In our previous post we talked about why making something look beat up, wasn't the same as making it look like it's from another era. Just as a mint '69 Camaro still looks like it's from 1969 … there are qualities to printed pieces that are inherent to the "golden age" of printing which are not commonly seen today. One of those qualities is overprinting. There are two rules you need to understand first: 1. It's tough to line up different colors exactly when printing. 2. Ink is not opaque. When one color prints on top of another color, the color that results is a mixture of the two colors (see rule #2). That might be what you want, or maybe not. In the olden days, If you didn't want that, you'd trim out ("knockout") the underlying … Read More about Distress Textures are a Cop-out: #2 Overprinting

For the last few years, we've seen a lot of distress textures applied to artwork to give it a "hand-hewn" look. You know it: the look of rubbed-off ink, peeling paint or rusty patina. Check out any crowd-sourced collection of graphic design assets — You'll find textures and photoshop templates designed to impart this very look. The effect it has on some artwork is transformative. It's as if you haven't really "seen" it until you see what it looks like with such an effect — like you're seeing it in the "real world" for the first time. The problem is, making something look old is not the same thing as making it look like it's from another era. it's one way to do it, but it's the most simplistic and heavy-handed. Let's use vintage muscle … Read More about Distress Textures are a Cop-out: #1 Introduction