As most of you might think, using textures is not at all as hard as it looks.
Following this simple tutorial, you can improve your graphics from something like this:
to something more vibrant, like this:
1. First, start off by opening your desired graphic. I will be using this:
2. Now, find a site that will provide you with textures.
A few sites just to get you started -
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
3. Choose several textures that you think might work well with the image you have chosen. (Don't worry about having chosen too many textures. You can always just get rid of the ones that don't work out.)
The ones I chose: (You can use these to follow.)
4. Take the first one (right click -> Copy) and paste (Ctrl+V) it over the graphic. I named my texture 'Texture 1' so you guys could follow along. Your layers tab should now be like this:
5. Now, everything after this is just trial and error.
These are all your options:
What I do, is simply start at 'Normal' and scroll down (from Normal to Dissolve to Darken.. etc.) and watch it change for every new option I land on. When it stops at something I think is decent looking, I'll let that be.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each texture, and be sure to experiment. [:
(Hint: Drag the texture around. Since it's such a huge image compared to your graphic, you never know which parts of the texture look better than others. You can also mess around with the opacities if it gets hard to see your original graphic.)
Whatever you don't like, go back and change. If none of the options fit your liking, delete the texture layer and go on to the next.