Stucco is a type of mixture that, when applied to a wall, gives it a nice, rough texture. If you want to recreate the effect of this texture in your digital project, in this tutorial I'll show you how to create a stucco brush in Photoshop—both from a photo and from a stucco texture made from scratch.
And if you want to save time, you can also download a brush set from Envato Elements! One subscription gives you access to millions of creative assets, including this set of stone stamp brushes:
What You'll Learn in This Stucco Brush Photoshop Tutorial
- How to create a Photoshop stucco texture brush
- How to create a stucco texture in Photoshop
- How to make a stucco texture brush seamless
What You'll Need
Your stucco Photoshop brush will be most realistic if you make it out of a photo. Here's the one I've used, but you can use your own photo, or a different photo from Envato Elements.
1. How to Create a Stucco Brush in Photoshop
Step 1
Download the stucco texture and open it in Photoshop. Take the Crop Tool (C) and crop the edges slightly—their level of brightness breaks the uniformity of the whole texture.
Step 2
Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset and give the brush a name.
Step 3
The stucco brush Photoshop is done, so you can now apply the same texture to any background. However, if you just apply it straight away, you may get a "dirty" result like this:
To fix this, change the Blend Mode to Overlay...
... then duplicate the layer (Control-J) and change its Blend Mode to Multiply. Adjust the Opacity to create the level of brightness that looks best on this background.
2. How to Create a Stucco Texture in Photoshop
Step 1
You can also create a stucco Photoshop brush from scratch, without using a photo. Create a New File with these dimensions: 3000 x 3000 px.
Step 2
Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, and add as much noise as possible.
Step 3
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and make the noise slightly blurry, so that the individual points are no longer visible.
Step 4
Go to the Channels tab and take the selection from the RGB channel by Control-clicking its thumbnail.
Step 5
Invert the selection with Control-Shift-I, create a New Layer, and fill it with black.
Step 6
Create a New Layer below and fill it with white.
Step 7
Double-click Layer 1 and add the following Bevel & Emboss settings:
- Style: Inner Bevel
- Technique: Chisel Soft
- Depth: 1000%
- Direction: Up
- Size: 13 px
- Soften: 5 px
- Angle: 90
- Altitude: 30
- Highlights: Screen, white, 100%
- Shadows: Multiply, black, 100%
You can use a different Gloss Contour for a different type of stucco texture!
Step 8
Add a Stroke as well:
- Size: 1 px
- Position: Center
- Blend Mode: Normal
- Opacity: 67%
- Fill Type: Color
- Color: white
Step 9
The stucco texture is done! Now you can just create a brush out of it, like before.
3. How to Create a Seamless Stucco Texture Brush
Step 1
What if you want to paint more freely with your stucco Photoshop brush, without having to worry about the edges? Then you need to create a seamless brush. First, open your stucco texture (the photo or the one we've just created). Then make the texture seamless, for example using the method described in this tutorial:
Step 2
This time, instead of creating a brush right away, go to Edit > Define Pattern.
Step 3
Create a New File—make it quite big.
Step 4
Open the Brushes panel and go to Dry Media Brushes > Kyle's Ultimate Pastel Palooza.
Step 5
Go to the Brush Settings. Go to the Texture tab and select the stucco texture we've just created. Then adjust the settings until the brush works as you expect it to.
Here are the settings I've used:
- Scale: 190% (it can be smaller, if you have a bigger area to cover)
- Brightness: 0
- Contrast: -25
- Texture Each Tip: checked
- Mode: Height
- Depth: 7%
- Minimum Depth & Depth Jitter: 0%
Step 6
When you're done, create a new brush by clicking the plus icon on the bottom. Your seamless Photoshop stucco texture brush is all done now! However, keep in mind that this texture has fewer shades of gray than a normal stamp brush, so the effect may look less convincing.
Good Job!
Now you know how to create a stucco texture in Photoshop, as well as how to create a stamp or a seamless brush from it.
Textured Photoshop Brushes Available to Download
Photoshop brushes are really powerful, and they can save you a lot of time—but having to create them first often defeats the purpose. Fortunately, on Envato Elements, you'll find plenty of professional brushes, ready to download and use! Here are a few great options:
Grunge Photoshop Brushes [ABR, PNG]
If you want to add some chaos to your image, it's very easy to do with grunge brushes. This set contains ten of them, all in high resolution.
20 Grunge Artistic Brushes [ABR, PDF]
Do you need more control over the chaos? These 20 brushes will work great with a graphics tablet—with them, you can turn every stroke into a detailed texture.
Photoshop Scatter & Stipple Brushes [ABR, PNG]
These brushes may look simple, but you'd be surprised what effects you can achieve with them! You can use them to add noise, make a surface look more detailed, or turn smooth surfaces into rough ones.
24 Distressed Texture Brushes [ABR, PSD]
Realistic photo textures are the best way to quickly add some grunge style to a photo. This set contains as many as 24 brushes based on hand-drafted texture—you just can't go wrong with them!
12 Texture Spray Photoshop Brushes [ABR]
If you want to quickly make your image less "clean", a simple spray brush may be exactly what you need. This set contains 12 of them, each with a slightly different look, but they all come in a high resolution and are easy to control.
More Photoshop Brush Tutorials
If you're interested in Photoshop brushes, you may also enjoy these tutorials:
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