Photoshop Tutorial: How to Create Denim Texture

Here is a tutorial with a few steps on how to create the denim texture that you would find on your favorite pair of jeans. The tutorial was created using Photoshop CS3 but I would guess that older versions of Photoshop can be used. Since some of the filters I used are of a random nature, you might have to adjust the settings somewhat to get the desired result. Furthermore, if you prefer darker or lighter denim or want your denim saturated with blue you might want to make changes to the Gradient Map. The font used in the above image is Kingthings Xstitch.

Step One

Create a new image in Adobe Photoshop that is three times the size of your final desired image size. Use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill the image with 50% grey (#808080). Then use Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone with the following settings: Max. Radius 5 pixels, and all the Screen Angles 135 degrees.

Step Two

Next we will use Filter > Sketch > Chalk and Charcoal with Charcoal Area 15, Chalk Area 15, and Stroke Pressure 1. You might have play around with Levels to get a nice medium to dark grey color.

Step Three

Create a new layer above the first layer, and fill it with any color. Have white (#FFFFFF) as your foreground color and black (#000000) as your background color. Then use Filter > Render > Fibers with Variance 5.0, and Strength 50.0. Click on the Randomize button until you get nice thin white fibers on a black background.

Step Four

Set the Blending Mode of the second layer to Screen, and Opacity to 50%. Create a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer above the second layer. Click on the gradient to edit colors. Make the first Color Stop on the left dark blue (#032340), add a medium blue/grey (#475160) Color Stop in the middle (50%), and make the last Color Stop on the right a light color (#DDEAED).

Step Five

Create a new layer above the adjustment layer. Set the Blending Mode of the layer to Overlay, and Opacity to 50%. On this layer, paint highlights (white) and shadows (black) using a big feathered brush with an opacity setting of 5-10%.

Step Six

Use Image > Image Size to resize the image to a third of its original size; use the Bicubic Sharper option for a sharper image. Here’s the resized image of the denim texture, as you can see it looks a lot better after its been resized.