have the need for a metallic surface in our design. Many designs and backgrounds incorporate a metal-look into them, I’ve seen folks apply this effect on their printed business cards and it turned out pretty cool. But how do you make one from scratch? This tutorial will walk you through the process of creating your own metallic surface so you can begin incorporating this look into your designs.
1. Start with a new document by going to File –> New or press Ctrl + N and make sure the settings are 400 px.
2. Click the “Default Foreground and Background Colors” button or press “D.” This will give you black for the foreground color and white as the background.
3. Press and hold on the Paint Bucket Tool or Gradient Tool and the select the Paint Bucket Tool.
4. Create a new layer by clicking on the “New Layer” button in the Layers window.
5. Using your Paint Bucket Tool, left-click on the canvas to paint a black layer. Then go to Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise.
6. Make the Amount 400%, the Distribution to be Uniform, and make sure the Monochromatic box is checked on press OK.
7. Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur.
8. Set the Angle to 0° and the Distance to 75 pixels.
9. Select the Crop Tool or press “C.” Hold down the shift key and drag your mouse from about 90% to the top right corner.
10. Release your mouse button and you should have a perfect square for you metallic surface. Press Enter to commit the Crop and you’re finished.
